Civil marriage question

[BienChida]

I have not been catholic nor any religion for that matter for almost my entire life, I am now entering the catholic faith - getting baptised, confirmed and getting my 1st communion on holy saturday! I have a question:

I was married in a courthouse by a judge when I was 19 to another non religious person. We divorced 3 years later. My question is now - in the eyes of the catholic church, was this marriage valid??

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I have not been catholic nor any religion for that matter for almost my entire life, I am now entering the catholic faith - getting baptised, confirmed and getting my 1st communion on holy saturday! I have a question:

I was married in a courthouse by a judge when I was 19 to another non religious person. We divorced 3 years later. My question is now - in the eyes of the catholic church, was this marriage valid??

I’m sure that you discussed this situation with your RCIA Director or Pastor? Right? If not you need to call him tomorrow! I assume from what you posted that this Marriage ended and you have NOT entered another Marriage? If you are now living as single this would not prevent you from being received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. But to answer you question, it could be a valid Natural Marriage, but would be afforded a privilege of the Faith since you both were not Baptized, and you are seeking Baptism.

 

[Dirk_Skene]

Get this cleared up now, please Talk frankly to the priest in charge of your formation. tomorrow … Saturday.

O’ and welcome :hug1: :tiphat: I too am a convert

We make better Catholics (I will duck when I hit the “send” key)

 

[1ke]

I was married in a courthouse by a judge when I was 19 to another non religious person. We divorced 3 years later. My question is now - in the eyes of the catholic church, was this marriage valid??

All marriages are presumed valid until shown to be otherwise. You should discuss your situation with your priest. You make no mention of currently being married, so that is good. You should get this taken care of before you meet someone that you might be interested in marrying.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

I believe that the Church would deem the marriage as invalid because neither of you were baptized when the marriage occurred.

 

[puzzleannie]

I have not been catholic nor any religion for that matter for almost my entire life, I am now entering the catholic faith - getting baptised, confirmed and getting my 1st communion on holy saturday! I have a question:

I was married in a courthouse by a judge when I was 19 to another non religious person. We divorced 3 years later. My question is now - in the eyes of the catholic church, was this marriage valid??

maybe, maybe not, it depends on a lot of factors, like the baptismal state of the other person, which you may not even have been aware of. Each marriage situation is unique, and only an investigation by the marriage tribunal of the diocese is likely to uncover all the facts. If you ever decide to get married again, you will have to go through this process. If you are now dating or contemplating marriage, it would be a good idea to schedule an appointment with the pastor to get this process moving, and have him explain it to you. The longer you wait, the harder it is to get the relative paperwork, remember events, find contact info for witnesses etc.

 

[cameron_lansing]

I believe that the Church would deem the marriage as invalid because neither of you were baptized when the marriage occurred.

Only the impediments stated in the law invalidate marriage. The lack of baptism by itself would only invalidate marriage if the other party were Catholic. This is called disparity of cult, but it can be dispensed (c. 1086§1).

Otherwise, two unbaptized persons, barring any other impediment (chiefly ligamen or prior bond — a valid prior marriage in which the person’s prior spouse is still alive, and certain forms of consanguinity — blood relationship of ancestor/descendant or of sibling), marry validly. They may wed according to any valid civil form of the celebration, and are not obliged to religious ceremony in contracting marriage.

The reason such persons have to capacity to marry validly is based on divine natural law (remember neither Adam nor Eve were baptized). Such a marriage would enjoy the presumption of validity. Church marriage law comes into play when one of the parties is a baptized Catholic or has entered the Church by a profession of faith.

Should they subsequently wish to marry again in the Catholic Church, with the prior spouse surviving, a determination of nullity would have to be made, or the privilege of the faith applied.

However, the original poster has been properly advised to contact and discuss the situation with the parish priest.