Impromptu marriage

[CeaselessMedik]

I’m looking for a way for two characters in my novel to have a Catholic wedding on short notice - which I know priests try not to do - but they want to hide the fact they got pregnant out of wedlock. I think I read a while ago that the prep process can be accelerated for extenuating circumstances, like medical stuff. Can someone give me more details, please?

 

[1ke]

Assuming this story is set in the modern day (post 1970):

Rushed weddings due to pregnancy are not done in the Church. The couple goes through regular marriage prep, which is 6 months to a year in most places. A priest could do private prep in less time, but he’s not going to do it to conceal a pregnancy, as that leads to issues of nullity due to force or fear.

You can give up on this line of plot, they aren’t getting a quickie church marriage. They could be married civilly.

If this is set before 1970:
The chances are good they can go to the priest and he might marry them quietly with two witnesses and minimal prep.

 

[CeaselessMedik]

I’m asking under what conditions a priest would perform a marriage on short notice. They’re hiding the pregnancy.**

 

[1ke]

And I answered you: NONE

 

[RolandThompsonGunner]

And I answered you: NONE

Just to spitball, what if you have a couple that’s been dating for awhile, has done no formal marriage prep but is clearly building toward marriage, and one of them is struck with an aggressive terminal illness and is expected to die soon? Do you think a priest might marry them on an accelerated timeline then?

 

[1ke]

Just to spitball, what if you have a couple that’s been dating for awhile, has done no formal marriage prep but is clearly building toward marriage, and one of them is struck with an aggressive terminal illness and is expected to die soon? Do you think a priest might marry them on an accelerated timeline then?

He might, yes. But there would still be prep, paperwork, etc. It wouldn’t be six months or a year, but it also wouldn’t be “tomorrow”. KWIM?

But that isn’t what the OP asked about. The OP asked about an “impromptu marriage”.

 

[CeaselessMedik]

I think I read a while ago that the prep process can be accelerated for extenuating circumstances, like medical stuff.

So how soon could it happen, considering a life-threatening illness?

 

[Vico]

I’m looking for a way for two characters in my novel to have a Catholic wedding on short notice - which I know priests try not to do - but they want to hide the fact they got pregnant out of wedlock. I think I read a while ago that the prep process can be accelerated for extenuating circumstances, like medical stuff. Can someone give me more details, please?

(If there were already preparations, but the celebration was not planned, organized, or rehearsed.)

1983 Latin Canon Law (CIC)
Can. 1108 §1. Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local ordinary, pastor, or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and before two witnesses according to the rules expressed in the following canons and without prejudice to the exceptions mentioned in cann. 1144, 1112, §1, 1116, and 1127, §§1-2.

Canon 1116
§1 If one who, in accordance with the law, is competent to assist, cannot be present or be approached without grave inconvenience, those who intend to enter a true marriage can validly and lawfully contract in the presence of witnesses only:
1/ in danger of death;
2/ apart from danger of death, provided it is prudently foreseen that this state of affairs will continue for a month.
§2 In either case, if another priest or deacon is at hand who can be present, he must be called upon and, together with the witnesses, be present at the celebration of the marriage, without prejudice to the validity of the marriage in the presence of only the witnesses.

Cannon 1121 …
§2. Whenever a marriage is contracted according to the norm of can. 1116, a priest or deacon, if he was present at the celebration, or otherwise the witnesses in solidum with the contracting parties are bound to inform as soon as possible the pastor or local ordinary about the marriage entered into.

 

[1ke]

This canon is not applicable to the OP’s question.

Read the commentary on the code of canon law: this cannot be used to circumvent marriage prep required by diocesan norms. It wouldn’t be valid.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

CeaselessMedik:

I think I read a while ago that the prep process can be accelerated for extenuating circumstances, like medical stuff.

So how soon could it happen, considering a life-threatening illness?

Theoretically, with the permission of the bishop, it could happen in very short order. There is no delicate way to put this, but if one of the affianced were expected to die soon, there would be no real reason to have formal instruction to guard against invalidity being discovered later.

In and of itself, valid confection of the sacrament of matrimony requires no particular time frame or period of instruction. All that is needed are two partners of opposite gender free to marry, capable of the marital act, capable of giving free consent, observing canonical form, and free of any impediments under either divine or canon law. “Back in the day”, betrothed couples could find a priest — any priest — get married “right then and there”, and often had happy, holy marriages that lasted unto death. Sadly, our society isn’t stable enough anymore — and quite frankly, people’s expectations are so high (unrealistically high in many cases, if you ask me) — that this would be rarely possible.

Even from a secular standpoint, marriage is much easier to get into, than it is to get out of. (My son is asking me to make a “life book” of advice in case I’m not around to counsel him, and this is going to be one of its passages, along with such things as avoiding home equity loans — you can lose your home, I’ve seen it happen — and always being aware of the fluids in your car.) If I were making the laws for even the civil aspect of marriage, eloping and finding a “Marryin’ Sam” preacher would be impossible — I’d require written contracts and a waiting period of at least a few months. There would be no such thing as the Vegas “quickie marriage”. I would allow exceptions for “danger of death” situations, sometimes people must marry to ensure temporal benefits such as inheritance, next of kin designation, property rights (JTWROS), and so on.

