Expert: Fr. Timothy Johnson - 8/17/2009

Question
Dear Fr. Timothy,

My question may not fit into the areas described in your profile about Traditional Catholicism. However, I assume since you're a priest then you would definitely deal with marriage and canon laws about performing weddings quite a bit.  I knew a man who was injured and became paralyzed from the neck down.  After struggling to pay his medical bills for 3 years after the accident he went bankrupt.  Also, his wife was working 2 jobs to help pay the bills, because she worked they were not entitled to medicaid which would pay all his bills. In order to make a long story short, she had to legally divorce him in order for him to have the health care coverage he needed. I also, knew an elderly couple who had to do the same thing when the wife had to be admitted to a nursing home.  Anyhow, my question is this: are there cases where the church would perform a valid Church wedding that would not necessarily be a marriage recognized by the state, like someone not signing the legal marriage cerfificate but yet getting married in a Church. Or how does the Church view those who may have a health problem and cannot marry because of being unable to pay medical bills, so they get married by a priest but just don't sign a legal marriage certificate.  Would you perform such a ceremony if it were for just reasons?  What do you think of such things?

Answer
Hi, Sam:
Admittedly, this is quite a complex question and scenario.
From the Canons I have read concerning "secret" marriages by the authority of the Church, a Priest would not be able to act "on his own lawfully" so to speak; and this sort of a matter would be reviewed and processed at the Diocesan level.  In the case of "secret" marriages, the record would be kept in a secret archive at the Chancery.
I personally have not encountered this sort of a situation in my own pastoral ministry, and I would imagine it to be quite rare.
I would think that in such cases the Church is looking at and judging the goods for the benefit of the soul of the individual, and the goods that could be had justly in a government and family situation that falls far below the ideal.  People do not have an absolute right to ALL medical care; but they do have the right to be treated with dignity and treated for the most basic needs of human care required (nutrition, hydration, rest, etc).  This matter would be taken care of in a discrete and hidden way according to the norms for "secret marriages" in Canon Law; the only thing would be to determine by further research into the matter as to the real and original purpose of such provisions in Canon Law.  In a way, it would all be a lot like dealing with the "seal of confession" - for as that seal is respected, nobody knows anything about the matters discussed or undertaken.

Fr. Johnson