Expert: Fr. Michael - 7/3/2007

Question
I was born and raised in the Catholic church (baptized and confirmed).  I married my husband in a court of law because I thought we could not get married in the Catholic church because he was married and then divorced.  He became Catholic through RCIA about 8 years ago and has been a devout Catholic ever since.  My question is:  Since my husband was never baptized before becoming Catholic, is his first marriage recognized in the Catholic church (his first marriage was blessed in a Lutheran church)?  I would like to renew our vows in the Catholic church.

Answer
By attempting marriage before a civil official, you, as a Catholic, chose to separate (excommunicate) yourself from the Church.  Moreover, any purported marriage before a civil official is null and void.  Assuming that the other party's spouse was still living, he was not free to marry in any case.

Since neither of you is really Catholic at this point, since apparently you are an excommunicate, and the other party is publicly living with you while his legitimate wife is still alive, there are no vows to "renew," as there were never any vows in the first place, from a religious perspective.

However, these cases are sometimes hard to judge, since important information can be omitted in a brief message, especially when the individual(s) don't seem to know their Faith.  Thus, we can recommend only that you put the facts before a traditional priest and go by his advice.  There is a list at www.traditio.com/nat.htm.