My good friend and confidant for 20 plus years Mr. M is married to a wonderful woman. They have been married 3 years and would fit into the "normal" marriage bracket… He is Roman Catholic and she was born Jewish only by her mothers blood. She has never practiced Judaism nor has anyone in her family practiced for at least 2 generations. They were married by a Justice of the Peace infront of friends and family because at the time they had no real established religious affilitation. Recently they have been frequenting the RC church and she is very happy with what she feels from the church experience and has been mulling the idea of converting. My question is this…
Can she convert and not have to get remarried in the RC church? Will a priest even entertain this? Or will they need to go through the sacrement of marriage all over again in an established church if she goes through the process of converting?
Their marriage is not valid in the eyes of the church. They would need to go through the sacrament of marriage. They would not need to have a full blown extravaganza, a simple ceremony would suffice. She would not have to convert by the date of the marriage, in fact she would not be required to convert at all.
Nope, the Catholic Church allows mixed-faith marriages. They will need to go through a pre-marriage counseling program where they meet with a priest and discuss both religious and secular concerns, and they may have to agree that any children that they may have will be raised in the Catholic faith. Sometimes mixed-faith marriage ceremonies are performed by both a priest and a member of the clergy from the other religion.
The catholic spouse declares that they will not fall away from the faith, and that they make a sincere promise to baptize and raise the children Catholic.
The non catholic spouse is informed of the Catholic spouses’ promises, so they are clearly aware of the promise and obligation.
Both parties are instructed on the properties of marriage.
There may be other mitigating circumstances, prior marriages, state of grace, etc.
This is just an off the cuff answer, best bet is to talk to the priest of the parish they are now enjoying. He’ll be (hopefully) a little better versed in canonical law.
If he is a baptised Catholic and she is a non-Christian then they cannot contract a sacramental marriage. A sacramental marriage requires that both husband and wife be baptised Christians.
Cunc, you are making me break out my books, damn you all to hell.
The impediment to marriage between a baptized Catholic and an unbaptized person is called disparity of cult. Only the bishop of the diocese where the marriage is taking place, or the bishop of the of the Catholic spouse can “For a just and reasonable cause” remove this impediment. Before granting a dispensation for such a marriage, according to canon 1125 of Canon Law, a bishop must be satified of the threee conditions I have mentioned in my previous post.
Yes, you’re right. I was merely pointing out that, even if the canonically required dispensation for disparity of cult has been granted by the bishop, the marriage itself can only be a natural marriage, rather than a sacramental one, since one of the parties is not baptised.
ok, I’ll show my glaring ignorance here, Cunc. If a bishop with the authority has removed the impediment of disparity of cult, the spouses have taken the promises to heart, and in good faith, the ceremony is presided over by a priest, how is it a natural marriage, not a sacramental one?
Yes, the Church recognizes marriages of other faiths or civil ceremonies, and even that other marriages of Christian faiths by two people that are baptized are valid and sacramental.
Perhaps you are thinking of either the Petrine or Pauline privilege? That has more to do with annulments.
The marriage is a natural one rather than a sacramental one because the essence of a sacramental marriage is that both parties be baptised Christians.
The bishop’s dispensation simply removes the impediment imposed by canon law on a marriage under disparity of cult. In other words, it makes the marriage valid under canon law. It does not make it sacramental.
No, I’m not, although it’s true that the nature of the marriage (sacramental or non-sacramental) has a significant bearing on whether it can be annulled, or even dissolved.
While the discussion of Canon Law is very informative, I note that the OP stated
The short answer to this question is that the priest will certainly entertain the notion of helping them along (according to the rules regarding their situation) and, if she intends to convert, the parish staff will (usually) fall over themselves helping to get any legal niceties in order*. (While I would guess that mnost of the legalities would be mere paperwork, a previous marriage by either will, of course, complicate their lives a great deal, but the parish priest could answer those issues, as well.)
If there is any indication that the parish is reluctant to do everything possible to help them, I would suggest they find a better parish, immediately.
Their marriage is valid, actually. Marriage and baptism do not require the presence of a priest.
Marriage in the Catholic Church is performed not by the priest, but by the couple. The priest is merely a witness. A common theme in marriage sermons is “we are here, not to get them married, but to celebrate, to ‘publish’, a marriage that already exists”.
The Council of Trent was the first time that the Church asked to have a priest as one of the witnesses; this was done because there had been an increasing number of cases of women being abandoned by their husbands and trying to marry another woman/take up the cloth. Since providing a piece of paper from a church’s registry is easier than calling half a village to say that “yeah, I know that guy to be her husband”, the Church asked for marriages to be written down.
They can ask for a wedding or for a renewal of marriage vows, if they so desire.
Being a Catholic is not a requirement to having either a Catholic-rite wedding or a Catholic marriage, by the way.
I’d like to see a quote. If it’s a choice between the authority of the Code of Canon Law (see my previous post) and the opinion of the Jesuit General, I’d place my money on the Code every time.
Note that I’m not suggesting that a Catholic and a non-baptised person can’t validly marry in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Clearly they can if the appropriate dispensation has been granted. What they can’t do is contract a sacramental marriage.
