Does the Catholic church consider our child illegitimate?

Question

I have been previously married and divorced, then I re-married a Catholic man (I am not Catholic). I did not get an annullment from the Catholic church prior to marrying my second husband, so I assume the Catholic church does not recognize our marriage, and therefore considers our child illegitimate??

Answer 1

Since you weren't married Catholic the first time I don't think you need an annullment, just a divorce. I'm not positive on that though. If you weren't married (this time) in the church or had your marriage blessed then yes, I think they consider your child illegitimate.

Answer 2

Legitimate = born within a LEGAL marriage.

You were legally married to your husband, so your child is legitimate in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Likewise, you are in a legal marriage. Whether or not that marriage is Sacramentally valid is up in the air (you'd have to go the annulment route for that), but your children are considered legitimate by the Church.

Before civil marriage (i.e., marriage officiated by a government agent... the whole, "by the power invested in me by the State of Minnesota" or wherever), churches were the only governing force over marrige. So if you weren't married in a church, you weren't married.

There was a bit of grey area for a while after civil marriages became commonplace, but now it's all cleared up. The Catholic Church will call a child born within a legal marriage "legitimate", even if that legal marriage is not Sacramental (i.e, condoned by the Church) in nature.

Answer 3

*Is Catholic*

If your second marriage was done in good faith, then the Church considers your children of the second marriage legitimate. This would be the case if you did not know that you needed an annulment to marry your Catholic husband and you intended for the marriage to be a valid and sacramental marriage.

Canon 1137 states that children born or conceived of a valid or putative marriage are considered legitimate. Canon 1061 § 3 calls "putative" those marriages that, though invalid, were nevertheless celebrated in good faith by at least one of the parties, until that time, if any, when both parties become certain of its nullity.

Answer 4

No, legitimacy of children is not a church issue, it is a legal issue. Your child is the legal (legitimate) heir of you and your husband's property if you die. You are also legally responsible for your child until he or she is 18 years old.

Additionally, if a couple gets married and later gets a divorce and annulment, the children are not considered legitimate.

The church MAY refuse to have your child baptized because as parents of the child and responsible for raising the child in the Catholic faith, you are not setting a good example of living in the faith by not getting the first marriage annulled before getting married again.

Answer 5

The Catholic Church does not consider your child illigitimate.

The rules regarding the validity of a marriage, especially for purposes of an annulment, are complex and do not make the children "illegitimate" in any way.

And anyway, what is an "illegitimate" child? God creates children - can we call God's creations illegitimate? Does God's love for them differ? the term is meaningless.

Answer 6

assuming you were not married in the Catholic church with this second marriage -- they do not "recognize" the marriage.

if you were married in the Rcc and your first marriage was not preformed in a Christian church - no worries and no problems - you're fine.

Unfortunatly there needs to be a little more information to get a good picture. were you married int he Rcc the 2nd time? if so the priest would have had to make sure the 1st marriage was take care of properly.

IF you were not married or had your marriage blessed in the church.... while in a sacramental sense the child would be considered illegitimate this would not bar the the child from being baptized and such.

Answer 7

Based on the information you have provided, the marriage is what's illegitimate.

Spiritually speaking, there are no "accidental" pregnancies. We are all here because God willed us to be here. Even though the circumstances surrounding some births the births of some people are less than ideal, the child cannot be held responsible for those circumstances. Therefore, from God's point of view, there are no illegitimate children

Answer 8

That is correct, though "illegitimacy" is certainly not the social stigma it was in times past. To correct some of the misinformation offered above - It is not because you are non-Catholic that the Church doesn't recognize your marriage. It is because the Church is not certain that you were not married to someone else when you entered your current marriage. The annulment process is designed to remove that doubt so that you can be validly married in the Church.

Answer 9

You are correct. The Church does not recognize your marriage and therefore your child is illegitimate.

Since you did not get an annulment, I assume you were not married in the Catholic Church either, because they would have required you to have one.

If you are interested, you can begin the annulment process...there is no guarantee that you'll be granted one. It is a long and arduous process. But, if granted, you can have your current marriage blessed.

Answer 10

I knew a 24 year old girl, who had been married in a non Catholic Church, had two children, then she was divorced.

After that she wanted to become a nun.

She let her ex husband have custody of her children and since she had never been married in a Catholic Church, the Catholic Church decided she had never really been married and welcomed her into the convent.

So while you are concerned about if the Catholic Church considers your child illegitimate, your real question should be, "Is the Roman Catholic Church legitimate?"

Pastor Art