My fiancee is GO and I am Catholic. I do not plan on converting but our life together will be more influenced by the Greek Orthodox church b/c we live by his family. Mine is in another state. Because of this and my general lack of comfort with the Greek church, we have decided to get married in the Catholic church. But to get him back in good standing with his church we would likely want to have it later blessed by the Greek church. We are scheduled to meet with his pastor, but I was hoping for some insight from a Catholic priest regarding our plans and also if that will cause and problems for my standing in the Catholic church. Thanks

-- Marybeth Mullarkey (mbmullarkey@hotmail.com), April 12, 2004

Answers

Paging Father Mike!

-- Mark (aujus_1066@yahoo.com), April 12, 2004.

I don't know the answer, but you might find these threads helpful:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl? msg_id=00BuDU

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl? msg_id=00B7QT

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-one- category.tcl?topic=Catholic&category=Sacraments%20%2d%20Matrimony%20% 2d%20Interfaith%20Marriage

God bless you!

-- Emily (jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), April 12, 2004.

Sorry the last one didn't work. Here it is again:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl? msg_id=00A2H2

There are more similar threads here: http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-one- category.tcl?topic=Catholic&category=Sacraments%20%2d%20Matrimony%20% 2d%20Interfaith%20Marriage

-- Emily (jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), April 12, 2004.

Marybeth,

First, congratulations.

Now on to your issues. Roman Catholic marriages are generally not recognized by the Greek Orthodox Church (therefore, later they would not "bless" the marriage - they would actually have you do another wedding). On the other hand, Greek Orthodox weddings are recognized by the Catholic Church. It might be easier for your fiancee if you two were to get married by the Orthodox. I don't know how deep your "lack of comfort" runs or on what it is based but this might be a consideration.

Hope that's helpful.

-- Fr. Mike Skrocki, JCD (cand.) (abounamike@aol.com), April 13, 2004.

Hi, Marybeth

As I'm sure Father Mike is well aware of but before you can begin to arrange to be married by your fiance's Greek Orhodox pastor you must first obtain your Catholic bishop's permission. I think this could be obtained without any trouble by you, or you can get your pastor to help with this.

"Canons 1124-1125 With out the express permission of the competent authority, marriage is prohibited between two baptized persons, on of whom was baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it after baptism and has not defected from the formal act, the other of whom belongs to a church or ecclesial community not in ful communion with the catholic Church. The local Ordinary can grant this permission if there is a just and reasonable cause..."

Also maybe you can get the Orthodox pastor's permission to allow your Catholic pastor to participate in the Orthodox wedding to the extent that the Orthodox bishop allows. Also, while the Catholic Church would welcome the Orthodox priest to take a role in a Catholic wedding ceremony, his bishop might not allow this. But, if he did allow it, he could not require the couple to pronounce a second kind of vows(consent) after the Catholic vows.

Canon 1127 supports most of what I said.

May God bless you with a great marriage, and may God bless the Catholic Church with more Orthodox Catholic priests like Father Mike.

-- - (David@excite.com), April 14, 2004.

David is absolutely right about the requirement of the bishop's permission for a marriage of "mixed religion." This would affect the liceity of the celebration not it's validity. It should also be noted that this permission is routinely & easily obtained. Talk to your pastor.

As for the Orthodox allowing the Roman priest to participate this will most likely NOT be allowed by the Orthodox. However, if it is allowed the strictures that David points out are correct.

Hope that's helpful.

-- Fr. Mike Skrocki, JCD (cand) (abounamike@aol.com), April 15, 2004.