Annulment for non Catholic marriage necessary?

[jewlyakim]

i have a cousin who is Catholic and never married, who wants to get married to a man who was previously divorced 8 years ago. he converted to Catholicicm this past Easter 2017. they are both going through marriage prep however they are told by their church Deacon that they need to contact the man’s ex wife and her parents for an interview. his past marriage was not in the Catholic Church and neither of the parties were Catholic or even Christian. it was a civil marriage. Furthermore, his ex-wife is in South Korea and not sure about her whereabouts. is this appropriate? why is he asked to open up old wounds when his previous marriage was not even in the Catholic Church? we are all very confused.

 

[davidv]

Any marriage, including a civil one, is considered by the Church to be valid unless judged otherwise by the marriage tribunal. The deacon’s instruction appear to be somewhat inaccurate in that their first contact should be their pastor, who will instruct them in approaching the tribunal.

 

[1ke]

The man’s marriage should have been addressed during RCIA. If it wasn’t then it needs to be now.
He may have recourse to the privilege of the faith or to a decree of nullity processes since the marriage includes unbaptized individuals.

He needs to talk to the pastor. He would not directly contact the ex spouse, the tribunal does that.