Mixed Religion Marriage Help, Catholic and Divorced GO

[MikeWarner]

Hi - I have read with great interest this thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=4453739

I am in a similar position. I am Greek Orthodox and married a Christian in the Church of England. I did not get permission from the GO Church to marry outside of the GO Church, something I didn’t realise I should have done. What implications does that have?

I am now divorced and engaged to a Catholic who wishes more than anything to marry in the Catholic Church. Would this ever be possible? What would I have to do to make this possible? I want so much for her to have her dream wedding - it isn’t something I want to take away from her because of my earlier mistakes in life.

Any help or advice would be very gratefully received.

Michael

 

[FrDavid96]

Hi - I have read with great interest this thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=4453739

I am in a similar position. I am Greek Orthodox and married a Christian in the Church of England. I did not get permission from the GO Church to marry outside of the GO Church, something I didn’t realise I should have done. What implications does that have?

I am now divorced and engaged to a Catholic who wishes more than anything to marry in the Catholic Church. Would this ever be possible? What would I have to do to make this possible? I want so much for her to have her dream wedding - it isn’t something I want to take away from her because of my earlier mistakes in life.

Any help or advice would be very gratefully received.

Michael

Michael,

Speak to your Catholic priest (ie your wife’s priest). What you’re asking is possible. The process is that you need to petition the local Catholic bishop for a decision of nullity for your first marriage–an annulment. Let the priest guide you, but it appears that you will make that petition on the grounds that as a Greek Orthodox you were bound by the canon law of the GO Church to be married by a priest, but you were not (we Catholics call this a “lack of form”). Once that petition is granted (IF it is granted) then it will be possible for you to be married in the Catholic Church–as long as there are no other obstacles to the marriage.

 

[1ke]

Hi - I have read with great interest this thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=4453739

I am in a similar position. I am Greek Orthodox and married a Christian in the Church of England. I did not get permission from the GO Church to marry outside of the GO Church, something I didn’t realise I should have done. What implications does that have?

It means you aren NOT validly married. You need to start your paperwork in the Catholic Church to be declared free to marry. The Catholic Church recognizes the form required by the GO Church. Therefore, you will have to do some rounding up of paperwork from the GO Church and present that to the Catholic marriage tribunal. Start with your fiancee’s Catholic priest.

I am now divorced and engaged to a Catholic who wishes more than anything to marry in the Catholic Church. Would this ever be possible? What would I have to do to make this possible?

Well, I suppose that depends upon what you mean by “dream wedding.” A GO can **only **validly marry in the GO Church, therefore Catholics wishing to marry a GO should get permisison from their Bishop to get married in the GO Church. A GO cannot get permission to marry in the Catholic Church. You would still be required to do marriage preparation set forth by the Catholic Church.

So, if your fiancee’s “dream wedding” is Catholic, no that’s not possible while you are GO.

You, of course, can come into full communion with the Catholic Church and then you would fall under Catholic Canon Law. You can discuss that possibility with a knowledgeable person in your Catholic diocese. You would come into the Eastern Catholic Rite equivalent to GO, or you can do the required paperwork to become a Latin Rite Catholic.

I want so much for her to have her dream wedding - it isn’t something I want to take away from her because of my earlier mistakes in life.

Mike, the Sacrament of Marriage is so much more than a “dream wedding.” I hope you are focusing on what it means to be in a Sacramental marriage. I also hope you are considering what it will mean to be in a mixed marriage and consider coming into full communion with the Catholic Church.

 

[MikeWarner]

Thanks for the replies. From bits I read online, I thought this may be the case. We have already been in contact with her priest and have got together the documents he has requested (baptism certificates, my divorce certificates etc). I’ll be handing this to him on Monday.

I should say that when I said “her dream wedding”, I probably came accross the wrong way. In this case, her dream is that it is in the Catholic Church, no more than that. I didn’t mean a big white showy affair with a church thrown in for good measure, infact it would probably be a small modest wedding.

 

[MikeWarner]

Just a quick update - I’ve been given an administrative annulment by the Catholic Church on the basis of Lack of Form for my previous marriage. As such and am extremely happy to be able to marry my fiancée in a Catholic Church - in fact, it will be in September this year.

 

[1ke]

Just a quick update - I’ve been given an administrative annulment by the Catholic Church on the basis of Lack of Form for my previous marriage. As such and am extremely happy to be able to marry my fiancée in a Catholic Church - in fact, it will be in September this year.

If you marry in the Catholic form, the Greek Orthodox Church will not recognize it as valid. In fact, I didn’t think the Catholic Church would marry you in the Catholic form because of it’s invalidity in the GO Church.

Are you converting to the Catholic Church?

 

[MikeWarner]

Yes - it is invalid, which is why I can now re-marry. I’m staying GO and all paperwork is in order now, we have the full go-ahead for a marriage in the Catholic Church. We will need a GO blessing in order for it to be recognised by the GO church, which we will have done at a later date.

 

[5Loaves]

Also you might check out from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) When a Catholic Marries an Orthodox Christian and A Guide for Catholics Considering Marriage with an Orthodox Christian and A Guide on Catholic-Orthodox Marriages for Catholic Clergy and Other Pastoral Ministers. The latter two are from the USCCB Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

Additional resources for both of you from the Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops: An agreed statement on Mixed Marriage, Joint Recommendations on the Spiritual Formation of Children on Marriage between Orthodox and Roman Catholics U.S. Theological Consultation, 1980, A Pastoral Statement on Orthodox/Roman Catholic Marriages - Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops, 1990 from the SCOBA web site (Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas).

(Just some of the many works over many years from the Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops.

 

[5Loaves]

Yes - it is invalid, which is why I can now re-marry. I’m staying GO and all paperwork is in order now, we have the full go-ahead for a marriage in the Catholic Church. We will need a GO blessing in order for it to be recognised by the GO church, which we will have done at a later date.

I’m glad you’re following good order. It will be in the best interest of your marriage and family, not to mention ecumenism. There are other “mixed marriage” (Orthodox/Catholic) folks here on the forum. (They might not have seen your post in the Liturgy and Sacraments section. More likely to be spotted in Eastern Catholicism or Non-Catholic Religions.)