As a former atheist, is my marriage invalid?

[LeapIntoFaith]

My wife and I both considered ourselves atheist for most of our adult lives. Now I’ve come to know how wrong I was. I attend Mass regularly and will enter RCIA when new classes start in the fall of 2009. My wife still considers herself atheist. Will this prevent me from entering God’s holy Church? Is my marriage invalid and, if so, what must I do? Thank you for your guidance.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

First of all, welcome home! May God bless you on your journey. If Catholic Answers can be of any help to you, please feel free to contact us directly for more personalized assistance.

Without knowing the particulars of your circumstances, all I can say is that the marriages of non-Christians are presumptively valid, assuming there were no impediments to the marriage at the time of the wedding (e.g., close blood relationship, previous marriage). If both of you were baptized as children, before becoming atheist, a valid marriage would be presumptively sacramental.

Unless there is some impediment such as a previous marriage that needs to be addressed, the fact of your marriage to an atheist will not prevent you from entering the Church. As for the difficulty of living a life of faith while married to an atheist, you may wish to look at the book linked below by Elisabeth Leseur. She was married to an atheist and through her prayers and suffering brought her husband back to his faith after her death. He eventually became a Dominican priest and a cause has been opened for her canonization.

Recommended reading:

The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur by Elisabeth Leseur