Marrying someone baptized Catholic, but practicing Protestant

[IbnFiktur]

All,

This is a semi-hypothetical question. Hopefully it will be purely hypothetical.

Here’s the situation: My girlfriend of about a year and a half was baptized Catholic, raised in a non-practicing household, and attended a Protestant high school / college. She has essentially been practicing as a non-denominational Protestant for some time now, and never really was catechized in Catholicism.

After some life-shaking experiences, she is now attending RCIA (thanks be to God!!! ). She’s a few weeks into it, and is responding fairly well to it. She still has some issues with some doctrines (such as the Real Presence), but has been continuing to attend, ask questions, and pray about things. I have real hopes for her conversion.

Here’s the semi-hypothetical part of things. Before she was attending RCIA, I looked intently into the requirements for Catholic/Non-Catholic marriages. It then struck me that she doesn’t technically fall into the category of “non-Catholic,” at least as far as Canon Law is concerned (right?). There is no “baptized Catholic but switched-to-non-denominational” option on the paperwork provided by my diocese.

If, God forbid, she should drop out of RCIA, continue to practice as a Protestant, but consent to raising the children Catholic and follow Catholic sexual teachings (she was aware of and ok with all of the above even before RCIA), would this marriage even be possible? Is there some sort of extra paperwork and bishop approval required? Or is it impossible simply by virtue of the fact that she was baptized Catholic?

Thanks for any responses. And prayers are appreciated too

 

[ChibiViolet]

In that situation, you would still be able to marry her and I highly doubt there would be any extra paper work.

I will pray for her full conversion and that everything works out okay.

 

[Elizium23]

Here are some canons that might be relevant.
Code of Canon Law:

Can. 1065 §1 Catholics who have not yet received the sacrament of confirmation are to receive it before being admitted to marriage, if this can be done without grave inconvenience.

§2 So that the sacrament of marriage may be fruitfully received, spouses are earnestly recommended that they approach the sacraments of penance and the blessed Eucharist.

 

[IbnFiktur]

Here are some canons that might be relevant.

Those are the ones I was thinking of. For those familiar with the subject, do these apply to her? My guess is that they do, but were written without a particular situation such as this in mind. “Grave inconvenience” almost sounds funny when applied here

If no one has any other info, I suppose I’ll simply hope and pray that God keeps her heart with His Church and talk to a Priest if the worst case scenario occurs.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Those are the ones I was thinking of. For those familiar with the subject, do these apply to her? My guess is that they do, but were written without a particular situation such as this in mind. “Grave inconvenience” almost sounds funny when applied here

If no one has any other info, I suppose I’ll simply hope and pray that God keeps her heart with His Church and talk to a Priest if the worst case scenario occurs.

This is a good plan. I suggest though that you speak to your priest now. If she completes RCIA and is confirmed hurrah. If she doesn’t, you may want to know your options now so that you can decide what to do. Your priest may also be available to give you both extra counseling as you discern marriage.

I will pray for you both.

 

[1ke]

Canon law does address this:

Can.* 1071 §1. Except in a case of necessity, a person is not to assist without the permission of the local ordinary at:

4/ a marriage of a person who has notoriously rejected the Catholic faith;

§2. The local ordinary is not to grant permission to assist at the marriage of a person who has notoriously rejected the Catholic faith unless the norms mentioned in ⇒ can. 1125 have been observed with necessary adaptation.

So, in essence, the criteria in the canons for mixed marriage (can. 1125) must be met and permission of the bishop is required.

 

[Gorgias]

Re: her status…

Is she attending RCIA because the only sacrament she ever received was baptism?

Re: confirmation…

#1065 does apply to her, but the intent there is that someone is not rushed into and through the sacrament of Confirmation just for the sake of meeting a wedding timeline. That raises an interesting question: if she were to drop out, what would be her reason for it? If it’s just “I’m not ready yet”, then we might say that she’s still open to the idea, and therefore, the lack of Confirmation at the wedding – while unfortunate – is not necessarily an obstacle. Even if it’s “sorry – I just can’t do this!”, which might itself be reason to give pause, we still would want to look at whether she’s OK with the Church’s teaching on marriage and whether she’s still OK with raising any children in the faith. If those remain, then I think it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that there’s still the possibility of Confirmation for her, at some point down the line. In that case, I don’t think we would want to deny a Catholic wedding, just for the lack of confirmation.

Re: “mixed marriage”

#1071 refers to “notorious rejection”. It would be necessary to prove such an assertion. I think it would be difficult to prove this assertion in the case of a person who was baptized in the Catholic Church, but was never catechized. Nevertheless, if I were the priest asked to witness the marriage – whether or not I thought she had ‘notoriously rejected’ the Church – I think I would ask you to make the promises that #1125 mentions, and have her witness them.

I’m not certain that I would assert that the local ordinary must give permission – since that implies an affirmation that she had ‘notoriously rejected’ the faith – although, if I were the priest, I would certainly call the Tribunal and ask for their guidance!