Marriage

[starrs0]

When a couple convert to the Church is their marriage considered a valid and true marriage like if they were married in another church or before a civil judge?

 

[John_Higgins]

When two baptized Christians marry, the Church considers the marriage valid, unless proven otherwise.

John

 

[starrs0]

How about when two non-Christians marry then later are baptized and become Christian and THEN convert to the Church?

 

[Catholic2003]

There are only two marriage situations that cause problems when converting to the Catholic Church:

• If your spouse is Catholic and the marriage did not take place in the Catholic Church; or
• If either spouse had a previous marriage that ended in divorce, and has not been annulled by a Catholic tribunal.

 

[Sunniva]

starrs0:

How about when two non-Christians marry then later are baptized and become Christian and THEN convert to the Church?

At the time of the marriage ceremony their marriage was a valid and natural marriage, but not sacramental. When they later were baptised (in a valid trinitarian baptism regardless of denomination) their marriage became a sacramental marriage as well.

Their marriage will be considered to be a valid and sacramental marriage by the Catholic Church so it’s no need to have the marriage convalidated or blessed.

Of course, this is only if this was the first marriage for both of them or one/both were widowed at the time of marriage.

 

[LilyOfTheFather]

Hm, what happens if one person is a practising Catholic, but the other, due to circumstances beyond their control, stopped practising in early childhood? Is this considered a marriage between two Catholics?

 

[puzzleannie]

REPEAT every marriage situation is different when it comes to determining the validity for purposes of welcoming people into the Church. The couple must make and appointment with the priest or deacon at the earliest opportunity to lay all the facts about the marriage before them and getting a determination, with a recommendation for convalidation, or to the marriage tribunal if necessary. This must be done before they celebrate the sacraments. It gets complicated because you are talking about a man and a woman, and anyone they were married to previously, and whether or not any of those individuals was or is Catholic. Nobody on this forum or outside of a personal interview can make hypothetical judgements. The catechist or DRE (unless a priest or deacon) is not authorized to make this judgement. What happened to your friend, cousin, or neighbor in a similar situation is irrelevant.

 

[Catholic2003]

LilyOfTheFather:

Hm, what happens if one person is a practising Catholic, but the other, due to circumstances beyond their control, stopped practising in early childhood? Is this considered a marriage between two Catholics?

Yes, this is considered a marriage between two Catholics.

In order to no longer be considered a Catholic as far as marriage is concerned, a person must “defect from the faith by a formal act”. The New CLSA Canon Law Commentary has this to say with respect to the circumstances you ask about:

… Thus, the formal act of defection from the Catholic Church is a juridic act which can be proven in the external forum and whose intended effect is to separate oneself from the Church.

In addition to freedom and deliberation, the validity of a juridic act requires that the person who posits it be qualified to do so. … Consequently, since minors lack the full exercise of their rights (c. 98, §2), they are incapable of positing a formal act of defection for themselves, and their parents are incapable of making this act for them. Children who were baptized in a the Catholic Church but whose parents subsequently enrolled them in a non-Catholic church may ratify this parental decision when they come of age, but, to do so by a formal act, they would have to be aware of their Catholic baptism (c. 126).

The following may be considered to have defected from the Catholic Church by a formal act: those who have made a public declaration of their abandonment of the Catholic faith, either in writing or orally before two witnesses, and those who have formally enrolled by some external sign in another Christian church or another religion. Lenghty participation in the worship of another church or religion without formal enrollment and a long-standing lapse in Catholic practice lack the formality required for defection by a formal act.