Can daughter continue receiving Communion after marrying outside of the Church?

[brendeer]

My recently engaged daughter is marrying a non-Catholic. His family has a close friend who is a minister. My daughter wants an outdoor wedding, and is planning on having the minister/friend of her fiancé’s family perform the ceremony. My daughter is 37, and this is the first marriage for both of them. She goes to Mass fairly often, but not regularly. I fear that if I tell her (she would see it as nagging) she will be giving up on receiving Holy Communion if she marries outside of the Church that she will stop going to a Catholic Church altogether. I am torn on having this conversation with her or leaving it up to her conscience. Help!
Thank you

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Your daughter can apply for a dispensation to be married in her fiance’s church. This would make her marriage valid. The couple would need to do all the normal Catholic marriage preparation through the Catholic’s local parish priest, but when its completed the Bishop would grant permission for the Protestant minister to be the official witness of the exchange of vows.

If someone gets married outside the Church without a dispensation then they are in an invalid marriage. Individuals in invalid marriages cannot receive communion. Your daughter would need to validate her marriage in the Church in order to receive communion.