Question about having my marriage blessed

[gprescott]

My new husband and I have been married 3 years. We were married in a civil ceremony, because I felt we would not qualify for marriage in the Catholic church… I was married for 14 years to my first husband (who was Catholic) in a Lutheran church, because he had a brief marriage years earlier in the Catholic church. (he started the annullment process, but never finished) Now we are divorced. My current husband is not Catholic (I have some questions about that also) but married his first wife in the Catholic church…so where does this leave us…he has no problem with having the marriage blessed in the Catholic church, and yes I know this should have been something that I discussed with my Priest before marrying, but I didnt. I now realize that I should not be receiving communion
until this is resolved! Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks in advance

In Christ’s love,
Gwen

 

[puzzleannie]

everybody’s situation is different. look in the phone book for the number of your diocese, call the chancery and ask for a referral to the marriage tribunal, make an appointment to talk to somebody. You need all the facts on your current marriage, all your previous marriages, all your husband’s previous marriages, and that of all your ex-spouses, who was baptized and who was not. Do you see why there has to be an investigation, and why it will take time? For a short-cut, see your pastor or the deacon in charge of marriage preparation in your parish and begin there. In any case, the tribunal will expect a referral from your parish, so why not make an appointment TODAY to meet with your priest. Good news: sometimes it is a lot less tortuous than it appears, and there may be some simple circumstance that would make annulment a slam dunk, but you won’t know until you get the investigation process in motion. Meanwhile, take the pastoral advice you receive in confession on how to proceed with regard to your current marriage, the sacraments etc.

 

[Catholic2003]

You should follow puzzleannie’s excellent advice.

Just FYI, both your first marriage and your husband’s first marriage will need to be declared null before your current marriage can be blessed in the Church. Your first marriage will be easy to take care of because of the circumstances you mentioned, e.g., not being married in the Catholic Church even though your first husband was Catholic. Your husband’s first marriage will need to handled as a full formal case, and there is no guarantee that it will be found to be null.

 

[gprescott]

Thank you for the advice…it is much appreciated…sometimes things that are worthwhile do take time…although I am a little confused…I realized that the Catholic church would look at my first marriage as not valid because we were not married in a Catholic church. But I assumed the same would be true for my current (and final) marriage, because he wasnt Catholic? I guess I should read up on why, other than not being blessed by the church we don’t consider a marriage to be valid…I am especially referring to a marriage that produces children, I have a hard time accepting that any union that produces a child is always wrong…or invalid in the church’s view.
Gwen

 

[Catholic2003]

Pope John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio has a good explanation of the Church’s teachings on marriage. Paragraph 82 refers to those Catholics who marry outside the Church because they don’t see the value of a Catholic wedding, and paragraph 84 refers to those divorced Catholics who remarry outside the Church because they did not or could not obtain an annulment.