Is a Catholic wedding still valid if not done legally?

[BirdGoBOOM]

I would like to know if my fiancee and I were to get married in just the Church alone without a marriage certificate or anything civilly binding, if it would be a valid marriage in God’s eyes.

I am an American, and my fiancee is a New Zealander. We have been in a long-distance relationship for seven years, but only have physically been together for six months. Our plan is for her to come visit me in the near future, us to get married by the Church only, by a priest and spend time together for a month. Once the month is over and she leaves, I will enter the Navy, do my three months of training, and then, after that, legally marrying her so we can live together for good, finally.

I have spoken to a Navy recruiter, and he informed me that marrying a non-citizen would complicate and prolong my entry into the Navy. The reason we would like to get married before hand, to put it bluntly, is so that we can be intimate with each other. As you can imagine, 7 years of relationship minus 6 months of physical proximity = 6-1/2 years of talk-only. When we DO get together, we like to make the most of it, not just a handshake and a kiss. We would like to be intimate with each other, but in a way that God approves.

We are both 25 years old, and we don’t want to lose any more time holding back our love and affection for each other since we’re not getting any younger. This question has been troubling us for a while now. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to reading your answer.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

To put it bluntly, you are not going to find a priest willing to marry you illegally for the reasons you’ve given. If you’ve already waited seven years, you can wait another six months. Look at it this way: If the only thing that has kept the two of you chaste is thousands of miles, then you are simply not ready for marital chastity – particularly since you will be entering the military and can expect long deployments overseas where you will be expected (to put it delicately) “to maintain personal purity” and to avoid romantic relationships with women you meet while on deployment.

I can only recommend that if you want to enter the Navy and get married, then go do your training and then marry your fiancee, both in the eyes of God and the state. Then, and only then, will you be free to enjoy marital intimacy.