Expert: Fr. Michael - 9/10/2008

Question
Dear Father,
I am a devout Catholic and I have been so for my entire life.    In 1980 I kept company with a very devout and good Catholic woman for two months and I became extremely fond of her.    I have been very deeply involved with Catholics for all of my life and this woman was the best Catholic that I have ever met.    We both attended Catholic schools and went to Mass together and she practised our religious faith to the absolute letter of strictness better thsn anybody that I have ever met.    After two months we parted company as a result of immutarity and inexperience on the part of both of us.    We both knew what we wanted from each other but we did not know how to go about obtaining it.    We lacked the experience that accompanies maturity.    In the early 1990's she met and married outside of the Cathoilic Church a man who was divorced and who had several children.    Three years after they were married this man who was a truck driver was killed in a road accident involving a truck and as a result she became a widow.    In the intervening years between 1980 and late 2008 I thought of nothing but this woman on a daily basis and how foolish I had been to let her go and I renewed my friendship with her.    I am 57 yesrs of age and she is 55 years of age and if we eventually decided to marry would it be possible for us to do so in the Catholic Church?    Your advice on this matter would be very much appreciated Father because in the intervening years both of us have lost all of our parents.    She was an only child and both of us have very few family members left.    She lives entirely alone and I virtually live alone and we are both very lonely.    We both enjoy each other's company very much and we both now possess a very deep understanding of each other.
Yours Sincerely,
Tim.

Answer
Because she married before a heretical minister, she publicly proclaimed her rejection of the Catholic Church and became a heretic from the traditional perspective.  Therefore, she is not free to enter into a sacramental Catholic marriage.

She should consult a traditional Catholic priest, who can advise her what her state is at this time and what she may do if she has true contrition and a firm purpose of amendment.  If she does not have a traditional Catholic confessor, she should see the list at http://www.traditio.com/nat.htm