Previous marriage, sorta

[StRich]

Please help. My wife and I have been married for almost nine years. We are very happy and feel that we have agreat marriage. We do have one thing that has been bothering us. Prior to getting married in the catholic church, my wife to be came down with a medical problem that could have been life threatening. She was without insurance. Not knowing what to do, we went to Reno and were married in front of a non-denominational minister. I then added her to my medical insurance. We went about our lifes as normal, not making any changes in our current situation and not telling anyone about this. We were later married in the church. We did this because we both were scared and felt it was the best thing to do. We didn’t intend to hurt anyone, or to cover anything up in regards to the marriage itself. We are wondering, did we do anything wrong in the eyes of the church? If so, what do we need to do to make things right? We feel our hearts were in the right place but have often wondered if this is a problem. Thank you for any help you may offer.

 

[threej_lc]

Being that you continued to live chaste lives afterwards, and your purpose was not to usurp the authority of the church, the only thing I can see wrong here is possible insurance fraud, which is a bit of a stretch at that. I’d simply go to confession and mention this to the priest. If the action was wrong, you will then be absolved. If it wasn’t, no worries!

Josh

 

[davidv]

I would strongly recommend that your make an appointment with your pastor to discuss your concerns. Based on this, the other posts suggestion to go to confession would be much more meaningful. You’ll have a much clearer idea what sin, and its seriousness, that needs to be confessed.

Based on what you told us and what I have heard about valid marriages, I would conclude the following:

1. The Reno marriage would not be considered valid.
2. If 1 is true, then any sexual relations occuring before the sacramental marriage would have been sinful.

 

[Timothy]

I doubt there was even insurance fraud.

1 they were legally married and enjoyed those benefits.
2 if they were chaste and lived as they did before the civil union was formed, then there would be no real sin IMHO since they were simply satisfying a legal requirement and trated it as such, not indulging into a sacramental bond that was not yet made.
3 they were later married within the church bringing their sacramental status and legal status into coherence with eachother, then began their sacramental relationship.

If that is an accurate picture I would say that all is Kosher but if it is other wise then there is some need for confession. Best to fire the situation off to a priest though as they are much better judge than Joe Shmoe on a message board.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Timothy:

I doubt there was even insurance fraud.

1 they were legally married and enjoyed those benefits.
2 if they were chaste and lived as they did before the civil union was formed, then there would be no real sin IMHO since they were simply satisfying a legal requirement and trated it as such, not indulging into a sacramental bond that was not yet made.
3 they were later married within the church bringing their sacramental status and legal status into coherence with eachother, then began their sacramental relationship.

If that is an accurate picture I would say that all is Kosher but if it is other wise then there is some need for confession. Best to fire the situation off to a priest though as they are much better judge than Joe Shmoe on a message board.

I know of a similar case where all this was done with the prior approval of the priest who celebrated the wedding. However, I agree with Timothy - check with your local priest to get all the* i’s* dotted and t’s crossed. At worst you will have some paperwork to do.

And the satisfaction of knowing that you now have it all right.