February 9, 2017 // Special

One family, three brides, six weeks

Claire Kenney

Freelance Writer

For the Fogarty family, this upcoming summer will play out a bit like “Fiddler on the Roof.” Similar to the musical’s plot, three of the Fort Wayne family’s daughters will marry within weeks of each other.

Juliette, Kelly and Rachel plan to wed their fiancees in the months of May, June and July. “Brent and Rachel are getting married (on) May 20, Chris and I (on) June 10 and Michael and Juliette (on) July 1,” Kelly said. “Rachel and my weddings will be at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne and Juliette’s wedding will be at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame.”

For the women’s parents, Kathleen and Daniel Fogarty, the buildup to this summer is an exciting time.

“When I tell people that we’ll have three weddings in a six-week period, they seem to find it daunting. We find it wonderful!” Daniel said.

Kathleen and Daniel raised Juliette, Kelly and Rachel, along with their five other children, in a faith-filled, Catholic-centered home.

“Our faith has always been the center of our family life, with Sunday Mass and the sacraments, saying the rosary in the car, night prayers, reciting the ‘safety prayer’ that Kathleen wrote, grace before meals and through Catholic home-schooling,” Daniel said. Their view of marriage aligns directly with their viewpoint of the importance of faith at the epicenter of one’s life — in all that they do, including cultivating relationships.

“We have always believed that marriage is a union of persons with God in creating a family who serves the Lord,” Kathleen said.

Juliette, Kelly and Rachel recognize the significance of the example that their parents provided to the family through their marriage and commitment to each other and to God.

“My parents have always been faithful to each other and all of their children, but most especially to God,” Kelly commented.

“Our parents are generous, joyful and sacrificial,” Rachel added.  “They have shown us how to put … (their) family’s needs and well-being before their own, and have led our family in faith through their examples of prayer, frequenting the sacraments, and going to Adoration and daily Mass whenever possible.”

“The biggest example of my parent’s marriage for me was their faith life,” Juliette said. Her relationship with fiance Michael draws on one very specific example from her mother’s faith life: As modeled by Kathleen, Juliette and Michael have come to both have a devotion to St. Joseph, patron saint of fathers. They pray to St. Joseph together at the end of each day.

“Our family has always had a strong devotion to him because of her (Kathleen)! This naturally just flowed into our relationship,” Juliette said.

Though the wedding celebrations will happen during a similar season of the year, each daughter will incorporate a different theme into their wedding. Juliette will use gold and navy blue. Kelly plans to decorate with various soft pinks and creams as well as a light gold. Rachel intends to integrate mulberry, blush pink and cream.

One thing’s for sure, each woman and her fiance understand the importance of including God in one’s marriage.

“It may sound funny at first, but if you think about it, if you put God first, He will want you to treat your spouse amazingly well,” Kelly said.

For these couples, marriage is truly treated like a sacrament.

“We are all very excited to be receiving this incredible sacrament this year…” Juliette said.