Is my marriage valid in the Catholic Church?

[bbeth56]

I am Catholic, and my husband is Methodist. We were married in his (Methodist) church almost 38 years ago. His minister and my parish priest jointly performed the ceremony (both signatures are on the marriage license). I just recently found out by accident (during a discussion with my parish priest) that the priest who assisted in the ceremony never filed the ‘paperwork’ (dispensation?) that is supposedly necessary when a performs a wedding ceremony outside the Catholic Church. He kept asking me if I had signed any papers. I honestly don’t remember signing anything. There is no record of it in the books at my parish (I was baptized, received 1st Holy Communion and Confirmed at this same parish) that this wedding ever took place. When I became upset about it, he said to me “just let it go.” Well, I cannot let it go! The parish secretary told me that some of the former parish priests were notorious for not filing paperwork due to their workload. I have been told by some that my marriage is not recognized by the Catholic Church. Can you advise me as to what steps I need to take, if any, to fix this? I cannot seem to get any answers from my parish.

Thank you and God Bless you,
beth

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

It sounds like the priest in question didn’t fulfill the proper paperwork to obtain a dispensation to have the wedding in the Methodist church. Failure to have that dispensation does render a marriage invalid. Obviously this was not your fault and you have no culpability since you trusted the priest to take care of what was necessary.
You could do a simple validation in which you exchange vows anew or you could apply for a radical sanation. In a radical sanation the Bishop accepts the original exchange of vows and the marriage is “retroactively” validated.

For further reading: Archdiocese of Los Angeles Radical Sanation Instructions