Symbolic Ceremony/Vow Renewal

[sarahc]

We got married by a Justice of the Peace about a year ago. We didn’t have money for a fancy wedding so we went just the two of us.

We want to have a vow renewal/symbolic ceremony in a Catholic church with all of our family & friends. Is this allowed since we didn’t originally get married in a Church?

 

[SMHW]

We got married by a Justice of the Peace about a year ago. We didn’t have money for a fancy wedding so we went just the two of us.

We want to have a vow renewal/symbolic ceremony in a Catholic church with all of our family & friends. Is this allowed since we didn’t originally get married in a Church?

If you use the search engine here you can look up posts with the word “convalidation” in it. (It means to make something valid.)

If you and/or your legal spouse are Catholic then then you are required by Church law to be married according to the rules of the Catholic Church. Failure to do so results in a marriage that is considered invalid by the Church, even if it is a valid legal marriage.

Speak to your priest and he can help you. Assuming there are no reasons why you could not have been married in the Catholic Church in the first place you can get this “fixed”. You can expect to have to go through all the marriage preparation required of any other couple planning to marry in the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church would not consider your convalidation ceremony to be symbolic or a renewal of vows. The Church would consider this to be when you marry in first place.