Marriage in the Episcopal Church, valid?

[Compeccator]

Hi everyone. We are currently testing the waters of the Tiber and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if our marriage is valid in the eyes of the Church.

We were married in the Episcopal Church 8 years ago and have had 3(beautiful, awesome, and fun) kids in our union.

The Episcopal Church obviously considers it a valid Sacrament, but I have my doubts that the Catholic Church will recognize it.

Also she is a fallen away but confirmed Catholic. Not sure if that makes any difference or not.

Faithfully Yours in Christ a Compecattor.

 

[1ke]

The Episcopal Church obviously considers it a valid Sacrament, but I have my doubts that the Catholic Church will recognize it.

Non-Catholics marry validly when they marry civilly. If those non-Catholics are baptized, their marriage is valid and a sacrament. (This, of course, is presuming they were otherwise free to marry and did not have impediments such as a prior marriage, or other invalidating factor).

So, yes, the Church accepts marriage between two Episcopalians or Anglicans, or other denomination.

Also she is a fallen away but confirmed Catholic. Not sure if that makes any difference or not.

Yes, that makes a difference. Your wife is a Catholic. In my above paragrraph, I was talking about two Anglicans. But, we are not talking about two Anglicans. Again, your wife is baptized Catholic. Therefore, she is bound by the laws of the Church on marriage. (She understandably may not have known this or cared at the time, but this is the Catholic Church’s teaching on the matter).

If she did not receive a dispensation from form to marry you in the Anglican church, then when you enter the Catholic Church your marriage would need convalidation or radical sanation. This is a matter easily addressed with your Catholic pastor.

Faithfully Yours in Christ a Compecattor.

Hope this helps. Please do not let it be an impediment to your journey to the Catholic Church-- it is easily rectified.

 

[Compeccator]

@1ke - Thank you very much. That is what I figured, should not be an issue for either one of us, and she may actually like the idea

Your answer does lead me to another question I had not considered, I myself was baptized Catholic but was brought up, communicated and confirmed Anglican, this seems to be an issue that I will have to address.However, I think this is the wrong forum and I’ll start a new thread on the subject.

Thanks again!

 

[1ke]

Your answer does lead me to another question I had not considered, I myself was baptized Catholic but was brought up, communicated and confirmed Anglican, this seems to be an issue that I will have to address.However, I think this is the wrong forum and I’ll start a new thread on the subject.

Then, neither of you is Anglican. You are both already Catholic.

Since you have not completed your sacraments of initiation, you should talk to your (Catholic) pastor about how to do so. It is typical to place Catholics who need sacraments in RCIA with non-Catholics converting. Depending upon your level of catechesis, your pastor may or may not do so. So, just have a conversation with him about your readiness for your remaining sacraments of initation sooner rather than later.

If your wife has already completed her sacraments of initiation (Confirmation/Eucharist), she need only go to confession and resolve your marriage situation to resume the full sacramental life in the Church.

 

[getysbg]

This is an easy ‘fix’! It happens often and no reason to worry. Just let your priest know so that it can be taken care of.

AND WELCOME HOME!!

 

[St_Francis]

So glad to see that things are going well for you on your journey

One point: are either you or your wife previously married tonsomeone still living?

If all you need is for your marriage to be blessed by the Church, it is very quick and easy And also nice.

 

[jediknight]

Non-Catholics marry validly when they marry civilly. If those non-Catholics are baptized, their marriage is valid and a sacrament. (This, of course, is presuming they were otherwise free to marry and did not have impediments such as a prior marriage, or other invalidating factor).

So, yes, the Church accepts marriage between two Episcopalians or Anglicans, or other denomination.

So non catholics marrying civilly is vaild as stated here, and other denominations that marry with in their own faith are still considered valid by the church, but the church requires conditions for catholics to marry outside of the faith in order for their marriage to be considered valid, where as the fore mentioned are in turn not governed by the RCC , and yet the RCC is the authority on the matter ?

how does that make sense ?

 

[jediknight]

that an things I do not understand as a catholic myself, is ; if God looks at marriage as a sacrament, is God really judging who a catholic marries ? what would be the point in such a judgement ? Considering the couple is living a good moral life together not running a muck, why would God bring two loving people together to create a family, yet the Church will turn around an say sorry you have broken our rules and we do not acknowledge your marriage and more over you are probably in a state of sin.

 

[dans0622]

that an things I do not understand as a catholic myself, is ; if God looks at marriage as a sacrament, is God really judging who a catholic marries ? what would be the point in such a judgement ? Considering the couple is living a good moral life together not running a muck, why would God bring two loving people together to create a family, yet the Church will turn around an say sorry you have broken our rules and we do not acknowledge your marriage and more over you are probably in a state of sin.

Hello,

I think you have to maintain a distinction between the external and internal forums. The Church, as a visible society, has the right and duty to make laws governing the external conduct of her members–just like any civil government has this right and duty. Since the authority of the Church to make laws is directly from God, of course God “respects” the laws of the Church. So, if a person said “I received a revelation from God that all these Church laws about marriage are actually from the devil” it would be obvious that this message was not really from God. At the same time, the internal forum (i.e., whether or not someone has committed sin or how God might judge a person for doing something) is a different matter. Someone might be in an obviously invalid marriage but also not in sin due to a lack of knowledge.

Put a different way, we must remember that the Church has to enforce her laws and while ignorance of a law does not mean the law has no effect for that person (that would lead to chaos), the person’s culpability is a different issue because ignorance does have an effect in that arena.

I hope this helps.

Dan