I am catholic, but not confirmed. I was married to a lutheran in a lutheran church and now am divorced. My current boyfriend is catholic and wants to get married in a catholic church, do I need an anullment? Thanks for your help.

-- Renee Larson (rclarson@uswest.net), March 23, 2004

Answers

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-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), March 23, 2004.

Renee,

Assuming that at the time of your first marriage ceremony in the Lutheran chruch, (1) you were a baptised Catholic; (2) you had not formally joined the Lutheran church, nor formally left the Catholic church; and (3) you had not recieved a dispensation from your Catholic bishop to allow the marriage ceremony to be performed in the Lutheran church; then you need a "quickie" annulment.

You will need a copy of your marriage certificate for your first marriage, your final divorce decree, a recent (within the last six months) copy of your Catholic baptismal record, and you will need to sign an affidavit attesting to the questions in the above paragraph. It should be processed fairly quickly, but you should still try to do it as soon as possible. You do not need to wait until you are engaged to obtain the annulment for your first marriage.

Good luck!

-- Mark (aujus_1066@yahoo.com), March 23, 2004.

Welcome Renee,

If you were catholic at the time of your marriage and did not receive a dispensation from your bishop to marry outside the Catholic Church then your marriage would not be valid. Check with your priest though.

If on the other you were lutheran and now have converted to catholocism then the marriage would have been valid and an annulment would be required. Once again ask your priest about these details as he will also be responsible for doing premarriage training if you are free to marry.

-- David F (notanaddress@nowhere.com), March 23, 2004.

Renee, welcome to the forum!!!! You already have been given the advice that you asked for..I'd just like to add that I sincerely hope that should you indeed be free to marry in the Catholic Church that you would also begin your married life with both of you being fully Catholic. What a blessing for two people to be joined together in the SACRAMENT of marriage, and to also be as one with the Church?

-- Lesley (martchas@hotmail.com), March 23, 2004.

Renee,

You may or may not be able to get an abbreviated annulment as to form.

If you were Catholic at the time of your marriage and DID receive a dispensation from your Catholic bishop to marry outside the Catholic Church then your marriage could well be valid. If this is the case, then many more facts are needed before any kind of determination could ever be reached.

Its best to meet this head on and take care of it. Best wishes.

-- Pat Delaney (pat@patdelaney.net), March 24, 2004.