Expert: Fr. Michael - 1/11/2009

Question
Hello Father:

I am a 50 year old man who has not had a religious upbringing, and has never been baptized. I feel strongly compelled to become a catholic.  I am married and have three children. I have been married three times. My wife is a non-practicing Baptist.

From what I understand I would need to have my previous marriages annulled in order to have my marriage convalidated. I do not believe that that should be possible.  My first marriage was when I was very young, and lasted less than a year – I believe that may be possible to annul.  My second marriage lasted 6 years, and I do not believe it could be annulled based on the reasoning I have been able to find.

That said, is it possible for me to become catholic, and be baptized without having my previous marriage annulled? Could my children be raised catholic?  

Answer
First of all, one don't "have marriages annulled."  Either the marriage was valid or it wasn't.  You cannot make it invalid by desire.  Usually, it is a rare case that a marriage is invalid (parties below the canonical age, parties marrying close blood relations, etc.).  How long the marriage lasted is irrelevant.  If the marriage was valid (as it almost certainly was), that is your valid marriage.  Whatever you did after that point does not affected the continuing validity of that marriage unless the party has died.

If you are living in a state essentially of bigamy, no, you could not be baptized.  Yes, the children can be raised in the Catholic Faith.  It sounds as if your situation were unusually complicated.  Your next step would be to get some guidance on the specifics of your situation from a traditional priest.  If you do not already have contact with one, see the geographical listings in the Official Traditional Catholic Directory at www.traditio.com/nat.htm and make that contact.