Expert: Fr. Timothy Johnson - 12/14/2010

Question
QUESTION: I am a baptized practicing Roman Catholic. My fiance is Hindu by birth, although he doesn't practice the religion in his daily life. Neither of us have ever been married. We are having a Catholic wedding ceremony next year, and we are in the process of compiling all the paperwork and doing our pre cana preparations.

My fiance's parents were born and raised in India, and their culture is very important to them, so we always intended to do both a Catholic ceremony and a Hindu ceremony. Originally we intended to do them the same day. But we learned that his grandmother, who is 90, cannot travel to the U.S. and her health is waning pretty fast. The Hindu ceremony is really for her, so we are traveling to India for the ceremony so she can be a part of it. Because of her failing health, we have to go to India before the Catholic ceremony will take place. To us, the Indian wedding ceremony is just that--a ceremony. We are not signing any legal documents and will not really be married after the event (in the eyes of any legal government or in our own eyes). We both know the Catholic ceremony will facilitate our true union and create a marriage.

I have heard of the double ceremony with the Hindu ceremony occurring first before, but just wanted to make sure we weren't defying any rules of the Church.

Thank you for your help.

ANSWER: Hi, Lily:

Thanks for the question.  The 1983 Code of Canon Law states:

Can.  1127 §1. The prescripts of ⇒ can. 1108 are to be observed for the form to be used in a mixed marriage.

Nevertheless, if a Catholic party contracts marriage with a non-Catholic party of an Eastern rite, the canonical form of the celebration must be observed for liceity only; for validity, however, the presence of a sacred minister is required and the other requirements of law are to be observed.

§2. If grave diYculties hinder the observance of canonical form, the local ordinary of the Catholic party has the right of dispensing from the form in individual cases, after having consulted the ordinary of the place in which the marriage is celebrated and with some public form of celebration for validity. It is for the conference of bishops to establish norms by which the aforementioned dispensation is to be granted in a uniform manner.

§3. It is forbidden to have another religious celebration of the same marriage to give or renew matrimonial consent before or after the canonical celebration according to the norm of §1. Likewise, there is not to be a religious celebration in which the Catholic who is assisting and a non-Catholic minister together, using their own rites, ask for the consent of the parties.

I hope this is helpful.

Fr. Timothy Johnson

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I'm sorry, Fr. Timothy, but I'm getting a bit caught up in all the language. Do you mind distilling what each of these sections actually means in the end?

Answer
Hi, again, Lily:

I can't state it any more clearly than the 1983 Code of Canon Law:

§3. It is forbidden to have another religious celebration of the same marriage to give or renew matrimonial consent before or after the canonical celebration according to the norm of §1. Likewise, there is not to be a religious celebration in which the Catholic who is assisting and a non-Catholic minister together, using their own rites, ask for the consent of the parties.

Fr. Timothy Johnson