Marriage

[st_lucy]

I hope I have this in the right thread.

My little sister is thinking of marrying her long time boyfriend. She was previously married but not in through the church (justice of the peace). Her first husband was extremly abusive, thus the reason why she was weiry of remarriage. My mother told her that she could not get married in the church since she was previously married to someone else. I was wondering if since she never married in the church how would the church look at this, if she does decided to marry her boyfriend.

 

[Cristiano]

Just tell her to talk to a priest, there is a good chance that her previous marriage would be considered invalid because of lack of form. It would be wrong for her to get married again outside the Church.

 

[1ke]

If your sister is a Catholic, her first marriage is invalid due to lack of form provided she got married by a justice of the peace without permission from her bishop to do so.

Your sister should sit down with her priest and discuss the situation.

In most US dioceses, the procedure is for the priest to gather the relevant paperwork (baptismal certificate, marriage license, divorce decree) and submit it to the diocese. This is a quick process.

Once that is done, your sister will be free to marry and able to begin marriage preparation process with her future spouse. The same priest can guide her through that process as well.

If the boyfriend she desires to marry has been previously married, that will complicate the situation-- the priest will have to know all the facts in order to guide your sister.

 

[st_lucy]

Thank you, for your quick replies. I will relay this back to her.