Marriage, RICA, Annullment?

[allana]

Hi, i need some advice. My friend recently got married outside of the Catholic Church, without its consent, to woman who attends an evanglistic healing ministry (im not sure what type of christian to class her as) He has only been baptized as an infant in the Catholic Church, and i’ve encouraged him to return to our church and join RICA. But he is sacred that the priest will annull his marriage and thus he is unwilling to do join classes. Will his marriage be annulled if he tries to join RICA? Will he be able to take communion in our church, even though he has taken it first outside the Catholic Church?

 

[NMJenny]

i’ve encouraged him to return to our church and join RICA. But he is sacred that the priest will annull his marriage and thus he is unwilling to do join classes. Will his marriage be annulled if he tries to join RICA?

An annullment is something that a person must request himself, not something that is forced on him by a priest, or even bishop! So tell your friend not to let this fear keep him from investigating RICA.

Of course before he could take communion in the Catholic Church, his marriage situation would have to be regularized in some fashion…

 

[allana]

i think he read somewhere in the catechism that marriage is not valid outside the church without its consent.

 

[JimO]

Will his marriage be annulled if he tries to join RICA? Will he be able to take communion in our church, even though he has taken it first outside the Catholic Church?

If neither he nor his wife were previously married, then there isn’t an obstacle to their being married. Catholics can receive permission to marry outside the faith; however, in order to have the Church formally recognize their marriage, they would have to meet with a priest and go through the equivalent of a marriage preparation program. Then, their marriage could be “regularized” so that they are recognized as having received the Sacrament of Matrimony.

However, if either of them has been married and divorced, their marriage could not be recognized by the Church unless the previous marriage(s) was annulled.

Regarding his receiving Communion, he would have to complete the RCIA program and receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Communion, and Confirmation after completing RCIA. He could not receive Communion in the Catholic Church until this was done if he had never received his first Holy Communion or Reconciliation as a child. If he had received these Sacraments, he would still need to go to confession before receiving Communion.