The new Anglican Ordinariate is established today!

[Chatter163]

Not real sure which forum to put this question in, but I went with this one.

Let me begin by saying that I am pretty much ignorant about Anglican Use Catholics, and that I am in no way affected by this personally. It’s just a matter of curiosity.

Anyway…my understanding is that in certain cases and after meeting many requirements and conditions (most of which I know nothing about) an Anglican parish can become part of the Catholic Church, and the members of this parish become Catholic. My question is regarding those members of the parish who are in marriage situations that would be considered irregular in the Catholic Church. How are those people affected when their parish is absorbed into the Church?

When a parish is received into the Catholic Church, it is understood that not all wish to become Catholics, and a s a result, those not wishing to convert will join another Anglican parish and remain there. Those who do choose to come over will need to be confirmed, unless they were already confirmed in the Catholic or Orthodox Churches. As for marriages, those with irregular marriages will need to submit these to the local diocesan tribunals, just as any convert would. Eventually the Ordinariate will have its own tribunal for this purpose, but until that time (probably several years) they will need to use local diocesan tribunals. In short, the AO does not mitigate the need to have one’s marriage status regularized.

 

[Genovefa]

I missed that last question earlier.

I had edited it as you were responding. You didn’t miss it. Thank you for your explanation.

 

[jimrob]

These comments are generalisations. Obviously much depends on the circumstances of particular cases.

The Catholic Church has marriage rules for its own members and some rather more broadly based rules for it to recognise a marriage between those outside of the Church. Generally speaking, the marriage of Anglicans marrying in an Anglican church would be regarded as valid by the Catholic Church. If they were to become Catholics, either by joining the Latin Rite or through the Ordinariate, they would be regarded as validly married.

The Anglican communion tends to be a little more broad minded about civil marriages than the Catholic Church so it’s possible that couples converting to Catholicism might not have been married in Church. The Catholic Church would normally expect such a marriage to be convalidated as soon as possible after conversion. That involves a rite that stresses the sacramental nature of marriage.

 

[Chatter163]

These comments are generalisations. Obviously much depends on the circumstances of particular cases.

The Catholic Church has marriage rules for its own members and some rather more broadly based rules for it to recognise a marriage between those outside of the Church. Generally speaking, the marriage of Anglicans marrying in an Anglican church would be regarded as valid by the Catholic Church. If they were to become Catholics, either by joining the Latin Rite or through the Ordinariate, they would be regarded as validly married.

The Anglican communion tends to be a little more broad minded about civil marriages than the Catholic Church so it’s possible that couples converting to Catholicism might not have been married in Church. The Catholic Church would normally expect such a marriage to be convalidated as soon as possible after conversion. That involves a rite that stresses the sacramental nature of marriage.

Of course my answer was a generalization, but the OP’s question was not about a comparison between the requirements to be married in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. It was about Anglicans being received into the Catholic Church with what the Catholic Church would consider an invalid marriage. The norms for Anglicanorum Coetibus stated that a marriage tribunal would be established, but until such time applicants for nullity cases would have recourse to local tribunals.