Converting after marriage in Episcopal Church?

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Torres

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Hi, I’ve been contemplating converting to Catholicism. The richness of culture, the beauty in the liturgy, and the strong moral values are all reasons that I’m interested. I was an atheist or agnostic for at least 10 years, but have realized a real emptiness in that outlook on life.

Let me set up my current situation. I have a daughter from a previous relationship, never married. My girlfriend, divorced with a child, and I live together and are engaged to be married. We are set to be married in an Episcopalian church. We were both baptized Methodist, fell away from religion, but are now attending eucharist every week. Ever since meeting each other, our lives have improved greatly and our eyes opened to how misguided we were in most everything we did.

So I guess my question is, if I were to start an RCIA program after our marriage in the Episcopal church, would we be recognized as married or would the church see us as cohabiting?
 
The Church would recognize a marriage in an Episcopalian church – that’s not the issue. The potential issue is your girlfriend’s previous marriage and divorce. That marriage would need to be investigated by a marriage tribunal to determine if she is free to marry you.

I’d contact a Catholic pastor for more information. Good luck!
 
Torres said:
So I guess my question is, if I were to start an RCIA program after our marriage in the Episcopal church, would we be recognized as married or would the church see us as cohabiting?
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In general, the Catholic Church recognizes the marriages of non-Catholics as valid marriages. Non-Catholics who are in valid marriages can enter the Church and there are no further actions needed regarding their marriage.

However, you mention that your girlfriend is divorced. Therefore, she has a prior bond. So, in general, such a person is not free to marry another. If you do marry civilly, or in the EC, and then ask to be received into the Catholic Church, the marriage situation will need to be dealt with first.

This is something you should talk about with your Catholic pastor. It can seem intimidating, but you just take it one step at a time. Each situation is unique. If you are both serious about marrying and already serious about the Catholic Church, perhaps the best course of action is to sit down with the Catholic pastor to discuss the situation before you proceed with a marriage in the EC.
 
If this is both your first marriage and your fiancee’s first marriage, your marriage before an Episcopal minister would be presumed valid were you to complete RCIA and be received into (converted to) the Catholic Church. The Catholic parish office may wish to have a copy of your marriage license to add to its sacramental records.
 
Thank you for the replies. My fiancee and I talked a lot about our stance on religion and decided to dive into the Catholic church. Signed up for RCIA and have a meeting with the parish priest next week. We are so excited.
 
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