Married Before Becoming Catholic

[jatkins29]

My wife and I were married in 2004 in the Protestant faith, but converted to Catholic faith in 2008. Since we did not have a Catholic wedding should we get remarried inside the Catholic Church? What are the Church’s rules about this?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

If your marriage was valid as a Protestant, then it remains valid as a Catholic. You don’t need to remarry in the Church. You can’t remarry in the Church since you’re already married.

I assume your pastor or someone from your RCIA team inquired about your marriage and determined that nothing more was needed.

Is this the first marriage for each of you? Were either of you baptized Catholic? If this is your first marriage and neither of you were Catholic when you married, you should be fine.

You can talk with your pastor about your specific situation to set your mind at ease.

 

[misspriss]

I am a recent convert myself, but as far as I understand if neither of you were catholic before you were married, you were under no obligation to marry in the catholic church and your marriage is perfectly valid.

I was married in a ceremony outside the church, both my husband and I were non-practicing baptists and I am the only one of us which has converted.

 

[jatkins29]

If your marriage was valid as a Protestant, then it remains valid as a Catholic. You don’t need to remarry in the Church. You can’t remarry in the Church since you’re already married.

I assume your pastor or someone from your RCIA team inquired about your marriage and determined that nothing more was needed.

Is this the first marriage for each of you? Were either of you baptized Catholic? If this is your first marriage and neither of you were Catholic when you married, you should be fine.

You can talk with your pastor about your specific situation to set your mind at ease.

This was the first marriage for each of us but we were not baptized Catholics at the time. Good news to hear we don’t have to repeat the ceremony!

 

[achmafooma]

This was the first marriage for each of us but we were not baptized Catholics at the time. Good news to hear we don’t have to repeat the ceremony!

Yes, that is correct. And this was almost certainly looked into by your priest and/or RCIA leaders when you converted. They would have told you if there were any possible issues with your marriage that needed to be addressed!

Non-Catholics are not bound by canon law, so any two non-Catholics who marry outside of the church (assuming no impediments like previous marriages) marry validly in the eyes of the church.

If there were previous marriages, or if one or both of you were Baptized Catholics who married outside of the church, those would have needed to be looked at and addressed. But it sounds like none of those applied in your case.

My wife and I were in a similar situation – we married in the United Methodist Church in 2005, and became Catholics in 2009. Our marriage was (and remains) perfectly valid and is recognized by the church.

God bless!

 

[JurisPrudens]

I agree with what preceding posters have said.

But I should also note that theoretically, if one of the spouses really wants it, the pre-conversion marriage might be annulled on the ground that the spouses did not give their conjugal vows for life, with no possibility of divorce in the mind.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

You have been given good advice.

But just a word about your RCIA process. This should have been covered by the RCIA team or priest with you in person. Why was it not?

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

I agree with what preceding posters have said.

But I should also note that theoretically, if one of the spouses really wants it, the pre-conversion marriage might be annulled on the ground that the spouses did not give their conjugal vows for life, with no possibility of divorce in the mind.

So how does the OP know if they have a valid marriage?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

But just a word about your RCIA process. This should have been covered by the RCIA team or priest with you in person. Why was it not?

**If ** the RCIA team or pastor failed to cover this, I’m sure the OP has no knowledge of why.

But it’s also possible that it was covered and at the time, the OP didn’t know why he was being asked questions about his marriage.

Typically I’m asking people about whether they’re married, whether they have children, if the children are baptized, etc. as I try to figure out not only what the individual needs but how we can care for the whole family. I’m sure the people I talk with are not thinking about why I’m asking these questions or what the implications are.

 

[1ke]

I agree with what preceding posters have said.

But I should also note that theoretically, if one of the spouses really wants it, the pre-conversion marriage might be annulled on the ground that the spouses did not give their conjugal vows for life, with no possibility of divorce in the mind.

Not at all true.