Cruise ship marriages by catholic priest

  • Thread starter Thread starter smithtg
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

smithtg

Guest
connundrum: My wife has a catholic cousin who is getting married on a cruise ship type arrangement…

My wife then told me she knows a priest who takes 2 weeks per year to serve as a priest on a cruise ship (not uncommon I know, just look at the catholic answers cruise!) He says mass, hears confessions etc…

My question is this, If her cousin is married by such a priest as described above, does this constitute the proper form? I have a hard time grasping that the cousin can not find a good CHURCH to get married in; but thats not the point I guess, Im just wondering if he would be validly married. The other thing is Im not so sure that this is even the case as the cousin may just be getting married by a minister or someone outside the church. This of course is invalid without a dispensation… The end point Im trying to get to is that I would like to provide him with something the ensures his marriage is valid; either get a dispensation (possible), find a priest onboard (discussion above) or just get it done the common way in a church and ditch the cruise idea (more friction there).

Im also wondering along what lines the priests who celebrate masses on cruise ships use to be allowed to do so. The cruise ship isnt really a ‘parish’, but it must be recognized by some biship or someone in Rome?

thanks for the discussion
 
she cannot do this at all unless she goes to her parish, or the grooms and goes through all the required marriage preparation, and obtains a dispensation to be married outside the parish, outside the diocese and in a venue that is not a Church or oratory.

Many (not all) cruise ship priests are rent-a-priests, dissidents who have left the Church to get married without canon law procedure. This priest must have obtained a faculty from the presiding bishop (who that is, bishop of the home port of the cruise line I don’t know, but find out) to perform any of the sacraments, including marriage. She should take pains to find out who the priest will be and assure herself he does have such faculty.

This preparation takes time and if she waits until the last minute it won’t happen, and her marriage will be invalid for lack of form at the least.

It is possible, although unlikely, for a valid Catholic marriage to be contracted in such circumstances. The obvious answer is to get married in the normal way, and then for those who were invited on the cruise to embark after the ceremony. Why a couple would want their friends and family along on a honeymoon is another question entirely.

In any case, this is the cousin’s problem, is there a particular reason you are getting involved in the planning?
 
As puzzledanne pointed out, the couple must go through all the required marriage prep required by their home diocese AND get a dispensation from their bishop to have the marriage performed outside of a Church or Oratory.

This dispensation would be more easily obtained if the ship has a chapel and the marriage is performed there. Most bishops are very reluctant to dispense location outside of a religious structure.
 
puzzleannie said:
In any case, this is the cousin’s problem, is there a particular reason you are getting involved in the planning?
Click to expand...
Im not actually involved with the planning, but as a fellow catholic and as a relative to my wife I do feel like I can discuss this with his father or mother (my wife’s uncle/aunt) so that they can hopefully provide direction to their son. Im guessing if they are attending the wedding (the mother/father) that they maybe just dont know all these details about getting married in the church - very possible with less catecized catholics. But also knowing my wife’s mother’s family, its also possible that they do know and are just choosing to look the other way. This same cousin had an older sister who was married in their home parish and we attended this wedding…
 
If they don’t know all the details about planning a Catholic wedding those will be given to the couple doing the planning–not their parents or relatives–when they meet with the priest or deacon who is preparing them for marriage. That is their starting point and should be done a year to 6 months before the planned date.
 
smithtg said:
connundrum: My wife has a catholic cousin who is getting married on a cruise ship type arrangement…

My wife then told me she knows a priest who takes 2 weeks per year to serve as a priest on a cruise ship (not uncommon I know, just look at the catholic answers cruise!) He says mass, hears confessions etc…

My question is this, If her cousin is married by such a priest as described above, does this constitute the proper form? I have a hard time grasping that the cousin can not find a good CHURCH to get married in; but thats not the point I guess, Im just wondering if he would be validly married. The other thing is Im not so sure that this is even the case as the cousin may just be getting married by a minister or someone outside the church. This of course is invalid without a dispensation… The end point Im trying to get to is that I would like to provide him with something the ensures his marriage is valid; either get a dispensation (possible), find a priest onboard (discussion above) or just get it done the common way in a church and ditch the cruise idea (more friction there).

Im also wondering along what lines the priests who celebrate masses on cruise ships use to be allowed to do so. The cruise ship isnt really a ‘parish’, but it must be recognized by some biship or someone in Rome?

thanks for the discussion
Click to expand...
A Priests Bishop can give him permission to celebrate Mass and Hear Confessions outside of his parish. One assumes that he has permission of the Bishop within who’s territory he is doing this, if it’s not in international waters. Most Bishops will not allow Marriages outside a Christian chapel at least. My guess (I’ve never been on a ship) is that there is a common chapel used on board by several different Cristian communities, like those in secular hospitals. The people would need to complete the preparation, investigations, ask for and receive the permissions and dispenations from their Bishop and pastor to do this.

I can just see someone asking where were you married?
Answer: 26deg 7min 13sec W/ 87deg 13min 16secN @ 06/12/12Z
 
puzzleannie said:
If they don’t know all the details about planning a Catholic wedding those will be given to the couple doing the planning–not their parents or relatives–when they meet with the priest or deacon who is preparing them for marriage. That is their starting point and should be done a year to 6 months before the planned date.
Click to expand...
Yes, I know this, and I am not sure of all the details of the wedding. But now that you put it in that perspective I have this suspicion that the couple havent seen a priest for the proper marriage prep, but maybe they have too… Just an assumption I know, but if it is the fact (no prep happening) then its still possible for the parents to make a suggestion that the proper prep is needed and delay the wedding. Again Im working on minimal details.
 
Brendan said:
As puzzledanne pointed out, the couple must go through all the required marriage prep required by their home diocese AND get a dispensation from their bishop to have the marriage performed outside of a Church or Oratory.

This dispensation would be more easily obtained if the ship has a chapel and the marriage is performed there. Most bishops are very reluctant to dispense location outside of a religious structure.
Click to expand...
The only ships I know that have a chapel are the Voyager Class ships on Royal Caribbean.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top