Why can't we have a secret marriage?

[coll041652]

I asked my local Priest, now a Monsignor, about a Secret Sacramental Marriage between my Fiancee and myself. This is allowed by Canon Law 1130 & 1131. Though he gave us his blessing and said God knows what is in our hearts, he told me he is an agent of the State as well as a Priest and if done would open him and the Church to civil liabilities if he did this. I am a widower and my fiancee is a widow. I have been Catholic for 15 years. Am I to chose between the Church or living in a state of sin with my fiancee? I am at peace with my condition but do not understand, why no Sacramental Marriage is allowed.

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Marriage is of both divine law and natural law. Marriage is also not a private act, it is a public covenant. Thus the Church generally recognizes the right of the state to regulate civil aspects of marriage (canon 1071 §1,2). Therefore the Church only permits secret marriages if She considers a particular marriage law of the state to be inherently unjust and contrary to natural law.
For a priest or deacon to preside at a secret marriage places him at risk of being charged as a possible accomplice in fraud or other civil/criminal charges. Because of these risks a secret marriage should only be undertaken to right a true injustice.
Many laws surrounding marriage might be unwise or counterproductive but that doesn’t make them inherently unjust or contrary to natural law.