onajourney Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 (edited) With all the discussion around marriage - Civil vs Sacramental - it got me wondering about things. Since here in the United States when a couple marries in the Roman Catholic church, the clergy acts as the Church's witness to the Sacramental marriage and acts as representatives of the State to marry the couple civilly (two very different things take place. In other places the two events are separate). My question is (and it is a real question, I'd like to know) - can Roman Catholic Clergy ONLY perform Sacramental Marriage without the couple having a marriage license? And if not, why not. If civil marriage is not recognized by the Church why would it be required for Sacramental marriage? Thanks. Edited June 28, 2015 by onajourney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Joes Kid Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 The answer is yes. We asked the priest this when we were doing marriage prep, just out of curiosity, and he said he was preparing a couple that same week for sacramental marriage without civil marriage, because of medical bills that one person had that would be unduly burdensome to the spouse if they were civilly married. But I think (not sure) that there generally has to be a serious reason. Peace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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