I'm curious to know if a couple is already LEGALLY married, does the Catholic priest have to know if they are legally married in order for him to perform the wedding process? And if he does know, is it frowned upon and will he still carry out the process?
2007-09-17 16:33:57 · 11 answers · asked by rivaldo 2 in Family & Relationships ➔ Marriage & Divorce
To clarify, I'm talking about getting a civil marriage (in the court) first, and then eventually having a Catholic ceremony in the future with the same person. I am asking this b/c I may be getting deployed very soon, and we wouldn't want a ceremony until after I return. I hear there are certain aspects of the actual Catholic ceremony that wouldn't take place b/c the couple is already married (i.e. union of the candles and the father walking the bride down the aisle).
2007-09-18 14:20:09 · update #1
The Church recognizes the marriage already.
It can and will bless the marriage bond that already exists.
This is called a Convalidation of Marriage. Here is an article about the steps involved: http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0604.asp
Talk to your parish priest to get the process started.
For more information, see the Code of Canon Law, paragraphs 1156 and following: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P46.HTM
With love and prayers in Christ.
2007-09-17 18:29:03 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is often dependent on the priest that you encounter. I'd like to say all priests are as great as mine, but that's not that case.
A Catholic priest is allowed to "legally" marry you, but if you're not married in the church but "only" at a civil ceremony, the church has a hard time with. So, the priest should be very happy to join you as one before God.
In your case in particular, with you being deployed, if the priest is a good one, he should be more than happy to join you. Yes, he should know you're legally married (do you want to start your religious union by lying to a priest??), but it should by no means affect the ceremony. Think of the people who walk down the aisle 6 months pregnant or with their kids as flower girl or ring bearer! The church doesn't recognize your marriage formally if it wasn't performed by a priest, so you should be ok.
I don't think it's frowned upon. I think nowadays, priests and religious are quite delighted that people who go through the civil ceremony still want to have their union blessed before God.
Congratulations, by the way, and stay safe while you're away.
LJG
2007-09-24 10:20:35 · answer #2 · answered by LJG 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hello, actually the church wedding is just a religion thing. And believe it or not. In some state the religous weddings are not recognize by the government.
Interesting enough, when my father was still alive ( he was like a lawyer) he was very specific that the law of the land have more power than the church.
When I got married we had to have a license or permit from the state of California before we can have the wedding in the church.
So basically the church wedding is just a ceremonial.
2007-09-17 17:47:09 · answer #3 · answered by darkvadershield35 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think there is some confusion over whether the two of you already being married means "to each other" or "to other people."
If it is to each other, the respondent a couple entries above seems to have a great answer.
If it is to other people, then I would ask why you would even want to get married as marriage obviously doesn't mean anything to you. Also, it is illegal in many (if not all) to be married to more than one person at a time, so you might have issues there as well.
Hope it was the former and not the latter...
2007-09-17 20:17:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The catholic church would not recognize your civil marriage. If you are truly serious about getting married in a catholic church then you should wait. You would be breaking all the rules. Which I'm sure your breaking some now. Living together, having sex out of wedlock, using birth control, etc., The catholic church only recognizes marriages performed in a catholic church under the eyes of God. Sorry, you can't have your cake and eat it too.
2007-09-23 08:17:19 · answer #5 · answered by Angela C 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
If they are Catholic and civilly married- they are not married in the eyes of God UNTIL they are married in the Church.
Yes, you need to tell him- otherwise he's going to be looking for a current marriage license, which you simply CAN'T give him, can you?
You can't be married in the Church if either of you were previously married until you get anullments. If previous marriages were outside the Church, it is a little easier.
If both of you were never married, you need to present your marriage certificate, fill out some paperwork, meet with the priest a few times, confess the sin of fornicaiton ( sex outside of marriage- since you are not validly married) ...and you can have your marriage validated.
DO NOT RECEIVE THE EUCHARIST UNTIL YOU DO!
2007-09-18 07:38:16 · answer #6 · answered by Mommy_to_seven 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
if you are already legally married then you cannot get married in the catholic church without have the marriage annulled...the catholic church does not recognise divorce...
so no the priest can not marry you
orry i interpreted the question that you were wanting to be married for the 2nd time to someone different than your 1st marriage...its also bigamy and illegal in many countries and states...
However if you are wanting to reconfirm your vows then yes a catholic church will do that for you...its best to be honest about your situation most priests would be honoured to accept you into their church in this particular situation..
2007-09-17 17:41:27 · answer #7 · answered by askaway 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you nuts? You are asking if it's OK to intentionally deceive a priest into marrying you while you're already married. I suppose you also want to re-stage your own wedding and fraud your guests, too. Do you NOT have any conscience at all. Do you NOT believe in bad Karma?
2007-09-17 18:45:23 · answer #8 · answered by Sondra 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well first off there is no legally married in the eyes of God except in a catholic church and nextly if there is no priest to marry you then you cant be married , and to answer that quetion yes he has to know if you are married or divorce or has kids, well no and yes it may be frowned upon because if you are divorcee then you would be curse and if you have any kids then they will be curse but if you don't have any kids well its alright and if all of a sudden you wish to get married again and you want to have kids then all your kids will be cursed cause if you have a curse parent then you will have a curse child
2007-09-18 16:11:05 · answer #9 · answered by Bernadette S 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
they would, as long as you got the lisence or that civil marriage certificate. But you would still got to do the counselling, etc that they offer.
2007-09-25 01:45:57 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