May I receive the Eucharist?

[Maciosaig]

I have been away from the true church, along with my wife and children and we attended a very conservative Lutheran church, and after my conscience or most likely the Holy Ghost getting through to me I went to confession this Saturday. I made the most complete confession of my life but I confessed to marrying outside the church to my wife who was divorced after a very brief marriage but never got it annulled. The priest said I could now receive communion? This has me very confused and worried that maybe he didn’t fully understand me, he is a Spanish priest. It took years and lots of praying to finally go to confession but I’m very confused. Can someone please help me?
Thank you, God Bless.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear friend,

I have no idea what that priest was thinking of. The Catholic Church does not recognize your marriage as valid. So long as you have marital relations with a person to whom you are not validly married, you are committing a mortal sin each time. I’m speaking objectively here. If you haven’t known what you were doing was sinful, it would not be a sin. In any case, the only way you may receive the Eucharist is to live in a celibate way until you are able to be married in the Catholic Church. So I encourage you to register in a parish and see a priest about the possibility of getting an annulment for your wife. I also suggest that you go to a parish other than the one that has the priest that you just mentioned. You are in our prayers. Welcome home!

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.