Marriage canon law question

[1ke]

What happens in the case your marriage is found to be invalid? Is it a pretty simple process to have your marriage validated by a priest or is it a drawn out process? I ask this because me and my wife are meeting with a priest next week to discuss this particular manner.

The steps necessary to convalidate a marriage vary depending upon the reason for its invalidity. It could be a simple matter, or it could be a complex matter. It is dependent upon the impediment. This is something best discussed with the priest for an individual case. He will guide you.

 

[FrDavid96]

I guess it depends on the diocese. In ours pastors have the authority to give permission for mixed marriages. It’s clearly indicated in the forms for the pre-nuptial investigation. A copy of the form is forwarded to the Chancery office.

Not quite. The universal canon law applies to every diocese.

The bishop of your diocese may have delegated that authority to pastors, but that’s a rather “out of the ordinary” way of doing things. The bishop has the authority to delegate that decision (I’m not questioning that authority), but it’s still a decision reserved to the bishop by canon law. (Most bishops do in fact delegate this authority to the vicars general or a vicar for matrimonial concerns, etc.)

My concern is that people might come away from this thread with the impression that they can secure permission for a mixed-marriage from their local pastor, and then find out the hard way that this isn’t the case.

 

[Phemie]

Not quite. The universal canon law applies to every diocese.

The bishop of your diocese may have delegated that authority to pastors, but that’s a rather “out of the ordinary” way of doing things. The bishop has the authority to delegate that decision (I’m not questioning that authority), but it’s still a decision reserved to the bishop by canon law. (Most bishops do in fact delegate this authority to the vicars general or a vicar for matrimonial concerns, etc.)

My concern is that people might come away from this thread with the impression that they can secure permission for a mixed-marriage from their local pastor, and then find out the hard way that this isn’t the case.

By and large would the couple even be aware of the paperwork that goes back and forth between the chancery office and the parish in the cases of mixed/disparity of cult marriages? Certainly it was never mentioned when I got married and that was before this new Code of Canon Law. I knew about dispensations because mom and dad needed one for consanguinity – a dispensation that was initially refused but eventually granted after their pastor went to bat for them.

 

[FrDavid96]

By and large would the couple even be aware of the paperwork that goes back and forth between the chancery office and the parish in the cases of mixed/disparity of cult marriages? Certainly it was never mentioned when I got married and that was before this new Code of Canon Law. I knew about dispensations because mom and dad needed one for consanguinity – a dispensation that was initially refused but eventually granted after their pastor went to bat for them.

Maybe, maybe not. That very much depends on the circumstances. I’ve always felt that I have a responsibility to keep the couple informed of any information that gets sent to the chancery with regard to their marriage preparation.

The point is that if a person or a couple reads this thread and thinks “no problem, I just need the pastor’s permission” and then when the time comes to request the permission from the bishop, the couple finds that their information isn’t quite right, it could cause some problems. Someone might very well ask “why do you need to refer this to the bishop, I read on the internet that the pastor can give that permission, why are you making me do something that’s not required?” Believe me when I say that I’ve had to deal with a lot of people who think that their pastor is wrong on some issue of canon law because they read something to the contrary on the internet. It makes a pastor’s job as well as the person’s experience very difficult sometimes. If we answer questions about canon law on these threads, it’s important to get that information right.

One person’s experience of “it wasn’t mentioned” doesn’t change the canons.