Can my friend be baptized?

[mahamc]

A good friend of mine is attending RCIA classes. She is 61 years old and has never been baptized. She attends Mass every Sunday and was looking forward to receiving her sacraments at Easter Vigil. However, she was just informed by the priest at her parish that she cannot receive her sacraments, including baptism, unless her marriage is blessed. It’s her second marriage for she and her current husband. They were not married in a Catholic church, nor were they married in a Catholic church for their previous marriages. Her former husband is deceased.

Her current husband is not supportive and will not agree to get the marriage blessed. The priest is insisting that they need an affidavit signed by witnesses that they were never married in a Catholic church. Her husband does not have a good relationship with his ex-wife (hasn’t seen her in twenty years) and he will not participate. She is devastated. She is so devoted to the faith (more so than most cradle Catholics I know) and now she is being told that she cannot be baptized. Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated. She is still attending class with the hope that she can somehow get around this issue.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

I recommend that your friend contact the St. Joseph Foundation, a Catholic apostolate that assists people with canon law questions and may be able to help her sort through her options.

In the meantime, if your friend and her husband live together as brother and sister while waiting for the regularization of their marriage, your friend should be able to receive the sacraments at the Easter Vigil as she had planned. Perhaps the consequence of having to live abstinently until the marriage is regularized will motivate her husband to cooperate in the process.