Can a Catholic ever marry in a protestant church?
Cathy Caridi, J.C.L.
Q: I’m a practicing Catholic dating a young woman who is a devout Baptist. We’ve begun talking vaguely about getting married at some point in the future, but she insists that her father, who is a Baptist minister, must officiate at her wedding no matter what. Is there any way we can be married by her father and still be married in the eyes of the Church? Don’t Catholics have to get married in a Catholic church by a priest? --Ben, Richmond, VA
A: Let’s look first at marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic in general, and then we’ll address the issue of who must officiate at such a wedding.
Mixed Marriages between Catholics and baptized non-Catholics
In the United States it is so common for Catholics and Protestants to intermarry that it is easy to forget that such marriages are actually prohibited by canon law without the express permission of the Bishop (cc. 1124). The Church wants to prevent the possibility that the Catholic spouse might fall away from the faith, under the influence (intended or not) of the non-Catholic. The Bishop is not to grant permission for the wedding to take place unless the Catholic party (1) declares that he is prepared to remove any dangers of defecting from the Catholic Church, and (2) promises to do all in his power to ensure that any children of the marriage will be raised as Catholics (c. 1125).
The non-Catholic party must be made aware of these obligations on the Catholic, although the non-Catholic doesn’t actually need to make any such promises himself. A thorough discussion of these issues generally takes place with the Catholic party’s pastor, who will forward the request for permission to marry directly to the Bishop. But if it becomes clear to the pastor that there is serious doubt as to the sincerity of the Catholic party’s intentions to remain in the Church, he may judge it best to insist first on counseling the Catholic further on these requirements, or even to halt the wedding altogether. Similarly, if the non-Catholic party is vehemently opposed either to the Catholic continuing to practice the faith, or to raising their children in the Catholic Church, the pastor cannot recommend that the Bishop grant his permission for the wedding to take place.
The bottom line is, if there is probability that a Catholic might lose his faith after marrying a non-Catholic, the Church is opposed to the marriage. The Bishop’s permission for such a wedding to take place should not be presumed to be automatic, even if in fact these requests are usually granted.
The Required Form of Marriage for Catholics
Catholics as a rule must be married in accord with what’s called “canonical form.” This still applies even when one of the parties to the marriage is not Catholic. The canonical form of marriage requires that the marriage be contracted in the presence of either one’s pastor, or another priest deputed by him, like the associate pastor or a priest-friend of the family (c. 1108). In rare situations when no priest is available for long periods of time—as happens in some parts of Alaska, for instance—a lay person may receive advance permission from a Bishop to take the place of the priest at Catholic weddings, BUT that lay person is always a Catholic himself (c. 1112).
Canon law forbids that both a non-Catholic minister and a Catholic priest officiate together at the same wedding, so no compromise of that sort is possible. Similarly, it is forbidden for a Catholic to have two separate wedding ceremonies, one Catholic and one non-Catholic (c. 1127.3), regardless of which one takes place first. There are theological reasons for this. The Church wishes to avoid the appearance that it is just as acceptable for a Catholic to have a non-Catholic wedding as a Catholic one, or that the two ceremonies are equally sufficient for the marriage’s validity—they’re not.
Canon 1127.2, however, notes that the Bishop may dispense a mixed marriage from canonical form, if observing it would lead to “grave difficulties.” It’s up to the Bishop to determine what constitutes a grave difficulty and what doesn’t. He may, for example, grant a dispensation based on the desire to maintain harmony with family members on the non-Catholic’s side, who are anti-Catholic and who object to a Catholic wedding ceremony. Another common scenario is the very one you describe, in which the non-Catholic party wants a family member who is a protestant cleric to officiate at the wedding. The dispensation allows the Catholic party to marry before a non-Catholic minister, in a non-Catholic ceremony, and still be considered validly married (assuming no other separate issues affect sacramental validity) in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
Such a dispensation MUST be obtained in advance. A Catholic who gets married in a non-Catholic ceremony without a dispensation from canonical form is not validly married under canon law.
How do you obtain this dispensation from canonical form? Once again, the process is initiated by your pastor, who forwards a description of the situation to the Bishop for review. When you and your girlfriend are ready to marry, meet with the pastor of your parish and lay out the whole situation. He’ll know what to do.
The author is a canon lawyer who practices law and teaches in the Washington, DC area. Her regular column on canonical questions that arise in the lives of everyday Catholics is distributed by Real Presence Communications (www.realpresence.org).
Seemingly innocent editorial changes may inadvertently affect legal accuracy. News organizations that wish to publish a column are therefore requested to print it in its entirety.
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