 

[1ke]

All that is needed are two partners of opposite gender free to marry, capable of the marital act, capable of giving free consent, observing canonical form, and free of any impediments under either divine or canon law.

That is not “all” that is required. The canons do not specify the timeframe but they do specify instruction and investigation of freedom to marry. And they delegate the authority regarding the required instruction to the bishops, who establish the particular law of their diocese.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

HomeschoolDad:

All that is needed are two partners of opposite gender free to marry, capable of the marital act, capable of giving free consent, observing canonical form, and free of any impediments under either divine or canon law.

That is not “all” that is required. The canons do not specify the timeframe but they do specify instruction and investigation of freedom to marry. And they delegate the authority regarding the required instruction to the bishops, who establish the particular law of their diocese.

I would place “instruction” under the “capable of giving free consent” — “you do know what you are getting ready to do, don’t you?” — and “investigation of freedom to marry” would fall under determining that there are no impediments, and that the couple’s freedom to marry can be assured.

 

[bluerose]

Have your characters go to Vegas and find a “Catholic” priest (or one who has kind of “gone rogue”) to marry them with the proper credentials. Are they just looking for a guy in a collar to marry them so Mama won’t have a heart attack? Aren’t people going to be suspicious about a sudden wedding and a 8 lb. “premature” baby being born 8 months after said wedding??

Then, if they really ARE serious about being married sacramentally (even though they jumped the gun on consummating the marriage) they can go about preparing for a real, sacramental Catholic nuptial ceremony they can have with only two witnesses that are privy to their secret.

If this is a comedy, you can have the priest and Mama be good friends and he’s caught in the middle since they confessed the sham wedding to him and he’s prepping them, but has agreed to not say anything to anyone, just get them properly married after they rushed through the first “wedding”. LOTS of opportunities for things to go wrong!

 

[CeaselessMedik]

Edit: double post. Oops
Edit 2: don’t know what’s going on with my posts, but thanks to the person who pointed out people aren’t so dumb o one would figure out what was going on.

 

[bluerose]

No problem, I’m a published author and readers catch things the writer doesn’t!

 

[Vico]

This canon is not applicable to the OP’s question.

Read the commentary on the code of canon law: this cannot be used to circumvent marriage prep required by diocesan norms. It wouldn’t be valid.

I think it depends upon what impromptu refers to.

 

[TomH1]

an aggressive terminal illness and is expected to die soon?

The Church has been around a long time. It has thought about and encountered numerous scenarios. Yes, marriage can be done very quickly if one of the spouses is about to die. Canon Law deals with this. However, the OP’s question was can a marriage happen quickly so no one knows the woman is pregnant not can marriage happen quickly because one the two is near death.

 

[TomH1]

I’m assuming you want to be absolutely accurate about this. I frequently read in fiction things that the Catholic does/would not do as well as many other things that are not true. It seems to me if it’s fiction there seems to be a general acceptance that one doesn’t have to be factually correct.

 

[bluerose]

Speaking for myself, I have been very disappointed to read things IN FICTION that are not correct. Some readers might not be bothered by it, but those that know will definitely be thrown out of the story.

One example: A good friend of mine (whose books are published by a major publishing company) had a character who was a former Army Ranger approach another character (who was also an Army Ranger) with the greeting, “Oo-rah”. Even I knew that soldiers say “Hooah!” They don’t say “Oo-rah”; Marines do. It made me wonder what other details were wrong in the story.

But as far as all things Catholic, there is already enough disinformation floating around and if an author can get it right, all the better, I think. Jodi Picoult, in her book, “Change of Heart” (which is also a blatant rip-off of “The Green Mile”) has a priest say that he can reveal what a penitent said in confession if it will help solve a crime. In another series (I’ve forgotten the title and the author’s name), a priest gets a parishioner pregnant and the bishop tells him he can leave the priesthood, marry the woman and become an Anglican priest, implying that it would be the same as remaining a Catholic priest.

A writer can stretch the truth and facts a bit (hence the suggestions I gave upthread), but I don’t like inaccuracies that can lead people astray. I’m a member of the Catholic Writers Guild, and using the excuse “It’s just fiction” doesn’t allow you to state things that are untrue about the Faith and Catholics in general unless it is part of the plot and the correct teaching is presented as well. As I said, there is enough incorrect information floating around and adding to it, even in a fiction story, doesn’t help.

Sorry if I got a little carried away, but as a voracious reader, this is something that has become a pet peeve of mine!

 

[TomH1]

I agree with you but I also know that it will not change. The majority of authors are interested in presenting us with a story and often do not care whether their facts are true or not. This applies whether its our Faith, another religion or any other subject matter.

I consider it laziness on the part of the author not to do the necessary research to get their facts correct. I wish I could remember where I read, but, alas, cannot, that presenting correct facts in a fictional story makes the entire story more believable than if facts are wrong.