Is my marriage sacramental & is my husband still catholic?

[tmacrae]

My husband and I have been married for 32 years. We had a civil marriage in Reno, NV, 32 years ago, then we were married by the Catholic Church a year later. I am a fully-initiated cradle-Catholic. My husband was baptized Catholic as a baby, but has never received the sacraments of First Eucharist or Confirmation. When preparing for marriage in the Catholic Church, the priest told us that he would have to receive 1st Communion and Confirmation or that we would have to declare him ‘non-Catholic’ so that we could then have an inter-faith marriage. It didn’t seem right for him to have to go through the sacraments just to marry me; he really didn’t have an understanding or appreciation for Catholicism, or any religion for that matter. So we went ahead and declared him non-Catholic. We also promised that our children would be raised Catholic, which my husband is ok with. At this time, my husband has no plans to become fully initiated, but he attends mass with us and fully supports our children being raised as Catholic. He receives a blessing during Communion, which is encouraged by our priests.
I have been teaching catechism in my parish for about 20 years and am preparing to receive my basic certification as a catechist. From what I’ve learned and from conversations with others in my parish, I’ve begun to question this ‘non-Catholic’ declaration 32 years ago. I am pretty sure that our marriage is a valid Sacramental marriage. But one of our priests says that my husband is in fact still Catholic because of his baptism. Another fellow catechist says that being Catholic can never be taken away. Is this true?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

In the original 1983 Code of Canon Law there was a section that dealt with “formal defection” from the Catholic Church. What qualified as “formal defection” was rather vague and various opinions abounded. In the early to mid 80’s its quite possible that a well meaning priest sincerely tried to interpret what formal defection meant or was given certain instructions from his Bishop’s office. In 2006 the Pontifical Commission for Legislative Texts issued a “Notification” that narrowly defined formal defection. However in 2009 any reference to formal defection was abolished from the code of canon law.

Given that your husband was undoubtedly baptized and your marriage took place within the Catholic Church, you can be most assured that you are in a sacramental marriage.

Despite the (innocently) erroneous reading of canon law at the time of your wedding, your husband by virtue of his Catholic baptism is indeed considered a Catholic. Albeit he is not a fully initiated one, but he is one.