Hello

My wonderful fiancee' and I would very much like to get married according to the Catholic ceremony, but we wonder whether our particular situation would allow it. I am Catholic myself and although I have never been married in a Catholic church, I have been married civilly to an agnostic woman, but I am now divorced. My fiancee' has been married in the Episcopal church and has been divorced for 3 years now. Independently of our intention to get married and regardless of whether we can indeed marry in a Catholic church, she intends to convert to Catholicism. I should be grateful for any information that wouild tell us whether we can get married according to the Catholic ceremony.

SIncerely,

Joseph

-- Joseph Eanely (gaussquad@hotmail.com), October 22, 2002

Answers

Response to Marriage between an Episcopal divorcee' and a Catholic man

Jmj

Hello, Joseph.

Any time a person has gone through any kind of wedding ceremony (Christian or non- Christian, whether according to Catholic canonical form or not) with a person who is still alive, those two people cannot attempt marriage to anyone else without first obtaining a Decree of Nullity, issued by a bishop after the work of a marriage tribunal. The reason is that the Church presumes that the marriage is valid (regardless of a divorce) until the opposite can be proved.

Therefore, you need to visit your pastor as soon as possible and explain the whole situation to him to see if you can get two nullity processes moving, one for you and one for your friend. She cannot yet be called your "fiancee," since one or both of you may still be married, in God's eyes. If (and only if) the tribunal issues two Declarations of Nullity, the two of you will be free to marry one another.

Your coming meeting with the pastor will also help your friend to begin the process of taking instructions to become a convert to Catholicism. Maybe you could take instructions together (a "refresher" course for you).

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), October 22, 2002.