Having a Marriage Blessed

[Lux_et_veritas]

Case: A Catholic woman who has had all the sacraments, but fell away from the church into agnosticism for a time, met an agnostic man and joined in a civil union, wants to rejoin the faith and have her marriage blessed. She goes to confession to talk about the agnositicism (now converted), talks about sins over the years, and discusses having her marriage blessed.

Priest (A) tells her she needs to abstain from sex until marriage is blessed and she and hubby will have thier case submitted to the archdiocese and go through six weeks of marriage counseling (like any couple would go through prior to marriage).

Priest (B) tells her that she and hubby don’t necessarily have to abstain from sex but should refrain from communion until marriage is blessed and no marriage counseling is necessary. He too says case must be submitted to archdiocese.

Why the difference? Can they both be right?

One priest says 6 weeks of marriage classes is required.

 

[CARose]

Did either have a previous marriage requiring annulment?

Otherwise, I thought that the pastoral requirement is to assume a marriage to be valid, hence a simple blessing would resolve the issue. You submit the request, it’s granted and the marriage is sacramental.

But I’m not an expert on this.

CARose

 

[marty1818]

I’d post it on Ask an Apologist. They know better than I would of these kind of things.

matthew

 

[Deacon_Ed]

As CARose has noted, the only reason for submitting the case would be if there were prior marriages. If this were the first marriage for both then no diocesan involvement is necessary. With regard to the counseling, that’s a judgement call. If they’ve been happily married for a long time I will generally not require additional counseling. If, on the other hand, they’ve been married a year or two than I might depending on how well I feel they are communicating about the important things in a marriage.

Deacon Ed

 

[puzzleannie]

Lux_et_veritas:

Case: A Catholic woman who has had all the sacraments, but fell away from the church into agnosticism for a time, met an agnostic man and joined in a civil union, wants to rejoin the faith and have her marriage blessed. She goes to confession to talk about the agnositicism (now converted), talks about sins over the years, and discusses having her marriage blessed.

Priest (A) tells her she needs to abstain from sex until marriage is blessed and she and hubby will have thier case submitted to the archdiocese and go through six weeks of marriage counseling (like any couple would go through prior to marriage).

Priest (B) tells her that she and hubby don’t necessarily have to abstain from sex but should refrain from communion until marriage is blessed and no marriage counseling is necessary. He too says case must be submitted to archdiocese.

Why the difference? Can they both be right?

One priest says 6 weeks of marriage classes is required.

both priests are essentially telling her the same thing - she is not married in the eyes of the church and may not receive the sacraments until the situation is rectified. the validity of any prior marriage will have to be judged before the second marriage can be convalidated. If this is a first marriage for both, they are invited pursue the proper preparation and have the marriage convalidated. Until then either she and her husband abstain from sexual relations and live as brother and sister, or she cannot avail herself of the sacraments of penance and Eucharist. Most dioceses require some type of marriage classes or convalidation conference for couples seeking to have their marraige convalidated. This is to make sure that whatever circumstances led to the couple marrying outside the church have been resolved, the couple intends what the Church requires of marriage and so forth.