You are here:
- Home
- Religion/Spirituality
- Christianity - Catholicism
- Catholics
- non catholic marriage
Catholics/non catholic marriage
Advertisement
Question
My fiance and I are both catholic. I was previously married in the catholic church and am now divorced. We have looked into getting my previous marriage annulled and neither of us want to wait that long. Is it possible for us to still get married in a non catholic church, for instance a UCC?
Hi, Jenn:
Thanks for the question.
It looks to me like you need to ask yourself two questions, and research them:
1. What does my Catholic Faith mean to me?
2. What actually is an anullment?
There seems to be serious confusion on both of these issues. For example, what kind of Catholic would you be if you would just jump ship into some non-catholic ecclesial community just to get some kind of a wedding ceremony? Without a decree of nullity, you would not really know whether the previous marriage was invalid for some root cause or reason.
You need to ask yourself: "Did Jesus really mean it when He declared about marriage 'what God has joined let no man divide'"? Because this is the root meaning of an anullment: you have a serious cause to believe that perhaps God did not actually join you in the sacrament of matrimony in your first marriage because of some defect that needs to be discovered and analysed. The anullment process, while it takes some time, could allow you to come to some healing from the former relationship in any of its defects.
I think that there are deeper issues at work, too, just in terms of your actual practice of the Catholic Faith that needs a serious look and some deeper conversion. You seem to think that an anullment is just "Catholic divorce." It isn't.
Fr. Timothy Johnson
Related Articles
- Matrimony - Definition of Matrimony
- Address of Senator John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association - Senator John F. Kennedy's Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association
- The Marriage Vows - Catholicism
- Book Review - Breaking Faith: The Pope, the People, and the Fate of Catholicism, by John Cornwell
- Premarital Counseling - Groom
Answers by Expert:
Fr. Timothy Johnson
Expertise
A Traditional Catholic Priest, validly and licitly ordained, incardinated legally and canonically in the Diocese of Fargo, and in good-standing with my Local Ordinary (Bishop) on active assignment at a rural Tri-Parish. I can provide honest and balanced answers to questions on topics pertaining to Traditional Roman Catholicism of the Latin Church (Councils of Trent and Vatican II)and a lot about the Eastern Catholic Churches, including the Sacred Liturgy, Sacred Scripture, Church History, the use of the Latin language, the tradition of Sacred Music, and current events in the Catholic Church from a traditional, historical and balanced perspective.
Experience
I have been ordained a Roman Catholic Priest since June 2001.
Organizations
Knights of Columbus; Church Music Association of America (CMAA)
Education/Credentials
Ordained Priest, 02 JUN 2001; Ordained Deacon, 27 JAN 2001; MA - Dogmatic/Systematic Theology;
MDiv - Professional Degree from Seminary;
2-Years formation with Canons Regular of Premontre including studies and experience in Sacred Liturgy, Chant, Latin, Sacraments, Spirituality.
BA - Scholastic/Thomistic Philosophy;
BA - Liberal Arts;
AA - General Studies.
Past/Present Clients
I serve 3-small, rural Parish Communities in Easter North Dakota
I converted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1981, at the age of 15.
Over the years I have done work as an organist, cantor, and choir director for the Latin Rite (English & Latin) Mass (Liturgy of the Eucharist), and even for the Hours of the Divine Office.
I have worked as a cantor for a Melkite Byzantine Catholic Church.
Presently my pastoral and administrative duties as a Catholic Priest do not allow me as much time as I used to have to devote to Sacred Music; but for my weekend Masses and Solemnities within my Tri-Parish, I offer High Sung Mass in English. Weekday Mass is typically Low Mass (recited Mass) in English, though on occasion I will offer the "Tridentine Mass" in Latin, which I usually offer on my "Day Off", as well. And now, in light of the "Motu Proprio" by his Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI placing the extraordinary usage of the Roman Rite back into the mainstream of the Catholic Church, I have been offering a regularly scheduled SUN, 2:00 PM Tridentine Latin Mass with a community of the faithful that has a stable existence.
©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.