Rejected Absolution

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Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut. I thought my post was thorough but upon reading all the comments and rereading my original post I see a ton of holes.
To edit a bit…
Apparently my parish has a visiting priest come and give confession 3 Wednesdays a month. (I hadn’t known that.) I visited the office on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week and was told that the secretary spoke with Father and gave him my number. No time frame for a call back was given. I did see him in the church on Friday and again yesterday.
I just want to be sure I’m doing all I can to right the situation.
Thanks so much!
 
Might be worth going to the parish office if you can, sit down with the Secretary and tell her you want to convalidate your marriage (convalidations are regular things, she is not going to clutch her pearls and faint, I promise 🙂 )
 
The secretary was actually very understanding of my situation and seemed annoyed that the visiting priest wouldn’t absolve me.
 
It may just be that the priest wanted you to visit with the actual pastor since he would likely be the one to be doing the convalidation. Don’t worry either, God knows you are working to try and get this resolved. Just keep after it. 🙂
 
Oh! Welcome home, by the way! I know the journey, and it’s not always easy.

Sometimes we can be overly clinical on these boards, but they can still be helpful. 😄
 
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I was made to witness re-validation of a civilly non-religious married couple in RCIA.

It was ok but not very interesting but paperworks… paperworks… paperworks!

They are serious about every little details!

Don’t mess with them or they would ask for more money to fix it.

Oh it was free since it was RCIA but as for other irregular married couples? Good luck!
 
Melodeonist said:
From person experience in regards to making appointments with priests, just speak directly to Father face to face. You’ll never get anything if you call.
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In our parish, he always says to call the person who schedules him. He doesn’t keep his own calendar, except for after-hours. It is too easy to double-schedule.
SFJ said:
The secretary was actually very understanding of my situation and seemed annoyed that the visiting priest wouldn’t absolve me.
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I’m glad to hear she was supportive of you in your time of trial. Generally speaking, I think it is a near occasion of sin for the secretary to tell him/her too much about your business with the staff, but sometimes you need a sympathetic ear. I hope this is cleared up soon; don’t despair!!
 
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SFJ said:
This is the only marriage for both of us. We were married by a Christian minister outside of the Catholic Church. We have been together since the age of 16 and married at 22.
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This is the most pertinent information to your situation. This should have been included in your OP. No worries, though. 😀
 
SFJ said:
I attempted to confess my sins last week after about 25 years. The priest was not from our parish and basically told me he would be unable to absolve me since my marriage isn’t acknowledged by the church.
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Um, yes she did.

Catholic are bound by canon law, even if they don’t know it.
If you are a Baptised Catholic, even if you are not raised in the faith, you must follow Catholic rules for marriage.
This is precisely the reason that a document like Amoris laetitia was so important.
 
AugustTherese said:
I’m wondering if a detail was left out. All natural marriages should be considered sacramentally valid until proven otherwise.
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A valid marriage between two baptized Christians is sacramental, not natural. This one may not be valid, however, because the Catholic is bound to observe the laws of the Church concerning marriage, such as to gain permission to marry someone when both are not Catholic. The reasons protect both the interest of the Church in seeing that the Catholic intends to do their duty as a parent and the interests of the non-Catholic spouse who might otherwise be unaware of the Catholic duties of their spouse. The non-Catholic has to be informed of the obligations of the Catholic party to raise the children Catholic in order to give informed consent. You can’t marry a non-Catholic and spring your obligations on them later and yet call it a binding marriage. That would be unjust.
 
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PetraG said:
A valid marriage between two baptized Christians is sacramental, not natural
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Right, but all natural marriages outside of the sacramental rite of Marriage should be considered sacramental until a Tribunal determines otherwise, no?
 
Axsenex said:
Oh it was free since it was RCIA but as for other irregular married couples? Good luck!
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It is still free, unless there is a previous marriage. If there is a living person who might already be the spouse of a person wanting to marry a second time, the Church has to investigate to verify that there was in fact no marriage binding on that person for the lifetime of their first spouse. We can’t have any bigamy…
 
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CilladeRoma said:
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SFJ:
I attempted to confess my sins last week after about 25 years. The priest was not from our parish and basically told me he would be unable to absolve me since my marriage isn’t acknowledged by the church.
Click to expand...
Um, yes she did.

Catholic are bound by canon law, even if they don’t know it.
If you are a Baptised Catholic, even if you are not raised in the faith, you must follow Catholic rules for marriage.
This is precisely the reason that a document like Amoris laetitia was so important.
Click to expand...
Wait, saying “my marriage isn’t acknowledged by the church” could be her assessment, and not the Church’s; hence why people have asked after the OP if the marriage took place within the canonical laws of the Catholic Church.
 
@AugustTherese I think the OP knows her situation, which she did clarify. She is Catholic,she did not follow the rules for marriage. As far as the Church is concerned, based on the info she gave, the marriage in not valid because of “lack of form”.
It is a relatively easy fix, so long as there are no other marriages or impediments, so I am not sure what your issue is.
 
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