With whom a Catholic can not marry?

[StMoses]

I’m a muslim scholar and I’ll teach Christianity this semester. I want to learn more about ‘the faith’ (thanks to Cathecism of the Catholic Church document, faith is very clear) and the practical daily life (I cant find any good and reliable book/document about practical life). What to eat, what is forbidden to do/eat/wear in daily life. Who to marry with or not to? Where can I learn these informations and cite academically? Is there any canonic law regarding these social/moral issues?

For example, in Islam, milk siblings cant not marry each other even their mothers and father would be different. Is there any code like this in Christianity?

Thank you, have a nice day.

 

[underacloud]

Here is a link to the canon law that governs marriage in the Catholic Church:

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P3V.HTM

If you click ahead a few pages you’ll find the issue of relatives marrying is addressed at Can. 1091.

Many other such issues can be explored here too. There are generally no proscriptions on what Catholics can’t eat, other than at certain times of fasting, eg no meat on certain days such as Ash Wednesday (start of lent) and Good Friday.

Canon law is a tricky area and there are experts who’s job it is to work through it, as with any other legal system the world over. So even matters that seem clear enough in canon law may be more open for debate than it appears.

A good starting point to inform you studies here is that there are five precepts of the Catholic faith, which are mandatory for all Catholics to follow:

1. You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor
2. You shall confess your sins at least once a year
3. You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season
4. You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church
5. You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church

(Note: they are not quite as straighforward as stated here - again, Canon Law will provide the more exact legal definitions and requiremenmts for each of these precepts; moreover, some issues such as fasting may be governed differently from country to country.)

 

[EasterJoy]

I could quote you canon law, but this is a question for the Liturgy and Sacraments forum. Marriage is a sacrament in the Catholic Church, and the experts who know all about this tend to post over there.

Otherwise, you can look up the Code of Canon law for the Roman Catholic Church, look under the section for sacraments, then at marriage, and then at “impediments.” If you can make heads or tails out of that section, that is the “primary literature.” Questions about what the laws mean is again a question for the folks at Liturgy and Sacraments. (Those are the marriage rules…)

With regards to dietary rules, the Roman Catholic Church do not have required fasts of the same number and difficulty as we did previously. You will want to research rules for fasting (which are relatively short and easy fasts, compared to Yom Kippur or Ramadan) and abstinence (which only concerns the flesh of mammals and birds, not fish or seafood).

Your job is going to be made more difficult, of course, because Orthodox Catholics have different fasting and abstinence rules than the rites in communion with Rome. Then there are all of the Protestant denominations, and they are even more numerous and all over the map yet. Many of them do not have proscribed fasts at all, but only fasting as decided by the individual.

I have never heard of the term “milk sibling.”

 

[manualman]

1. What to eat, what is forbidden to do/eat/wear in daily life.
2. Who to marry with or not to?
   …
3. For example, in Islam, milk siblings cant not marry each other even their mothers and father would be different. Is there any code like this in Christianity?

1. No cannibalism! We do not have anything like halal diet, though catholics are supposed to abstain from eating meat of Fridays. Outside of Lent catholics are free to substitute another sacrifice in lieu of abstaining from meat, but this regulation is not widely known or followed at this time.

Clothing manner is not like in Islam with prescribed dress. The virtue of modesty in Christianity is more a manner of internal disposition than explicit regulation of dress (though we have lots of arguments about what that means!).

1. Long time catholic teaching encourages people to marry other catholics, permits them to marry other baptized Christians and discourages (but creates a process for approval of) marriage of unbaptized people.
2. Most Christian faiths do not allow marriage among relatives at the first cousin or closer level of family. (That’s the children of my parent’s siblings) Extended family further out than that is allowed, but not terribly common anymore.

If you are teaching what the fundamental beliefs of Christianity are, please be sure to include the following:

1. All humans were created by God to be good, but from the very first chose to commit sin and have because of that a flawed nature that all too often is attracted to evil. Christians believe that this fallen nature is severe enough that we do not have the power within ourselves alone to live truly good and moral lives in the eyes of God. We call this idea Original Sin.
2. Because of how hopeless a situation humanity is in as a result of Original Sin, God in his love and mercy became human in the form of Jesus in order to tell us of God’s persistent great love for us, of the opportunity for repentance and to offer us Sanctifying Grace to overcome our fallen weakness and be restored to how God intended man to be. This great love was proven in that we humans killed Him on a cross and He rose from death to show His love for us and to open that pathway to forgiveness.
3. As part of that offer of Grace, Jesus established his Church and the Sacraments (look them up) to be constant sources of Grace to feed us and heal us as we inevitably enjoy both triumphs and defeats in the long struggle to conform ourselves to his character and be healed of our brokenness.

