Baptized Catholics married outside the church

[V.S]

My coworker and her husband are baptized Catholics that went through the “steps” of baptism and first communion because of their parents. Neither of them have had any education on the Church or Catholicism so they were married in a courthouse.
She asked me why the Catholic Church wouldn’t recognize her marriage if in Romans 13:1-7 it says something about God accepting the law of the land. How do I explain?

 

[Wife.of.Gabriel]

I’m not sure, but my husband (Baptized & Confirmed Roman Catholic) & I (received into the Roman Catholic Church via RCIA Confirmation) we’re married in the Greek Orthodox Church as we’d both left the Church decades before our marriage (him to Protestant & me to Orthodox) and we literally just went through the process to get our marriage officially approved by the Catholic Church. It’s fairly easy to correct, just a bunch of paperwork is needed and a form filled out. Took a few months and in January we received the certificate from the local Bishop acknowledging our Sacramental Marriage. We’re expecting to be received back into the Church officially next month. Please pray my husband & youngest son decide to join me & our youngest daughter in converting. My other 3 children are adults and just aren’t interested in possibly returning yet.

I’m sure how you’d approach someone about their own marriage, but you could let them know it’s really easily fixable should they ever decide they want the Church to recognize their marriage. Just takes paperwork and time.

 

[1ke]

we’re married in the Greek Orthodox Church as we’d both left the Church decades before our marriage (him to Protestant & me to Orthodox) and we literally just went through the process to get our marriage officially approved by the Catholic Church. It’s fairly easy to correct, just a bunch of paperwork is needed and a form filled out. Took a few months and in January we received the certificate from the local Bishop acknowledging our Sacramental Marriage.

Yours is a different situation entirely because you married in the Orthodox Church.

Your marriage was valid but illicit.

The OP is talking about people with an invalid marriage.

 

[Wife.of.Gabriel]

Oh. Thought it was the same? Sorry.

 

[1ke]

She asked me why the Catholic Church wouldn’t recognize her marriage if in Romans 13:1-7 it says something about God accepting the law of the land. How do I explain?

Catholics are bound by canon law because we are to obey the lawful authority over us. And Jesus gave the Apostles (the first Bishops) the authority. And right now the Church requires that Catholics marry in Catholic form with a priest or deacon (or in rare cases someone else designated by the Church) receiving the vows and two witnesses also present. Those who do not follow Church law attempt marriage invalidity.

The Church fully recognizes non-Catholic marriages contracted in their own churches or civilly. (Orthodox are a special case).

 

[Vico]

…

Romans 13

4 for it is a servant of God for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose; it is the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evildoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to be subject not only because of the wrath but also because of conscience. 6 This is why you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Pay to all their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, toll to whom toll is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

Matthew 22:21

21 They replied, “Caesar’s.”[a] At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

Matthew 19

6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”

“Since it signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant.” (from Catechism 1617)

Matthew 19

8 He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

“Moral conscience concerning the unity and indissolubility of marriage developed under the pedagogy of the old law. In the Old Testament the polygamy of patriarchs and kings is not yet explicitly rejected. Nevertheless, the law given to Moses aims at protecting the wife from arbitrary domination by the husband, even though according to the Lord’s words it still carries traces of man’s “hardness of heart” which was the reason Moses permitted men to divorce their wives.” (Catechism 1610)

 

[Saint_Prince_Caspian]

Have they asked a priest? Who made that judgement other than themselves, that the Church will not recognize their union?

But I think it can be explained this way, better.

The Church has eyes, and She see’s something. The union is seen for what it is. Not in the Sacramental Communion in Grace, as edified since the foundations of the Church began. Marriage steadily evolved. But, that’s not to say there wasn’t marriage before the Church began. It is within Her bounds, as is seen with the Bridegroom and the Bride. Thus, Marital bonds exist.

The Church can say that they are married, but not in the Sacramental bounds of grace. Thus, it’s not a Catholic Communion of marriage. Hence, outside of the Church.

It’s like standing out in the rain. If you want to draw under the umbrella of the Church’s grace, to afford you the graces needed for everything thrown at you in life. Like the pelting and falling rain. Then, come back inside the Church in the Sacramental Communion and Grace of Marriage. That’s it! It would be a beautiful wedding! I am sure it will be. Let the Sacramental grace of Marriage shape and bound in your marriage. God will Bless you! Amazingly!

 

[Gorgias]

She asked me why the Catholic Church wouldn’t recognize her marriage if in Romans 13:1-7 it says something about God accepting the law of the land. How do I explain?

Romans 13 is telling us “don’t just obey God – obey human law, too.” She’s trying to use it to say “don’t obey God – just obey human law.” It’s kind of a real stretch to make it say “ignore the law of God’s Church”.

In context, Paul is talking about civil authority on things like taxation. Since the Church didn’t direct Christians to pay civil taxes, folks asked, “should I pay taxes” and “must I obey the secular law?” Paul is answering “yes”. However, secular power also required folks worship Caesar as a god, in disobedience to the Church’s guidance on the issue. Any guesses what Paul thought about that…?