Married and celebate

  • Thread starter Thread starter Billcreasy2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Billcreasy2

Guest
If a widower in his 70s with grown children remarries a celebate woman in her mid 60s, is that marriage valid within the Catholic Church, if either partner is unable (due to age) or unwilling (due to health) to have sexual relations?
 
Speak to your Priest. Older people are not prohibited from marrying.

All the best for your future plans
 
Are you saying this is a local decision up to the parish priest and there is no official universal Church doctrine on this subject?
 
I am saying their local priest is responsible for their spiritual life and their souls health here on earth, under the guidance of the local Bishop, who is their shepherd.

And delicate matters such as these require a Priest.

Imagine if a couple very much in love , jump on CAF, ask a question, we don’t have all the details, we are not Canon Lawyers, we are not Priests, We don’t have the entire picture or any solutions or know the protocols in these situations.

so we say to the couple, nope you can’t marry, bad luck. And we are quite probably WRONG.

Let the Priest work it out. Thats his job. He went to school for many years to have that job. Its above our pay grade.
 
Last edited:
So the answer could differ depending on which priest you consult? That would not seem to be consistent with universal truth. The example given is not something obscure; it must happen thousands of times a year.
 
Interesting question. I wouldn’t leave this up to a simple priest to resolve for you, as some others have recommended. I think the matter you’re asking about is relatively rare, so there’s a good chance that due to lack of familiarity a priest won’t be able to give you an answer immediately. In that case the priest would probably tell you that he’s going to do some research for you and get back to you. But not all priests are equally good at that (at the research, that is), or equally qualified. Moreover, in ambiguous (or seemingly ambiguous) matters, plenty of priests invest their answers with views that are to a considerable extent personal opinions or preferences. I’d say, do your own homework. And get in touch with a canon lawyer or a bishop (or both), and make sure you get to the bottom of the matter. I couldn’t easily find anything on the web about this, but I’m confident that if you dig for a while there should be a clear answer.
 
Is it possible to be married by a priest and the marriage be invalid?
 
KevinK said:
Is it possible to be married by a priest and the marriage be invalid?
Click to expand...
Sure, that’s possible for many reasons, but none of them due to the priest. In fact, all annulments are based on the recognition (later on) of circumstances that make the marriage invalid even though there was nothing wrong with the priest or the ceremony.

P.S. Important qualification: we are speaking here of circumstances that existed at the time the marriage was established, but discovered or acknowledged only later. Circumstances arising during marriage are never a grounds for invalidation of the marriage, according to RC teaching.
 
Last edited:
What happens thousands of times a year? widows marrying celibate women? gee society sure is going down hill in that case isn’t it.

🙂
 
Last edited:
actually I am sure the Priest, if there was a question mark over the thing, would then refer to his Bishop.

Make sense?
 
Kevin, people marry each other, the Priest and the wedding guests are the witnesses.
 
i think the Church says in a valid marriage, the couple must be “open” to the possibility of having children

the Church is not going to monitor when or if you have marital relations
 
Last edited:
brian_custer said:
the Church is not going to monitor when or if you have marital relations
Click to expand...
True, but that doesn’t quite address the question fundamentally. There are many things the Church doesn’t monitor, such as whether you’ve confessed your sins before taking Communion. God, however, does monitor 😉

Moreover, not living up to what marriage requires of the spouses (according to the RCC) can be grounds for annulment later should one of the spouses request that. So while the Church doesn’t monitor, one does leave “unpleasant” possibilities open if the question isn’t answered prior to the marriage.
 
Last edited:
I am sure this couple is going into this marriage, if they decided to, fully aware of the delicate condition of their ages and just like any couple with health issues.

Abraham became a father at a great old age, so did Jesus’s earthly grandfather, Mary’s father.
 
If you can’t physically have sex at all, for example if any lacked the organs necessary then yeah, but that’s not here

Bokbok
 
Last edited:
Billcreasy2 said:
If a widower in his 70s with grown children remarries a celebate woman in her mid 60s, is that marriage valid within the Catholic Church, if either partner is unable (due to age) or unwilling (due to health) to have sexual relations?
Click to expand...

Canon Law – CIC
1084:
§1. Antecedent and perpetual impotence to have intercourse, whether on the part of the man or the woman, whether absolute or relative, nullifies marriage by its very nature.
§2. If the impediment of impotence is doubtful, whether by a doubt about the law or a doubt about a fact, a marriage must not be impeded nor, while the doubt remains, declared null.
§3. Sterility neither prohibits nor nullifies marriage, without prejudice to the prescript ofcanon 1098.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Bottom line: if the couple CANNOT have sex (i.e. are physically unable to do so) they cannot be validly married. If a couple CAN have sex but CHOOSE not to do so, they can be validly married. The latter is termed a Josephite marriage.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top