Con validation of marriage and RCIA

[MikeJH1]

HI,

I’m a male catholic by birth and was married to a catholic, unfortunately the marriage broke up and some years later I met and married a non catholic.

We have been married for nearly 30 years and at the time we got married tried to gain an annulment, but the process was not possible at that time.

We now want to have our marriage convalidated and my wife has completed the RCIA, however my annulment did not come through till after the RCIA course finished and my wife could not enter the church.

We have been living in Chastity since we started the journey to allow my wife to become catholic and are continuing to adhere to being Chaste, which has allowed me to take communion since reconciliation.

My question is, can my wife enter the Church before the marriage is convalidated, as it may be another year to complete the process

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

You’re going to need to talk with your pastor. Theoretically your wife could be received into the Church as long as you live chastely, but it will be up to the pastor’s judgment.

 

[MikeJH1]

Thanks for your reply, I had been told (not by my Pastor) that if we took up a Chaste life it was not reversible and we could not have the marriage convalidated

Regards

 

[Gorgias]

I had been told (not by my Pastor) that if we took up a Chaste life it was not reversible and we could not have the marriage convalidated

That’s why it’s important to talk to your priest, and not someone who might have little or no experience with canon law (including well-meaning folks on an internet forum).

To follow up on Suscipe’s answer, “theoretically” your wife doesn’t necessarily have to wait till Easter or go through RCIA in order to be received into full communion with the Church (since, all other things notwithstanding, she’s already a validly-baptized Christian, right?). But, many (most?) pastors tend to have folks go through the RCIA process in order to enter into the Church.

 

[MikeJH1]

My wife finished her RCIA course prior to Easter last year, but the annulment was not completed till September last year, so she was not allowed to enter the church.

We have been told that the convalidation will take around 9 months.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

We have been told that the convalidation will take around 9 months.

Who told you this? Marriage prep does not normally take that long. Have you talked with your pastor about your situation? It sounds like you may be getting answers from other people who may not have the correct information.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Hello!

We are all called to chastity according to our state in life, I’m going to imagine that you are living in Continence. Your pastor is going to make the pastoral decisions here. Make an appointment to talk with him.

 

[maryjk]

In addition, many parishes don’t have couples that have been civilly married for 30 years go through even 6 months of marriage prep.

We didn’t have to, and we had only been married for 11 years.

It took 3 months, from request to ceremony. (No previous marriages with which to contend.