this is a pretty simple question on marriage

[UBERROGO]

is a protestant marriage still valid in the catholic church if one or both members become catholic (RC and Orthodox)? and if a protestant gets divorced and then turns catholic can they get married again? thanks !

 

[atsheeran]

is a protestant marriage still valid in the catholic church if one or both members become catholic (RC and Orthodox)?

Yes.

if a protestant gets divorced and then turns catholic can they get married again?

They would need to get an annulment of the first marriage before they could get married again.

 

[cameron_lansing]

UBERROGO:

is a protestant marriage still valid in the catholic church if one or both members become catholic (RC and Orthodox)?

The particular circumstances would have to be examined. However, it is true that if the marriage were originally valid, a later change of religion would not affect its validity.

Please note the terms that are used, though. The Catholic Church is comprised of the Latin Church and the Churches of the East which are in union among themselves through the Roman Pontiff, the pope. The term “Orthodox” is normally used to apply to those Churches of the East which are not in union with the pope. So we would avoid a term like " catholic (RC and Orthodox)."

atsheeran:

They would need to get an annulment of the first marriage before they could get married again.

In general, this is correct. One exception would be when a Protestant who is not baptised at all or who has not been validly baptised now wishes to receive Catholic baptism.

I say this because a number of Protestant denominations do not require baptism by water and the Trinitarian formula for their members. A few do not baptise validly according to our Catholic understanding of how it needs to be done.

In that case, it may be possible to use a Pauline Privilege or even possible a Petrine Privilege. These are different from decrees of nullity.

A priest, deacon or lay minister who is familiar with Church marriage law could help in a concrete situation to see what’s possible.

I hope this is of some further help. God bless.

Deacon John Cameron
Lansing, MI

 

[ILO]

We also need to be careful with our terminology. One does not “get an annulment.” The Church investigates the marriage and determines if there was indeed a sacramental union. If not, the Church issues a “Decree of Nullity.” If so, the union stands and there is no “annulment”

ILO

 

[puzzleannie]

the general rule is that every marriage is considered valid until proven otherwise. Thus if a non-Catholic married, then divorced and remarried, the first marriage would be considered still valid, and the second marriage not recognized, unless it could be proven that the first marriage was invalid. The proper channel for obtaining and judging this proof is the marriage tribunal of the diocese.

If two married non-Catholics entered the Catholic Church, there marriage would be presumed valid and no further action would be necessary assuming there were no other reason to question the validity of the marriage (such as previous marriages/divorces).

Every situation is unique. blanket statements are not very useful. The couple in question should very early in the RCIA journey meet with the pastor and discuss the entire topic of marriage, and the aspects of their situation, and resolve any difficulties that arise early on. Questions about procedure in the Orthodox Churches should be addressed elsewhere, I believe there is an active thread on this question from their point of view.

UBERROGO:

is a protestant marriage still valid in the catholic church if one or both members become catholic (RC and Orthodox)? and if a protestant gets divorced and then turns catholic can they get married again? thanks !

 

[UBERROGO]

New question… what would invalidate a marriage?

 

[Rebecca_New]

UBERROGO:

is a protestant marriage still valid in the catholic church if one or both members become catholic (RC and Orthodox)? and if a protestant gets divorced and then turns catholic can they get married again? thanks !

There are alot of questions about this and the answers always seem like if this is so then go to step 3, if not so then go back two spaces-do you get the picture? My daughter was married outside the Church and my son-in-law was Catholic too. After they had their marriage blessed and made the Sacrament to each other they changed. The little things were not blown out of proportion, their attitudes towards each other changed and I have been blessed to be able to see their marriage blossom into something so beautiful.

 

[cameron_lansing]

UBERROGO:

New question… what would invalidate a marriage?

This asks a question of tremendous complexity. Only a sketch is possible, and even then, no sketch could do justice to the question. Unless you study the question outside this forum, you will have only partial answers to it at best.

Most simply said, a consent of the will makes marriage, and three things are required for a valid marriage. A key is found in canon 1057 “§1. The consent of the parties, legitimately manifested between persons qualified by law, makes marriage; no human power is able to supply this consent. §2. Matrimonial consent is an act of the will by which a man and a woman mutually give and accept each other, through an irrevocable covenant in order to establish marriage.”

1. the freedom of both parties from impediments that either a) cannot be dispensed because they come from divine law and b) from impediments of Church law that could be dispensed but were not; This is what the canon means in mentioning “persons qualified by law.” For example, a person is a valid existing marriage (civil divorce changes nothing of that), the impediment of “ligamen” exists and the person is disqualified from another marriage. This is an impediment of divine law.
2. the proper form of marriage to which the parties are bound by their Church or ecclesiastical community. This is what legal manifestation means. There are special laws for Catholics but they can be relaxed. This is called a “dispensation.” Others apart from the Eastern Orthodox do not seem to specify any particular form by which their members must give this legal manifestation.
3. the capacity to give consent, giving consent, and the capacity to fulfill the obligations that are taken on by that consent.

If any one of these three requirements is lacking, a marriage lacks validity.

Before a marriage can occur in the Catholic Church, there must be an investigation so that it is certain the couple can marry validly and legally. We don’t do this when both parties are non Catholic of course.

Only when a marriage is challenged before the Catholic Church does the Church investigate its validity. The process will take a precise path according to which of the requirements appears to have been missing.

Generally marriage enjoys the favor of law and its validity is to be presumed unless proven otherwise by a competent Church authority, a judge (or judges) of a competent tribunal, according to the facts and the law.

The exception lies in proper form (2). Generally, if a Catholic who is obliged to marry according to the proper form “marries outside the Catholic Church” without dispensation, this marriage does not enjoy the presumption of validity. When then the question is about the total lack of form, it is resolved by a process that does not require the tribunal. In practice most tribunals are given the task of examining this though.

When the question is about the freedom (1) or the capacities (3) of a party, a tribunal process is required. The same is true when there was some appearance of a proper form (2) but there are particular questions nevertheless (for example, everything was fine, except the priest was not authorized to witness that wedding).

Marriage legislation is treated with the sacraments in Book IV, but procedures for determining validity are scattered throughly the code, though principally in Book VII on Processes