Marriage to a non catholic that wants to be

[carloslc]

I met a woman that was married for 5 years. She is a non-denomination Christian and was married by a non denomination Christian pastor. I fell in love with her and wants to become a catholic and marry me. Is her previous marriage valid ? Is our probable marriage totally out of the question ? Please help.

 

[LilyM]

You’d have to talk to your priest about it - impossible to say without a lot more information, and most of us here aren’t experts or canon lawyers.

I believe that the mere fact she and her ex were non-denominational Christians won’t of itself invalidate their marriage, especially if it was done by a pastor of their own faith. Although there may be other factors that will make it invalid.

 

[StCsDavid]

Do talk to your parish priest about this or call your local diocese and ask to speak to someone in the Marriage Tribunal office. What needs to be determined is if a nullity of marriage is needed for her previous marriage. The Church presumes a Christian marriage is valid until proven otherwise, which is what the annulment process is for.

Was she or her former spouse baptized? If not you might ask your priest if the Pauline Privilege applies.

This chart is also kind of handy to determine what direction to go.

Pray for guidance and do talk to a priest about this.

God bless.

 

[Ruthie]

David is right.

In the meantime, there is nothing to prevent her joining the church. (I’m assuming you two are being celibate.) If she has to go through the annulment process, there will be plenty of time for RCIA!

Speaking from experience,

Ruthie

 

[carloslc]

Thank you very much everybody. I talked to my parish pastor and he clarified many things to me and now I know what to do. And yes, of course we are being celibate.

Thanks again.

 

[puzzleannie]

I met a woman that was married for 5 years. She is a non-denomination Christian and was married by a non denomination Christian pastor. I fell in love with her and wants to become a catholic and marry me. Is her previous marriage valid ? Is our probable marriage totally out of the question ? Please help.

impossible to say unless and until her first marriage is investigated by the canon law tribunal and a judgment made as to its validity based on circs at time of the marriage. until then, she is deemed to be validly married and is therefore not free to date or become romantically involved, much less engaged, to anyone else. who witnessed the marriage is irrelavent unless her first husband was CAtholic.

while this process is going on she can certainly participate in RCIA and prepare for reception into the Church. in any case that should be something she wants to do for herself, NOT a pre-condition for marrying a CAtholic.

need to speak to your pastor, cannot get an individual answer here

 

[quiet52]

This woman must fully understand that if she is received into the Catholic Church, she may not ever marry you or anyone else, unless and until the Tribunal declares a decree of nullity.

And it’s not a “sure thing” that the Tribunal will declare that her marriage is invalid.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I met a woman that was married for 5 years. She is a non-denomination Christian and was married by a non denomination Christian pastor. I fell in love with her and wants to become a catholic and marry me. Is her previous marriage valid ? Is our probable marriage totally out of the question ? Please help.

Is her previous marriage valid ?

The Tribunal would have to look into the validity of her first Marriage, it could be.

Is our probable marriage totally out of the question ? You won’t know until she goes through the Annulment process and receives a decision.

 

[Sana]

While this is happening you can still talk to her about the Catholic Church and tell her about joining, she should still join if she accepts that it is the true Church of Christ even if unfortunately her marrying you would not be acceptable.

God bless you both.