Officiating at a Catholic Wedding

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We’ve been studying the sacraments at our High school Life Teen meetings and one of the teens posed a question that I was unable to answer.

The statement was made that Marriage is the only sacrament not performed by a Priest or Deacon, but rather it is performed by the husband and the wife to each other.

The questions was raised, “Then why do you need a deacon or a priest to officiate?”

"ahhh… because… " crickets…

Comments?
 
It’s true, the ones administering the Sacrament are the bride and groom. If I remember correctly, the priest or deacon is there to receive their vows on behalf of the Church.
 
Right. It’s the Priest or deacon’s job to witness the marriage on behalf of the Church and to make sure that there’s no impediment to the marriage (typically this is done nowadays through the pre-marriage process) and that the couple are freely choosing to marry each other.

Furthermore, in the USA, the clergyman needs to sign off and submit the legal documents to show you are married in the eyes of the state. Otherwise you’d need to go get married in front of a government official.
 
michaelhager said:
We’ve been studying the sacraments at our High school Life Teen meetings and one of the teens posed a question that I was unable to answer.

The statement was made that Marriage is the only sacrament not performed by a Priest or Deacon, but rather it is performed by the husband and the wife to each other.

The questions was raised, “Then why do you need a deacon or a priest to officiate?”

"ahhh… because… " crickets…

Comments?
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I hope that after you give the answer that others have given you add something like this:

The fact that the couple administers the sacrament of marriage to one another points to the profundity of it.
JP2 calls marriage “the primordial sacrament”. In marriage the whole economy of salvation finds expression.
Marriage mirrors the Trinity itself. The very inner life of God is imaged by marriage. Creative love.
And marriage expresses the mutual self giving love that Christ has for the Church in Ephesians 5.

So it’s not just about who is ministering the sacrament and who is witnessing, it’s about the immense and elemental power that marriage opens up for the world.
Without marriage, the human race is literally lost.
 
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In some circumstances you don’t need s priest or deacon. See canon 1112 section 1. A layperson can be delegated to be the witness to a marriage on behalf of the Church.
 
goout said:
I hope that after you give the answer that others have given you add something like this:

The fact that the couple administers the sacrament of marriage to one another points to the profundity of it.
JP2 calls marriage “the primordial sacrament”. In marriage the whole economy of salvation finds expression.
Marriage mirrors the Trinity itself. The very inner life of God is imaged by marriage. Creative love.
And marriage expresses the mutual self giving love that Christ has for the Church in Ephesians 5.

So it’s not just about who is ministering the sacrament and who is witnessing, it’s about the immense and elemental power that marriage opens up for the world.
Without marriage, the human race is literally lost.
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This is exactly what our teaching included, You very eloquently mirrored the teaching we already gave on the sacrament of marriage and reinforced the importance that we strove to impart to the teens about this very sacred sacrament but it does not answer the very simple question; “Why is a priest or Deacon required?”

Michael Hager
The Bible Catholic
 
A lay person can be delegated in lieu of a priest or deacon to act on behalf of the Church in witnessing the marriage of a Catholic couple. This can happen, for example, in remote areas where the unavailability of a priest for long periods of time could impose an undue hardship on a couple wishing to marry.
 
EDIT: My apologies, I mixed up two different threads over marriage with each other!
 
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Historically, the reason for this law was that clandestine marriages (those without witnesses) could leave a person in a situation where they were not morally free to marry (because they were already married), but where their spouse denied that the marriage had ever taken place.
 
michaelhager said:
The questions was raised, “Then why do you need a deacon or a priest to officiate?”
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Perhaps it goes back to apostolic times. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote to St Polycarp about 107, saying:
But it becomes both men and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust. (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp, chap. 5)
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Todd_Easton said:
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michaelhager:
The questions was raised, “Then why do you need a deacon or a priest to officiate?”
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Perhaps it goes back to apostolic times. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote to St Polycarp about 107, saying:
But it becomes both men and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust. (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp, chap. 5)
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And, playing the part of the teenager: “But if the Bishop approves of the marriage, why couldn’t my friend or a relative perform the ceremony and witness the documents?”

Teens have expanded their toddler response of “But why?” to include well thought out specifics… and they’re pretty good at it.