There is lots more, of course, but everything else radiates out from those fundamental truths.

 

[StMoses]

Thank you for all your replies, I know about Canon Law and reading it daily, thanks to search and concordance engine, its very easy to find what you’re looking for. But ofcourse with the help of a local priest I do try my bets to give true comments / meaning to that texts.

For I’m a teacher, you know students, they just want to learn daily life of a Catholic. And its hard to find answers for questions like ‘Can a catholic women wear pants?’ ‘Can a catholic person eat/drink that’ etc. And I dont want to ‘google’ them, I just want to read particular details if there’s any in authentic books / scriptures etc.

In our religion there are somehow strict rules on social aspect of life; like rules for clothing, eating etc.

And the milk sibling, is this: Lets say there is a boy named John, and a girl Marry. And lets say, they are not related in any form. They normally can marry each other. But If Marry, when she’s a baby, drink milk from John’s mother, They’re now accounted as REAL brother and sisters, so they cant marry each other. This is called ‘milk sibling’.

As far as I read from Canonic Law, its only forbidden to marry someone who’s not baptized or catholic at the time of this sacrament held. Or close relatives like brothers, sisters, couisens etc.

Thank you again for kind helps. I’ll ask more If I get hard questions from my students. People here are very helpfull unlike some local church fathers. Somehow they dont want to answer questions about these issues.

 

[manualman]

It’s great to hear of people from other cultures interested in learning. The hardest part of comprehending other cultures is in resisting the assumption that the other culture is just like ours and just has different names for things.

I’m not an expert in Islam (for sure!), but if regulations on diet and clothing are significant features of the religious system, please be sure you are emphasizing that Christianity is not the same in that respect. There are in some places and times Christian regulations on these things, but they are only of peripheral importance compared to the understanding of human sinfulness and our need for repentance and divine assistance through Grace in order to overcome our sinfulness.

 

[underacloud]

As far as I read from Canonic Law, its only forbidden to marry someone who’s not baptized or catholic at the time of this sacrament held.

Even then we would note that dispensation can be given, and very frequently is. When it is given, a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian will be considered valid and sacramental, while a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Christin is not sacramental, but is valid.

Most other proscriptions cannot be dispenses as such, including when attempting to marry a close relative, or when the man is impotent, or if a valid prior marriage exists.

 

[Rau]

…And its hard to find answers for questions like ‘Can a catholic women wear pants?’ ‘Can a catholic person eat/drink that’ etc. And I dont want to ‘google’ them, I just want to read particular details if there’s any in authentic books / scriptures etc.

In our religion there are somehow strict rules on social aspect of life; like rules for clothing, eating etc.

Catholicism has far fewer rules on these sorts of “everyday” things than you might encounter in Islam, or the Jewish faith, etc. there are no rules on clothing - but there is a general requirement to act and dress modestly. But that rule is not further spelled out in a prescriptive fashion. There are no rules at all on what foods are acceptable. There is no food that I may not buy at the supermarket or order in a restaurant. There are a small number of rules about fasting or abstaining from certain foods at certain (limited) times.

You might consider the “rules” about contraception and IVF treatments as within the scope of your study.

The Catechism + Canon Law is pretty comprehensive. By the way, most Catholics would have very little knowledge of the Canon Law. Though some of it is quite pertinent to what ordinary people may do (eg. When one can /cannot marry), much of it pertains to the operation of the Church structure itself (eg. Role of Arch Bishops during the absence of the Bishop in a neighbouring diocese…).

 

[StMoses]

Thank you again everyone.
I’ll certainly emphasis on the Original Sin, Salvation in Christ and nature of Trinity with citings froms CCC, Canonic Law and Church Fathers and Papal Documents. These are some very fundamental issues on faith itself. But I guess some daily life issues can be answered via general rules like modesty, morality, decency and chastity adviced throughtout the Holy Scriptures and See.

Btw, I’m also wondering if the prohibitions and commandments of Old Testament still viable for Christians, particulary for Catholics? Are there any viable study (scientific papers) or Papal documents regarding this issue?

Thank you again.
Have a nice day all.

 

[manualman]

Catholics understand the purpose of much of the Old Testament law to have been to illustrate the frailty of the human will and virtue due to Original Sin and demonstrate our need for a Redeemer. Right in the Acts of the Apostles (If I remember correctly) St. Peter received a vision from Jesus in which the strict dietary restrictions of the OT were abrogated for precisely this reason. We understand that abrogation to extend to OT restrictions that were disciplinary in nature rather than illustrative of God’s actual character.

Thus, we don’t have Jewish dietary restrictions or cleansing rituals that are so painstakingly outlined in the OT. They have fulfilled their original purpose and no longer apply.