Marriage in the Apocalypse?

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Hawkeye916

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So fun hypothetical question…let’s say there is some huge disaster, “The Walking Dead” type apocalyptic event (but not the second coming), and the world is reduced to dog eat dog world, survival of the fittest, small bands of people surviving together, end of modern civilization, all that (if any of you still watch The Walking Dead you’ll know what I’m talking about). Anyway, let’s say you find love in the midst of this disaster and want to marry this person and start a family…BUT due to widespread disaster and lack of communication/civilization, you are extremely unlikely to come upon a Catholic priest. What would you do?? Pray fervently and vow to each other and God your eternal commitment and “marry” without a priest, and begin living as a married couple? Or refrain from each other and hold out hope that maybe some time in your life, in this now very dangerous world, hope to someday happen upon a priest to marry you?
 
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If God were to permit that than it would probably be the end times.
 
In your world would the Church not exist? That would be impossible. But in the Roman rite marriage is not between the priest and the couple but between the couple themselves. Do that sacrament would still hold. However, ordinations, the eucharist, confession, etc would be affected. Baptism would not as anyone can baptize.
 
Hoosier-Daddy said:
In your world would the Church not exist? That would be impossible.
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In this situation I imagine a great separation from the church and the people. Just like a huge disaster that would take a good while to recover from. Have you seen The Walking Dead? Imagine a world like that.
 
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I’ve seen it. Of course one of its problems is that in these breakdowns of society historically the Church thrives. Its human nature.
 
A couple who are otherwise free to marry can exchange their vows without a priest or deacon (1) if either of them is in imminent danger of death, or (2) if they are deprived from access to a clergyman and can reasonably expect this condition to continue for at least a month.
 
What you are proposing is what happens in a number of parts of the world where there is no priest present. And the answer is the same; the couple adminsiter the sacrament to each other. Given the circumstances you propose, what would be done is what is done now; that when a priest can be found, the marriage would be blessed and noted in the records of the Church. You would be married upon the intentional vows to create a covenant relationship with the other.
 
Hawkeye916 said:
Anyway, let’s say you find love in the midst of this disaster and want to marry this person and start a family…
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This isn’t a question; it’s history and canon law.

Where clergy are only irregularly available, vows may be exchanged without their presence and recorded later. As I just mentioned in another post, this was common in the US southwest until just over a century ago.

hawk
 
Interesting. So couples who did this could engage in the marital act without danger of the mortal sin of fornication? Having their own vows to eachother and God sufficent enough to warrant a valid marriage? (Granted, if they ever found a priest, he would bless the marriage, but in our scenario it may never happen).
 
Of course they could, as under those circumstances, they are in fact married.
 
I mean of course eventually there would be a priest. There would be a Pope, bishops and ordinations. As long as there were humans there would be a Church.
 
Of course, “eventually” could mean long after they’re both dead. When the priests were expelled from Japan and the Church went underground, priests did not return until 250 years later. By that time, there was no one in Japan who had ever met anyone who had met a priest.
 
The Church survived on Marriage and Baptism… what amazing graces.
 
And their descendants held fast to the promises of their ancestors that the priests would return, and how they could be recognized. Knowing that the priests might not return in their lifetimes, the generation that saw them exiled passed down three signs by which their descendants could recognize priests: 1. They will not be married, 2. They will have statues of Mother Mary, and 3. They will obey the Pope in Rome.
 
I suppose they took it for granted that the first missionaries to return would be priests.
 
Technically, the priest does not marry you. The priest is a witness of the Church in case and disputes come up later. Same as the other witness. They are there in case they have to testify in court that they saw these people get married. In truth, the couple marries each other. It’s the exchange of consent that marks the moment marriage starts. The "I do"s can happen anywhere.
 
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