Michael Hager
The Bible Catholic
 
goout said:
By the way, the resource site you put together is awesome.
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Thanks, it was a couple of years of hard work but well worth it.
My the way, if you like it and save it to your home screen on a mobile device it will display an app style icon and is fully mobile responsive on all devices.

Michael Hager
The Bible Catholic
 
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goout said:
Great. I hope that more catechists will open up Theology of the Body which will open up the faith for the next century.
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We have a young couple that does regular bi-annual multi part sessions on theology of the body. The teens love it!

Michael Hager
The Bible Catholic
 
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I agree with others that TOB presents the positive way forward as it is unpacked. It will take decades, but the beginning is in place. There are two things I like about it:

It presents a Catholic scripture interpretation and exposition that is sharp as a tack, and is an answer to fundamentalist scripture stereotypes. I frequently point people who have problems with Genesis fundamentalism to TOB. “this is how the Church thinks about scripture and gives living interpretation to it…”

It’s intellectual depth is just astounding. And that is sorely needed in this age of deception and truth-by-feeling. I truly believe that in 500 years JP2 will be regarded with Augustine and Aquinas for the way his thought broadens the Catholic horizon.
 
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http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c3a7.htm

1630 The priest (or deacon) who assists at the celebration of a marriage receives the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church. The presence of the Church’s minister (and also of the witnesses) visibly expresses the fact that marriage is an ecclesial reality.

1631 This is the reason why the Church normally requires that the faithful contract marriage according to the ecclesiastical form. Several reasons converge to explain this requirement:134
  • Sacramental marriage is a liturgical act. It is therefore appropriate that it should be celebrated in the public liturgy of the Church;
  • Marriage introduces one into an ecclesial order, and creates rights and duties in the Church between the spouses and towards their children;
  • Since marriage is a state of life in the Church, certainty about it is necessary (hence the obligation to have witnesses);
  • The public character of the consent protects the “I do” once given and helps the spouses remain faithful to it.
1632 So that the “I do” of the spouses may be a free and responsible act and so that the marriage covenant may have solid and lasting human and Christian foundations, preparation for marriage is of prime importance.

The example and teaching given by parents and families remain the special form of this preparation.

The role of pastors and of the Christian community as the “family of God” is indispensable for the transmission of the human and Christian values of marriage and family,135 and much more so in our era when many young people experience broken homes which no longer sufficiently assure this initiation:

It is imperative to give suitable and timely instruction to young people, above all in the heart of their own families, about the dignity of married love, its role and its exercise, so that, having learned the value of chastity, they will be able at a suitable age to engage in honorable courtship and enter upon a marriage of their own.136

Ephesians 5: 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. 33 Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.
 
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SuscipeMeDomine said:
A layperson can be delegated to be the witness to a marriage on behalf of the Church.
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This may or may not work for the legal requirement of the US state governments though.
If the witness is not a government official such as a judge, they may require a clergy person. Granted, he could have a mail order “ordination” to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but he would still need to have it.

It depends on the state and sometimes the county within the state. I know there are counties in Pennsylvania where you don’t need a witness at all, because those were Quaker (Society of Friends) counties and the people would just marry each other by getting up and announcing they were married and going to be husband and wife from now on.
 
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michaelhager said:
The statement was made that Marriage is the only sacrament not performed by a Priest or Deacon, but rather it is performed by the husband and the wife to each other.
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Sort of. The exchange of consent makes the marriage, with both parties are baptized that forms a sacramental bond of marriage.
michaelhager said:
The questions was raised, “Then why do you need a deacon or a priest to officiate?”

"ahhh… because… " crickets…

Comments?
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The priest, deacon, or lay person (yes, a lay person can be designated to receive the vows) is the witness of the Church and receives the exchange of consent and the promises of marriage for the Church. The Church requires this form by ecclesial law. Also note that in a mixed marriage or disparity of cult, the Catholic can petition for a dispensation from form.

Prior to requiring public exchange of consent in a canonical form [which came about in the later middle ages], the Church accepted whatever method of marriage was customary in the local place. This led to problems when one party repudiated another. Claims pertaining to whether or not a marriage ever took place were difficult to prove when witnesses and canonical registration of the marriages were lacking.

I’m not sure why the person teaching the lesson was unable to give an explanation.
 
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