Question about getting our marriage blessed

[codefro]

My wife and I were both Protestant and are going to be coming into the Church this Saturday. I am so excited btw!!! Anyways, someone mentioned to us we should get our marriage blessed, so we went to talk to the priest and he said that we should have had that done already before this Saturday. So now because it’s already Holy Week we are going to need to do it fairly quickly after being fully initiated this Saturday. I’m wondering though, if my wife and I are Coming in, and we are in a state of being Catholics without our marriage being blessed, is that a problem? Question being, are we already in a state of mortal sin from that point until the priest finally blesses the marriage? I think I’m freaking myself out, but it popped into my head now I’m curious. Like will we already need to not receive the Eucharist until then?

 

[stephe1987]

It’s not a mortal sin because neither of you was Catholic at the time you got married. Unless one of you was married before, in that case you’d need an annulment because your previous marriage would be assumed to be valid.

A sin would be a second marriage without first getting an annulment, or a Catholic who got married outside the Church without permission. In both those cases, the marriage would not be valid and it would be a mortal sin to live together as a married couple or to present yourself for Communion.

Non-Catholic marriages are assumed to be valid.

 

[EricFilmer]

My wife and I were both Protestant and are going to be coming into the Church this Saturday. I am so excited btw!!!

“Welcome home!”, as we say.

I “swum the Tiber” many years ago myself.

Anyways, someone mentioned to us we should get our marriage blessed, so we went to talk to the priest and he said that we should have had that done already before this Saturday.

Based on this statement, I am assuming that most of the preparations concerning you and your wife have been done by an RCIA team with little direct involvement of a priest. Therefore, seeing as he said that you “should have already had your marriage blessed”, he was probably assuming that this was considered necessary in your case. But this is not necessary unless there was a case of either you and/or your wife having been previously married. Depending on the circumstances (and there is no need for me to go into details at this time), you would probably need to get the former marriage annulled, and then get a “marriage convalidation” in the Catholic church (which is the technical term for having a marriage “blessed”).

However, if there is no issue concerning former marriages, then you do not have to get a convalidation. The Catholic Church assumes that all marriages are valid unless demonstrated otherwise by a marriage Tribunal. The reason is because the ministers of the sacrament of marriage are not members of the clergy, but rather the bride and groom themselves (even if the bride and groom are not Catholic).

But if there is an issue concerning former marriages in your case, then it is not your fault that it has not yet been addressed. Basically, those responsible for your preparations “dropped the ball.” Nevertheless, speak with your pastor in detail about it, because there are ways that the situation can be still be addressed.