Catholic marrying a non-Catholic

[CatherineM]

That's what my Canon Law paper is on this week.

[Pliny]

When a couple who have married outside the Church, called not following Canonical Form, get their marriage blessed in the Church, the fact that they originally weren't married in the Church is not grounds for annulment. The blessing includes reciting the marriage vows. There is matrimonial consent in front of witnesses. The marriage is valid in the eyes of the Church from that point forward.

 

Doesn't it behoove the church and those helping someone join to explain that this is what is happening instead of giving the impression that a real marriage is simply being "blessed"?

[CatherineM]

The sacrament of marriage is not preformed by the priest. It is a grace given by the couple to each other. The priest is the Church's witness to the sacrament. The "real marriage" comes from the couple giving consent to each other. The later blessing adds the Church's witness to it.

[Pliny]

Lack of new consent during convalidation (Canons 1157,1160)

 

After your civil marriage, you and your spouse participated in a Catholic ceremony 

and you or your spouse believed that (1) you were already married, (2) the Catholic 

ceremony was merely a blessing, and (3) the consent given during. the Catholic 

ceremony had no real effect. 

 

http://www.stmarys-waco.org/documents/Grounds%20for%20Marriage%20Annulment%20in%20the%20Catholic%20Church.pdf