Annulment Required For Baptism?

[Thoughtfulone]

No.

Non-Catholics aren’t bound by Catholic marriage laws. They can get married in a church, city hall, Las Vegas chapel, in a garden, etc. The assumption is that they have entered into a valid marriage. Should such a person divorce, the assumption remains that they were in a valid marriage until proven otherwise.

The person is not free to marry because they are already married. Their civil divorce doesn’t change anything.

The Tribunal can determine whether the original marriage was valid or not. If it was, then the person is bound to their vows. If there wasn’t a valid marriage, then the person would be free to marry. Just as the civil divorce doesn’t affect how the Church views their marriage, the Tribunal’s decision doesn’t have an effect on the state’s view.

Thanks! Is it then considered a sacramental marriage?

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Thanks! Is it then considered a sacramental marriage?

I believe the marriage of two non-catholic Christians may be sacramental but that can not be the case here as at least on party of the marriage, the groom, was not baptized so he was a non-christian.

Non-christian marriages, even when only one of the party is a non-christian, can not be sacramental but they may be a valid natural marriage.

 

[Thoughtfulone]

I believe the marriage of two non-catholic Christians may be sacramental but that can not be the case here as at least on party of the marriage, the groom, was not baptized so he was a non-christian.

Non-christian marriages, even when only one of the party is a non-christian, can not be sacramental but they may be a valid natural marriage.

Thanks for the info! Would the standards for an annulment by the catholic Church in this case be set as high as for a sacramental marriage between 2 Catholics in a Catholic Church?

 

[SMHW]

Thanks for the info! Would the standards for an annulment by the catholic Church in this case be set as high as for a sacramental marriage between 2 Catholics in a Catholic Church?

I would say the answer to your question is a qualified “yes”. I say qualified because you are not really asking a meaningful question. An “annulment” is not something that happens to a marriage. In fact, “annulment” is kind of a misleading word because it suggests that there once was a marriage and now there is not. A ruling of nullity says that the so-called marriage never existed in the first place. (…from God’s perspective anyway; it no doubt did exist from the standpoint of the state.)

But the standards by which one judges the validity of a marriage would be the same whether one is looking at a marriage between two Catholics, a marriage between two baptized non-Catholics, a marriage between two unbaptized persons, or some combination there-of.

What can differ between the valid marriage of two baptized Christians and the marriage of two people where at least one is not baptized is that the first kind of valid marriage would be sacramental and the second kind of valid marriage would not be.

 

[Evan]

This Priest is WRONG, if he told this man that he must get an annulment before he can come into the church.

The priest may be right if asked a telling questions: If you are NOT granted a declaration of nullity, what would you intentions be? Leave the Church and marry anyway? Live together outside of marriage? Remain single so long as you and your spouse shall live?

 

[1ke]

Even if he does get baptized, that will have no effect on the case for nullity as the tribunal only looks at when the marriage was contracted.

The only way to fix issues that would invalidate a marriage is a convalidation, baptism fixes nothing.

I didn’t say it had an impact on a petition for a decree of nullity.

I said it has an impact on the OPs ability to petition for a dissolution of the bond via Pauline or Petrine Privilege. Baptism could close off this avenue entirely.

 

[1ke]

If the individual becomes baptized and after baptism ends up sleeping with their former spouse, the marriage is considered to have become a valid consummated sacramental marriage.

The valid natural marriage is *already *consummated. The act of baptism itself creates the sacrament.

 

[1ke]

Thanks for the info! Would the standards for an annulment by the catholic Church in this case be set as high as for a sacramental marriage between 2 Catholics in a Catholic Church?

Yes. The grounds upon which nullity or validity are determined are the same no matter who contracts the marriage, with the caveat that if one party to the marriage was a Catholic some additional laws apply that do not apply to non-Catholics.