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ernief
Guest
Can Catholics that are only civilly married recive Holy Communion?
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Br.Rich_SFO
Guest
No.
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drafdog
Guest
There are instances allowable under canon law where a civilly married couple may receive Eucharist. They should, however, be having the marriage blessed and properly recorded according to the canons. Sometimes a clergyman is not available to witness the marriage, but upon the availability of a clergyman, they are to get the marriage blessed. The requirement to have a clergyman witness the marriage ceremony is relatively new.
Matthew
Matthew
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benedictgal
Guest
Just where would that reference be? Brother Rich is correct that a couple whose marriage is not blessed by the Church cannot receive Holy Communion unless the marriage is convalidated.
Furthermore, what you stated could very well be taken as a blanket statement. Although the OP raised the question of the Catholics married only civilly, another point should be raised. Were they married previously? If so, even if your canon law theory would work (and, probably under extraordinary circumstances, which I suspect would be the case), they could still not receive Holy Communion unless their previous marriages were annulled and their current marriage convalidated.
I would caution all of us against giving blanket answers without some sort of documentation lest we lead people astray.
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Kielbasi
Guest
Usually not, but like everything there are exceptions.
If they are a convert couple and were married before they were received into the church.
Or if they got civilly married because there was no priest available or one of the parties was in danger of death according to Canon 1116.
Or if they were dispensed from the proper ordinary form.
Or if they corrected the situation by either convalidation or radical sanation.
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drafdog
Guest
Benny, you’re putting more conditions into the formula than the original poster wanted to consider, thus taking the thread off topic.
For the reading of the canons, go to the Vatican website as I did.
Note that the laity, if commissioned by the local ordinary (bishop), may witness Catholic marriages. That, too, according to the canons.
Matthew
For the reading of the canons, go to the Vatican website as I did.
Note that the laity, if commissioned by the local ordinary (bishop), may witness Catholic marriages. That, too, according to the canons.
Matthew
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benedictgal
Guest
But, for all we know, the circumstance listed by the OP isn’t somewhere in an outlying missionary outpost, which, I believe, is what the canon stipulates. Why do you not list your sources, or at least cut and paste the appropriate canon?
Furthermore, we don’t know all of the circumstances in the OP. There may very well be the issue of this being a second marriage for both parties.
Just like you call me to task for supposedly putting more conditions, I, in turn, call you to task for making a general assumption in your assertion of canon law. You can’t have it both ways, Matthew.
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drafdog
Guest
Benny,
Because I directed you to the source. I do not intend to do your homework for you. If you want to know about the canon, read it at the source. I used the Vatican’s English translation. Right there on the website.
Matthew
Because I directed you to the source. I do not intend to do your homework for you. If you want to know about the canon, read it at the source. I used the Vatican’s English translation. Right there on the website.
Matthew
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Digitonomy
Guest
Unless something is common knowledge, it is usually considered courteous for the person making an assertion to provide a cite backing up that assertion.
I can understand not spending a lot of time on this,since threads (and your hard work) get deleted on a regular basis around here. But since you state that you were at the website reading it, it would be beneficial to all readers, not just benedictgal, for you to paste the URL, or a snippet from the canon, or just the canon number, rather than expecting any interested party to waste his time repeating your efforts.
Without this common courtesy, we will simply have people replying “No, you’re wrong - the canons actually say X - but I’m not going to do your homework for you, go look it up.”
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Br.Rich_SFO
Guest
“The requirement to have a clergyman witness the marriage ceremony is relatively new.”
Say what?
The answers are for the most common situations unless specific exceptions are asked about in the original post.
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puzzleannie
Guest
this is the question I am answering, disregarding the irrelevancies introduced by every poster except the second, Bro.
No, Catholics who marry civilly are not married validly in the eyes of the Church, hence they are objectively in a state of mortal sin and may not receive communion. Even in jurisdictions where only state weddings are legal in civil law, Catholic couples are bound to then marry in the Church.
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drafdog
Guest
Annie,
Please go back and read the canons. The need for a clergyman is not necessary under certain conditions. A layman can conduct the ceremony on behalf of the Church, again under certain conditions. Don’t take my word for it. Read the canons in English on the Vatican’s website.
Matthew
Please go back and read the canons. The need for a clergyman is not necessary under certain conditions. A layman can conduct the ceremony on behalf of the Church, again under certain conditions. Don’t take my word for it. Read the canons in English on the Vatican’s website.
Matthew
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benedictgal
Guest
It would help if you actualy posted it, as others have suggested you do. Plus, my suspicion is that what you are suggesting is only in extrenuating circumstances (if the couple is in some missionary outpost with very limited clergy contact). But, under normal circumstances, puzzlenannie and Brother Rich are on target. From what the OP indicated, I don’t think we’re talking about the couple being in the middle of some South American rainforest or out in the wilds of South Africa.
Furthermore, the reason why I listed the other circumstances in my first response to this post was because what you indicated was too big of a blanket that did not factor other possibilities into the equation. I did not take the post off-topic because the issue of previous marriage(s) is why Catholics will sometimes marry civilly (since they did not secure annulments). That is a reality that should be taken into account.
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Seatuck
Guest
Can you put everyone out of thier misery and help christians stop thier squabbling by giving a detail more or two? Are you talking about two Catholics that readily have acess to a sacramental marriage?
In that case , they may not recieve Holy Communion until they seek confession and have thier marriage brought into the church. Awesome that you said recieve and not “take”.
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Br.Rich_SFO
Guest
Under the normal and usual conditions even the 1917 code required clergy to witness the exchange of vows. It is very rare that a Bishop will grant a lay person permission to witness a Marriage, let alone a blanket permission.
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palmas85
Guest
Since you haven’t posted the source, we have to speculate on the section that you are referring to. I assume it is the following.
**Can. 1108 §1. Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local ordinary, pastor, or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and before two witnesses according to the rules expressed in the following canons and without prejudice to the exceptions mentioned in cann. ⇒ 144, ⇒ 1112, §1, ⇒ 1116, and ⇒ 1127, §§1-2.
**
**Can. 1112 §1. Where there is a lack of priests and deacons, the diocesan bishop can delegate lay persons to assist at marriages, with the previous favorable vote of the conference of bishops and after he has obtained the permission of the Holy See.
§2. A suitable lay person is to be selected, who is capable of giving instruction to those preparing to be married and able to perform the matrimonial liturgy properly.**
Can. 1113 Before special delegation is granted, all those things which the law has established to prove free status are to be fulfilled.
As I read it these things are done on a case by case basis and only in the total absence of any Clergy that could assist at the ceremony.
As you can see it is not an easy thing to accomplish, requiring the intervention of and the prior approval of Rome.
So in answer to the question, only in certain rare special cases would such a couple even have a valid marriage let alone be able to receive Holy Communion.
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