Are these marriages valid?

[cortopar]

I am a Protestant who has recently been lead to consider the claims of the Catholic Church. The more I study the history of the church and the reformation, the more I am convinced that the Catholic Church is the church that Christ established. That leads to my dilemma. As with many people, I imagine, prior marriages may be a barrier to my joining into full communion with the church. I am planning to meet with a local priest to discuss the process of petitioning for a declaration of nullity.

As I read the catechism and canon law, it would seem that a person who was civilly divorced (who did not obtain a declaration of nullity) would not be able to enter into a sacramental marriage. Is this true?

The situation is that I have been married before. My former wife had been married and divorced before she and I married. (She and her former husband were both baptized Baptists.) In this case, it seems that our marriage (mine with her) would automatically be sacramentally invalid. Hence, I would be free to marry sacramentally within the church.

Does this sound right? My fiance was previously married, but she was a baptized and confirmed Catholic who married a non-Catholic at a Justice of the Peace. I believe hers would be a simple defect of form.

In cases where things are fairly straight-forward, do the tribunals still tend to take a year to complete?

Best regards,
Bob

 

[Catholic2003]

cortopar:

Does this sound right?

You’re basically right. The “prior bond” thing can cascade back indefinitely, though. If your ex-wife’s first husband had a previous wife, call her A, then your ex-wife’s first marriage was invalid, so your marriage to her was valid.

However, if A had a previous husband B, then your ex-wife’s first husbands first marriage was invalid, so your ex-wife’s marriage to her first husband was valid, so your marriage to your ex-wife was invalid.

Now we need to find out if B had a prior marriage before A. It can get pretty complicated.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

cortopar:

I am a Protestant who has recently been lead to consider the claims of the Catholic Church. The more I study the history of the church and the reformation, the more I am convinced that the Catholic Church is the church that Christ established. That leads to my dilemma. As with many people, I imagine, prior marriages may be a barrier to my joining into full communion with the church. I am planning to meet with a local priest to discuss the process of petitioning for a declaration of nullity.

As I read the catechism and canon law, it would seem that a person who was civilly divorced (who did not obtain a declaration of nullity) would not be able to enter into a sacramental marriage. Is this true?

The situation is that I have been married before. My former wife had been married and divorced before she and I married. (She and her former husband were both baptized Baptists.) In this case, it seems that our marriage (mine with her) would automatically be sacramentally invalid. Hence, I would be free to marry sacramentally within the church.

Does this sound right? My fiance was previously married, but she was a baptized and confirmed Catholic who married a non-Catholic at a Justice of the Peace. I believe hers would be a simple defect of form.

In cases where things are fairly straight-forward, do the tribunals still tend to take a year to complete?

Best regards,
Bob

You need to do some homework. You need to obtain documents showing that your previous wife was Married and divorced before you married her. This should be in the public marriage records. Your fiance needs to show documents that she was Baptized Catholic. A current copy of her Baptismal certificate from the parish where she was Baptized will show that no Marriage was ever recorded. Both cases could possibly be decided on the documentary evidence you provide.

 

[cortopar]

Thank you both very much for your answers!

That is very encouraging. There are other reasons the marriages are clearly not sacramentally valid, but this should certainly streamline the process.