Marriage to un-baptized woman?

[dallasb]

A question:
Is a marriage between a catholic man and an un-baptized(Salvation Army) woman considered valid in the Church? The man did not get permission from the Church to marry her. Also the ceremony was done by a protestant minister.

They have since been separated and are getting a divorce. I am asking the question because I am interested in this woman looking to perhaps marry her someday.

 

[Catholic4Christ]

If the Catholic party did not seek dispensations 1) To marry an unbaptized person, and 2) To be married in a non-Catholic rite, then his marriage is not viewed as valid in the Church (source: I am engaged to be married to someone who attends a Protestant church but is not baptized, and we had to ask my priest to seek out both those dispensations).

When one or both of the persons entering into the marriage are not baptized (disparity of cult), it can be what is called a Natural Marriage (though non-sacramental), which is what mine will be. That being said, the Catholic party is bound by Church law to (ordinarily) be married in the Church with a Catholic clergyman witnessing, or to (extra-ordinarily) receive a dispensation from their bishop to be married in a non-Catholic ceremony (dispensation from canonical form). It doesn’t sound like they did so, and thus their marriage is not considered a “Natural Marriage” because the Catholic party did not follow the laws of his Church. If, of course, their marriage was later convalidated by a priest, then their marriage would be viewed as valid, though not sacramental unless the non-Christian party was later baptized.

I think (though am not sure) that an annulment would still need to be sought out before A) the Catholic party can remarry, or B) the non-Catholic party can remarry in the Catholic Church. But this should be easy because in the Church’s eyes there was no marriage in the first place. It would probably be a formality.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

A Catholic and an unbaptized person can marry validly but it requires the appropriate dispensation from the Catholic bishop.

An invalid marriage due to “lack of form” still requires a decree of nullity from the diocesan Marriage Tribunal for the participants to marry another person in the Church.

See this from the Diocese of Rockford:

rockforddiocese.org/viewdocument.php?doc=invalidityguideline

 

[Phemie]

A Catholic and an unbaptized person can marry validly but it requires the appropriate dispensation from the Catholic bishop.

An invalid marriage due to “lack of form” still requires a decree of nullity from the diocesan Marriage Tribunal for the participants to marry another person in the Church.

See this from the Diocese of Rockford:

rockforddiocese.org/viewdocument.php?doc=invalidityguideline

It’s not a judicial process since there is no marriage. It’s a mere formality of providing papers to show that there was no dispensation. In some dioceses the priest preparing the couple for marriage will do this without the Tribunal ever being involved. It all depends on how the bishop has it set up. Our previous bishop allowed this to be done by the priest as part of the prenuptial investigation.

 

[Gorgias]

A question:
Is a marriage between a catholic man and an un-baptized(Salvation Army) woman considered valid in the Church? The man did not get permission from the Church to marry her. Also the ceremony was done by a protestant minister.

One issue you haven’t addressed is whether either of these folks was previously married.

They have since been separated and are getting a divorce. I am asking the question because I am interested in this woman looking to perhaps marry her someday.

So, she’s “getting a divorce”, but isn’t yet divorced? You shouldn’t be planning marriage to this woman, then – or even thinking about it – until and unless she’s free to marry…

 

[dallasb]

One issue you haven’t addressed is whether either of these folks was previously married.

So, she’s “getting a divorce”, but isn’t yet divorced? You shouldn’t be planning marriage to this woman, then – or even thinking about it – until and unless she’s free to marry…

Neither of them were previously married. Of course I not going to marry her until she is free to marry, hence the word “someday”.

 

[dallasb]

Thanks for the replies. This helped a lot.

 

[Gorgias]

Of course I not going to marry her until she is free to marry, hence the word “someday”.

The question isn’t whether you can marry her before she is free to marry – it’s whether you should already be planning to marry her, before she is even free to marry.