marriage

[billcu1]

I don’t know if this is the right forum group to post or not. I have always wanted to be married by a judge or just fill out the application for marriage if I ever wanted to be married. I have no prospects btw. Is it required to be married by a preist or deacon in the church? I know there is counseling that is required of marriage for about a year before the sacrament. Do dispesations from the bishop issuse on things like this?

Bill

 

[PattiDay]

The short answer is yes, Catholics are married by a priest through the Sacrament of Marriage. A bishop would not give a dispensation to go through a secular wedding by a judge. You don’t say why you’ve always wanted to have this type of ceremony over being married before God in church, but it would be good for you to speak with your priest or deacon now, before God sends that special person into your life. God bless.

 

[ahs]

+1 on PattiDay’s post.

So, what is the reason you don’t want to be married in the Church?

 

[billcu1]

The short answer is yes, Catholics are married by a priest through the Sacrament of Marriage. A bishop would not give a dispensation to go through a secular wedding by a judge. You don’t say why you’ve always wanted to have this type of ceremony over being married before God in church, but it would be good for you to speak with your priest or deacon now, before God sends that special person into your life. God bless.

I have always had a great love of the law and respect for judges. And it is much simpler to simply fill out an application. Ceremonies are long, sometimes expensive though it couldn’t be for me. I’d have to take the small package. Is there a problem in the church with just doing the application after pro cana?

 

[Warrior1979]

I don’t know if the Church would grant a dispensation on this one. If you really are insistent on taking this path, try to find a judge that is also a Catholic Deacon…still a long shot, but at least possible. I believe such a dispensation was granted, but judge also happened to be a relative.

 

[Phemie]

I don’t know if this is the right forum group to post or not. I have always wanted to be married by a judge or just fill out the application for marriage if I ever wanted to be married. I have no prospects btw. Is it required to be married by a preist or deacon in the church? I know there is counseling that is required of marriage for about a year before the sacrament. Do dispesations from the bishop issuse on things like this?

Bill

It would all depend on whom you were going to marry.

The Church often grants dispensation from canonical form (the need to be married in the Church) if one of the couple is non-Catholic. It would rarely do so if both were Catholic, particularly for the reason you give, ‘great love for the law and judges’, which seems to show a lack of understanding of the sacredness of the sacrament of marriage and focuses only on its legal aspect.

 

[billcu1]

I understand the seriousness of marriage in that one should marry someone who believes in marriage or it wouldn’t work at all. As far as being married by clergy I don’t think it would be any less sacred than to be married by a judge. Better yet apply. I do believe in going through the counseling of course. Why is a priest more sacred than a judge in a manner of speaking and their respective duties.

 

[Phemie]

I understand the seriousness of marriage in that one should marry someone who believes in marriage or it wouldn’t work at all. As far as being married by clergy I don’t think it would be any less sacred than to be married by a judge. Better yet apply. I do believe in going through the counseling of course. Why is a priest more sacred than a judge in a manner of speaking and their respective duties.

The judge represents only the legal aspect, the priest represents both, at least in Canada and the US.

 

[ahs]

A Priest can bring Christ into your Marriage, a judge cannot. A Priests’ hands can take bread and wine and consecrate them and end up holding the Body and Blood of Christ…a judge cannot. A Priest is ordained to give the Sacrament of Marriage, a judge can only give you a legal document, void of any Sacrament.

You don’t have to have $$ to have a Church wedding. The cost of the wedding itself depends on what all you want. If you just want you and your spouse with the necessary witnesses, you can get by with a simple donation to the Church (maybe $100 or so?). Don’t be fooled into thinking that a wedding has to be expensive to be valid. The ceremony is in the Sacrament of the Marriage, not in the decorations or gowns that are worn, or in the number of people that show up. Although, the people that DO show up are there to support your union. so don’t discount them too quickly.

ahs