Is this marriage valid?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kielbasi
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kielbasi

Guest
Man is baptized and raised Catholic.

Leaves RCC to join a cult at age 19.

Leaves cult at age 20.

Gets married to protestant woman at age 24 in the protestant church. Never joins a protestant church.

Reconnects with the Catholic Church at age 40, attending again as if he had never left.
 
If I am not mistaken, it’s invalid in the eyes of the Church. A person baptised as a Catholic is bound to be married in the Catholic Church. A Catholic can get married in a non-Catholic Christian church but a priest would need to petition the bishop on behalf of the couple for a “Dispensation from Canonical Form”. If the dispensation is not obtained the marriage is invalid (Code of Canon Law, 1124-25).

In the situation you mentioned, the man left the Church and joined a cult. I am not sure if that is considered “formally leaving the Church”. Does anyone here now what consititutes “formally leaving the Church”?
 
I would think that if there are nothing else (prior marrages etc.) all that you would need to do is contact your priest and have the marrage blessed in the Church. It should be an easy thing.
 
I have been there so can tell you definitely that this marriage is valid.

I was raised Catholic and left the church at 15 by a formal act i.e. getting baptised into another religion. This formal act meant I was no longer bound by canonical form or obligation. Eventually, I was married in a Presbytarian church. Because of having formally left the church, my marriage was considered valid and sacramental. However, it was not blessed. When I came back to the church, I just had the marriage blessed.

So unless there are any previous marriages, this man’s marriage would be valid, though unblessed by the church, especially if he had formally joined the cult.
 
All marriages are presumed valid, but not necessarily sacramental. If the lapsed Catholic has now returned…he may not receive any sacraments particularly the Eucharist until his marriage is validated in the Catholic church. If there are no prior marriages of his Protestant spouse than there will be little reason to expect a delay or a need for an assessment for a possible anulment. But to get a clearer answer, he should approach the priest at his particular parish where he now attends.
 
Ask your priest.

Ask a priest that has the position in the diocese to answer these specific questions if you parish priest doesn’t really know what to say.
 
40.png
Kielbasi:
Man is baptized and raised Catholic.

Leaves RCC to join a cult at age 19.

Leaves cult at age 20.

Gets married to protestant woman at age 24 in the protestant church. Never joins a protestant church.

Reconnects with the Catholic Church at age 40, attending again as if he had never left.
Click to expand...
Every case is different and all the minor details need to be known. But in general:

If when he left the RCC to join the cult he formally renounced the Catholic faith. Then he is no longer Catholic and no longer is bound by Canon Law. Baptism marks a person as a Christian. Living the Catholic Faith makes one a Catholic.

So did he renounce the Catholic Faith when he joined the cult?

When he married the protestant when asked about his faith/religion what did he say?

What did he have to do to be reconciled to the Catholic Church?
If he truly left . He would have had to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and make a public profession of faith in the Catholic Church.
 
40.png
stbruno:
All marriages are presumed valid, but not necessarily sacramental. If the lapsed Catholic has now returned…he may not receive any sacraments particularly the Eucharist until his marriage is validated in the Catholic church. If there are no prior marriages of his Protestant spouse than there will be little reason to expect a delay or a need for an assessment for a possible anulment. But to get a clearer answer, he should approach the priest at his particular parish where he now attends.
Click to expand...
All valid Marriages between a validly Baptized male and a validly Baptized female are always Sacramental. Any Lapsed Catholic who returns to union with the Catholic Church through Reconciliation (and profession if needed) is free to receive the other Sacraments as long as they are not in a invalid or irregular Marriage situation.
 
40.png
mumto5:
I have been there so can tell you definitely that this marriage is valid.

I was raised Catholic and left the church at 15 by a formal act i.e. getting baptised into another religion. This formal act meant I was no longer bound by canonical form or obligation. Eventually, I was married in a Presbytarian church. Because of having formally left the church, my marriage was considered valid and sacramental. However, it was not blessed. When I came back to the church, I just had the marriage blessed.

So unless there are any previous marriages, this man’s marriage would be valid, though unblessed by the church, especially if he had formally joined the cult.
Click to expand...
Just a comment. If a Marriage is valid and Sacramental. But it’s just not a “Catholic” marriage. The Blessing of the Marriage by a Catholic priest is not necessary or required. Although may be done.
 
Br. Rich SFO:
Just a comment. If a Marriage is valid and Sacramental. But it’s just not a “Catholic” marriage. The Blessing of the Marriage by a Catholic priest is not necessary or required. Although may be done.
Click to expand...
According to my priest it is required. While my marriage was valid and sacramental, I was still ‘outside the church’ until such time as it had been formally blessed. Maybe because my husband was protestant as he had to submit his baptism certificate for this. As such, while still in what was recognised as a valid and sacramental marriage, I could not receive communion until the marriage had been blessed by the church. There was never a formal blessing, merely a putting in of a form for an after the fact dispensation.

Not that I was going to put up with being told my marriage wasn’t valid. Fortunately, it wasn’t an issue.
 
40.png
mumto5:
According to my priest it is required. While my marriage was valid and sacramental, I was still ‘outside the church’ until such time as it had been formally blessed. Maybe because my husband was protestant as he had to submit his baptism certificate for this. As such, while still in what was recognised as a valid and sacramental marriage, I could not receive communion until the marriage had been blessed by the church. There was never a formal blessing, merely a putting in of a form for an after the fact dispensation.

Not that I was going to put up with being told my marriage wasn’t valid. Fortunately, it wasn’t an issue.
Click to expand...
It is the terms used by people that adds confusion. Many priests and other suse the term “Blessing a Marriage” as a substitute for Convalidation and it’s really not the same thing.
 
Br. Rich SFO:
It is the terms used by people that adds confusion. Many priests and others use the term “Blessing a Marriage” as a substitute for Convalidation and it’s really not the same thing.
Click to expand...
 
Br. Rich SFO:
It is the terms used by people that adds confusion. Many priests and other suse the term “Blessing a Marriage” as a substitute for Convalidation and it’s really not the same thing.
Click to expand...
Sorry to disagree again but my marriage did NOT need convalidation. Had the priest insulted my perfectly valid marriage like that I’d have walked…
 
Valid but not sacramental.

fine line but makes a difference.

It isn’t an insult no more than not allowing a person to recieve the Eucharist for a set of reasons.
 
Valid but not sacramental.
Click to expand...
Can two baptized Christians have a non-sacramental marriage? Even two protestants (although they don’t recognize it as a sacrament?)

I was under the impression that non-sacramental marriage was only for non-christians, or between a christian and non-christian.
 
40.png
Kielbasi:
Can two baptized Christians have a non-sacramental marriage? Even two protestants (although they don’t recognize it as a sacrament?)

I was under the impression that non-sacramental marriage was only for non-christians, or between a christian and non-christian.
Click to expand...
If both parties are baptised, the marriage is sacramental even if not ‘blessed’ by the church.

I suspect my priest who studied sacramental theology in Rome knows what he’s talking about.
 
40.png
mumto5:
Sorry to disagree again but my marriage did NOT need convalidation. Had the priest insulted my perfectly valid marriage like that I’d have walked…
Click to expand...
I’m not commenting on your specific Marriage since I do not know any of the details.

A Marriage does not have to be Blessed. A blessing is optional.
It just has to be valid.
To be valid it does not need to be Sacramental.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top