Marriage and children outside of marriage

[lifeteen_singer]

My fiancé has a son from a previous relationship with a girl to whom he wasn’t married. He is not baptised, but has Christian beliefs. I am Catholic and obviously want our marriage to be recognized by the Catholic Church. Would they allow us to marry in their church?

 

[Catholic2003]

Very probably.

Since he wasn’t married previously, your fiancé won’t need an annulment.

Since he isn’t baptized, you will need a dispensation from the bishop, which your priest can apply for.

Since he has a child, he needs to be meeting his natural obligations towards his son, e.g., child support, etc.

 

[lifeteen_singer]

I had figured that I would need to write a request to the bishop; when my Catholic friend married her raised-Lutheran husband, she did the same thing. But I was curious how different my situation would be since my fiancé was never baptised.

And yes, he is definitely meeting his natural obligations to his son.

Thank you.

 

[Catholic2003]

lifeteen singer:

But I was curious how different my situation would be since my fiancé was never baptised.

It is very similar to your friend’s situation. You will be asked to declare that you are prepared to remove any and all dangers of defecting from the faith, and to make a sincere promise to do all in your power in order that all the children will be baptised and brought up in the catholic Church; your fiancé will need to be informed of these promises. You and your fiancé will have to attend pre-Cana (or Engaged Encounter) classes.
lifeteen singer:

Thank you.

You’re very welcome.