 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
SilverRose
Member
| Joined: | Thu Nov 2nd, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 1 |
| First Name: | | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Fri Nov 3rd, 2006 04:42 am |
|
My husband and I are in RCIA and trying to get our marriage recognized by the Catholic Church. I am frustrated, distressed, and unable to obtain clear information from my priest. Where can I get help and accurate information?
What's the trouble? Our priest wants us to take our vows again and make confession with regard to our marriage. I am *deeply* troubled by this because I feel that it would imply that our marriage is not currently valid. This is our first and only marriage. We have been married chastely for several years.
I understand the fact that my husband was baptized Catholic complicates the situation. However, he was baptized as an infant and his parents left the church when he was a child. We were both official members of protestant churches, attended a protestant college etc. Doesn’t this constitute an official rejection of the church?? If we thought he was Catholic when we married we would have married in the church!! He did not consider himself Catholic when we were married. We took solemn vows before God and with Christian witnesses in a protestant church. Were our vows meaningless in the eyes of the Catholic Church?
Thank you for your help,
SilverRose
|
|
|
CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 4981 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Fri Nov 3rd, 2006 01:22 pm |
|
SilverRose wrote: My husband and I are in RCIA and trying to get our marriage recognized by the Catholic Church. I am frustrated, distressed, and unable to obtain clear information from my priest. Where can I get help and accurate information?
What's the trouble? Our priest wants us to take our vows again and make confession with regard to our marriage. I am *deeply* troubled by this because I feel that it would imply that our marriage is not currently valid. This is our first and only marriage. We have been married chastely for several years.
I understand the fact that my husband was baptized Catholic complicates the situation. However, he was baptized as an infant and his parents left the church when he was a child. We were both official members of protestant churches, attended a protestant college etc. Doesn’t this constitute an official rejection of the church?? If we thought he was Catholic when we married we would have married in the church!! He did not consider himself Catholic when we were married. We took solemn vows before God and with Christian witnesses in a protestant church. Were our vows meaningless in the eyes of the Catholic Church?
If I were your advisor, I would also suggest that you renew your vows in the Catholic Church. Quite simply, it is the easiest resolution to a potentially complicated problem.
Your husband was baptized in the Catholic Church. Catholics are bound to submit to the authority of the Church. When he was married in a non-Catholic ceremony, he violated this requirement. The fact that he was a child when he left the Church is a complicating factor, as he was not of sufficient age to make a formal repudiation of the Church. In order to have your marriage recognized by the Church, you would probably have to provide witnesses, declaratory statements, etc., and undergo a Tribunal hearing to determine whether he formally renounced the Church. Mere membership in a Protestant congregation does not constitute formal rejection. In other words, you would most likely have to go through a process very similar to those who seek to have a marriage declared invalid. It would probably be expensive and could take years.
By renewing your vows in the presence of a priest, you assure the validity of your marriage in the eyes of the Church. The real issue is not whether your current marriage is valid or not, but whether it meets the criteria for recognition by the Church, and your husband's requirement as a baptized Catholic to submit to the Church's authority. You also have the opportunity to express your love for one another again, simply and easily, and satisfy the Church's requirement in doing so.
The Church does recognize the validity of your current marriage. When you repeat your vows, your priest will not require a new marriage license, and no legal paperwork will be required. It recognizes your union in not requiring you to take part in pre-marital counseling, marriage preparation, etc. But since you did not take part in the normal Catholic procedure, the Church cannot assure the sacramentality of your marriage. You know, but the Church doesn't. Your priest is offering you the simplest solution to this dilemma.
At the same time, the renewal of vows will cause a new beginning in your marital relationship with God through the Catholic Church. In Catholic theology, a marriage is not between two people but between two people and God, with the support of the community. The Church is invested in every marriage, which is why her official witness must be present.
My wife and I have been together for 34 years, and we renewed our vows at 5, 10, 15, and 25 years. We will renew them again at 40 and 50.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
|
|
|
Current time is 07:30 am | |
|
|
|
|
|
