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As a baptized Catholic, you were required to marry in the Church. Presuming that your marriage was not in the Church, and you received no dispensation to marry from the bishop, that marriage would be preseumed invalid.
Having been away for 20 years, it might be good to avail yourself with some refreshment of what and why Catholics believe what they do and how they practice that Faith. I don’t expect that practice has changed much in twenty years. Come on home.
if this person were only baptized, would 't they still need to go through RCIA before receiving Holy Communion? maybe it was just not mentioned in the post that the person had been baptized and confirmed both in the Catholic church.
each marriage case is unique so this is a general answer only. If facts are as you state, (and in my experience there is often a lot more to the story that posters don’t reveal up front–not that they should necessarily, at least not here), then your marriage was invalid due to lack of form (you did not follow Catholic law on marriage) and to have that investigated and established is a rather simple paperwork process, not a full annulment proceeding. Yes it must be done if you ever wish to marry. If there is no intervening marriage or plans to marry all you need is confession and absolution to return to the sacraments. Welcome Home!
Absolutely not. Annulment ONLY comes into consideration if you want to marry (“again”) in the Catholic Church.
i know that many people entered our church over easter who had been baptized Catholic, but had never been confirmed. so for whatever reason, they did not receive their sacraments.
Yes, of course. Since she said “baptized Catholic and left at 18” rather than “baptized but not raised Catholic”, or something like that, I assumed she was raised Catholic until age 18. My assumption may be incorrect.
i think the best thing would be to talk with a priest and he will guide her as to what she needs to do.
Perhaps you don’t know, but the Vatican overturned over a thousand annulments that were granted in the U.S. a few years back. A popular annulment case (I think it involved a Kennedy) was likewise overturned by the Vatican, IIRC. Annulments are definitely not a “get out of marriage free card.” You seem not to have studied the matter enough to know just how strict the criteria and standards are in order to obtain an annulment.
What are you talking about here? Please read this: forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=5138372&postcount=35
No I did not know that but it makes sense to me. And you misunderstood my post. I said the tecnicality of not getting a dispensation and therefore never having a valid marriage is a get out of marriage free card. Likewise, I admitted to having a very limited understanding based only on what I have heard.
From what I have heard, the Code of Canon law prohibits a Catholic from marrying outside the Church without a dispensation or else it is an invalide marriage. However, this does not apply to Non Catholics. Their marriages are presumed valid. So, I think this is a very weird and ironic tecnicality capable of abuse.
But then the Catholic in question is NOT validly married. He is just “faking it,” and if he knows to exploit that “technicality”, he knows it.
It’s not that simple. The canon law stating that a marriage that has not acquired a dispensation from disparity of cult only applies to those who have not defected from it by a formal act. There are three cases to consider: