Absolutely! As far as I know, there is no requirement in the Church in regards to the validity and licity of the Sacrament, that it must be approved of by the state.
The Church follows the laws in the countries in which she operates. I don’t know of any countries that allow a religious marriage without a civil marriage.
Only in the case of *necessity *(and with the permission of the ordinary).
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According to the canon text, that should be “Only in the case of necessity OR with the permission of the ordinary.”
The answer is no.
OTOH, secret marriages are allowed and those are not reported to anyone. One of the reasons given for a secret marriage is that in certain instances the law of the land contravenes natural law and is unjust (laws forbidding interracial marriage for example). In that case the Church would marry a couple and the marriage would not be reported to the State for obvious reasons. Such a situation doesn’t apply in European countries that require a civil before a religious marriage.
I would add that in the case of a secret marriage, it would be implied that the couple intends to keep the religious marriage, and most likely the nature of their relationship, a secret. I think it unlikely that there are many circumstances where a couple could be publicly known “as a couple” and be permitted to have a secret marriage.
Oops. Thanks. :tiphat:
Actually, in the case of concubinage, where the couple has been presumed to already be married, a secret marriage may be permitted to prevent scandal. Don’t know how often you’d come across that situation though.
In order to receive Medicaid treatment, your total assets need to be quite small. This would have left my Uncle a pauper after the death of his wife. But by dividing the estate, her 1/2 could pay for her care until Medicaid would assist financially (should she live that long). Thus she would receive care and he would be able to live the rest of his life on his ‘half’ of their life savings.
No religious marriage should take place without it being legal. Only in extremely serious situations does the Church make exceptions.
Yes it can be. Only Catholics are bound by canon law. Therefore two baptized Protestants married before a JP is indeed sacramental.
As previously stated, only under rare and serious conditions…
In Europe it is not uncommon to have a civil marriage first and then the religious ceremony afterwards. This is because some European countries do not recognize religious ceremonies as legally binding. In those countries the Catholic Church will not marry someone who is not already legally married.
My guess is that the marriage by the army chaplain was to guarantee the marriage was legal under United States law.
This is a pious legend, not rooted in any fact.