Can a widow remarry?

[Quendara]

I was married in the Catholic church when I was 22 years old. My marriage was consummated. 2 months later, my husband died in a plane crash. We never had any children. I have lived quietly and alone for the last 8 years. I have never dated and I barely speak to anyone, let alone men.

I approached my mother with this question and she said that I could not remarry. She feels that a woman may only have one husband. Period. She feels that God has chosen for me to live a life of solitude and suffering and I should be thankful for it. She will not discuss a “sin in the making” any further.

I have spoken to my priest (after my mother spoke to him about this) who seems to agree. He is worried that I just want to marry to have sex again. Which is utter nonsense. What I really want is to be a wife and have children. I have always wanted children. Always.

Could it be true that I am meant to suffer? Because I am.

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

I have no idea why anyone is telling you that a widow may not remarry. Widows (and widowers) have gotten remarried in the Church for 2000 years.

The New Testament explicitly says that widows can remarry:

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
- Romans 7:2-3

So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander.
- 1 Timothy 5:14