EDITED: Communion--Divorced and Remarried

[jimdever]

I have a friend who was divorced from his first wife due to her refusing to stay married due to his desire to continue the Christian life, attend Mass etc. So she left.

They were both Catholics at the time. She was obviously not a very good practicing one.
.
He remarried, but it was in the Lutheran Church, but he and she are still Roman Catholic.

Can they receive communion in a Catholic church? He seems to think they can.
I think they need to first be received back into the Catholic Church via RCIA.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[1ke]

He remarried, but it was in the Lutheran Church, but he and she are still Roman Catholic. Can they receive communion in a Catholic church? He seems to think they can.

You do not give enough information, and you do not clearly indicate who “they” is. Are you referring to the man and his current civil spouse? Are you referring to the first wife or the second wife? Is the second wife a Catholic? Was she also previously married? Do either of them have decrees of nullity? Are they validly married in the Catholic Church?

These are all rhetorical questions-- meant to illustrate that this is not something that can be answered here as there are too many variables.

You need to encourage the couple to make an appointment with a local parish priest, lay out all the facts, and follow the priest’s direction.

If the couple is validly married in the Catholic Church-- which would mean that he received a decree of nullity for his first attempt at marriage and that he received a dispensation to marry outside Catholic form in a Lutheran service-- then yes, he can receive communion.

If they are divorced and remarried outside the Catholic Church, then no, they may not receive communion. They are committing adultery.

See this Vatican document lest there be any doubt that this is official Church teaching:

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_14091994_rec-holy-comm-by-divorced_en.html

I think they need to first be received back into the Catholic Church via RCIA.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?

RCIA is not the correct place for two Catholics in the situation you describe. RCIA is for non-Catholics. Those who are already Catholic are not “received back” into the Church and do not go through RCIA.

They need to make an appointment with the priest to work on resolving their marriage situation and then on convalidating their current marriage and going to Reconciliation.

 

[jimdever]

First marriage is over. Hence the divorce. That first wife is in the past. That first marriage was a civil marriage, just a Justice of the Peace type thing.

Second wife is Catholic and always has been. Was married before.
My friend is Catholic and always has been.
They, my friend and his second wife (first wife is out of the picture now) got married in a Luthern church last year.
However, they, my friend and his second wife, are still Roman Catholic and still attend Mass. They just decided, last year, to get married in a Lutheran church out of state.
Just the two of them and the minister, and a witness. It was a private church wedding ceremony.

Now my friend and his second wife think they are able to receive Holy Communion in the Catholic church that they have attended for years.
They, my friend and his second wife, were Catholic when they got married by a Lutheran minister in a Lutheran church.

I don’t think they can just continue to receive communion in a Catholic church, even though they are both Catholics and always have been, due to their marriage in a church outside the Catholic church.

 

[1ke]

First marriage is over. Hence the divorce. That first wife is in the past. That first marriage was a civil marriage, just a Justice of the Peace type thing.

Second wife is Catholic and always has been. Was married before.
My friend is Catholic and always has been.
They, my friend and his second wife (first wife is out of the picture now) got married in a Luthern church last year.
However, they, my friend and his second wife, are still Roman Catholic and still attend Mass. They just decided, last year, to get married in a Lutheran church out of state.
Just the two of them and the minister, and a witness. It was a private church wedding ceremony.

Now my friend and his second wife think they are able to receive Holy Communion in the Catholic church that they have attended for years.
They, my friend and his second wife, were Catholic when they got married by a Lutheran minister in a Lutheran church.

I don’t think they can just continue to receive communion in a Catholic church, even though they are both Catholics and always have been, due to their marriage in a church outside the Catholic church.

Again, they may not receive communion and need to make an appointment with their priest to discuss decree of nullity for the first marriage(s) and convalidation of their current civil, invalid marriage.

 

[puzzleannie]

I Catholic.

Can they receive communion in a Catholic church? He seems to think they can.
I think they need to first be received back into the Catholic Church via RCIA.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?

if you are talking about two Catholics who divorced RCIA does not even enter the picture. That is the process through which non-Catholics enter the Church.

story is unclear and leaves out too many facts.

divorced Catholics can still receive communion if they have not remarried. To remarry they first need an annulment. you don’t give the facts on the man’s second marriage so we don’t know his situation.

A baptized Catholic who now identifies as a Lutheran or any other denomination and has been worshipping there needs to return to the Catholic Church via sacramental confession which includes bringing any marriage issues into line with church law.