RCIA and current Marriage Questions

[TheCrug]

Hello all, new here.

I have a question in regards to the RCIA process. I, myself, was never baptized but my family consists of a large portion of Catholics, being from a clan of Irish and Italians. Long story short, my Dad had a falling out and never baptized myself or my sisters. Had a few questions:

• If my current wife if Orthodox do I have to get remarried if I become Catholic?
• We have children who are also not baptized because we weren’t certain which direction they would go. I was still on the fence but I would like to bring them back to the church. Would they also have to go through a similar process or could they be baptized (oldest is 7)?

Thank you for any info you guys may have.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

If my current wife if Orthodox do I have to get remarried if I become Catholic?

When you say “current wife” do you mean that there was a previous marriage? If so, you’ll need to check with your pastor to see if a declaration of nullity is possible.

If this is the first marriage for each of you, were you married in her Orthodox church?

I ask because the Orthodox have marriage laws similar to Catholics. In order for the marriage to be valid, it must be conducted according to Orthodox form.

If you were validly married in her church then you probably don’t need to do anything else.

You can direct any other questions to your priest.

We have children who are also not baptized because we weren’t certain which direction they would go. I was still on the fence but I would like to bring them back to the church. Would they also have to go through a similar process or could they be baptized (oldest is 7)?

You and your wife will need to decide whether the children will be raised Catholic or Orthodox, then have them baptized in the correct church.

For Catholics, children under the age of reason (usually considered to be about 7 years old) are considered infants and can be baptized based on the decision of their parents. Children over the age of reason are considered adults for baptismal purposes and go through RCIA modified for children. Part of the difference is that adults have to want to be baptized and need to know something about the faith they are being baptized into.

 

[1ke]

If my current wife if Orthodox do I have to get remarried if I become Catholic?

Assuming that neither of you had prior marriages, no.

Were you married in the Orthodox Church?

Would they also have to go through a similar process or could they be baptized (oldest is 7)?

Your younger children can be brought into the Church as infants. The seven year old is on the fence and it would be up to the pastor exactly what process he would use.