Question by Thomas Asamane:
Nana, a group of Catholic young men who are dating ladies outside the Catholic Church want to know the churches whose marriages the Catholic Church accepts as sacramental. They would like to know why the Catholic Church accepts their marriages as sacramental and whether it is easier for a Catholic to marry a Baptist.
Answer:
Marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian
Let us begin by looking at the procedure that must be followed if a Catholic wants to marry a non-Catholic Christian. According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, Catholics who wish to marry must observe canonical form. What this means is that the marriage of a Catholic is valid only if it is celebrated by the local bishop or parish priest (pastor) of the parish, or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them; such a marriage must take place in the presence of two witnesses (canon 1108.1). This requirement must be observed when a Catholic man marries a Catholic woman.
When it comes to marriages between two baptized persons, one of whom is Catholic and the other is not, Canon 1124 asserts that they are prohibited to marry without express permission from the competent authority, which normally refers to the bishop. It is, however, possible to obtain a dispensation from canonical form under certain circumstances. One rather common scenario, among many others, for which dispensations are frequently granted, is a marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant Christian whose father is a minister – and who understandably would like to officiate at the wedding of his own child. In this case, there will be the need for dispensation from canonical form. With a dispensation from canonical form, the Catholic and the non-Catholic can marry in a wedding ceremony celebrated in a non-Catholic Church. The marriage will still be considered valid even though it is not celebrated by a Catholic cleric in a Catholic ceremony.
The question may be asked: is it possible in a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian to have two wedding ceremonies, one in the Catholic Church and another in a non-Catholic Church? Or, can there be one wedding ceremony, either in the Catholic Church or in the non-Catholic Church at which both the Catholic priest and the non-Catholic minister officiate? In both cases, the answer is No, and this can be found in Canon 1127.3. This canon states first of all that it is forbidden to have another religious celebration of the same marriage for the purpose of giving or renewing matrimonial consent. It does not matter whether the couple wants to hold the Catholic ceremony before the non-Catholic one or after: canon 1127.3 states specifically that the order in which the two ceremonies took place would be irrelevant. The same canon goes on to say that there may not be a marriage celebration in which the Catholic celebrant (normally, though not necessarily, the parish priest) ministers together with a non-Catholic cleric, with each one following the ritual prescribed by his own faith.
What can be done in the case of a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian will be to have the non-Catholic minister seated in a rather prominent place in the church during the ceremony in the Catholic Church, provided that it is quite clear to all that he is not actually officiating at the wedding. A show of respectful deference to him might perhaps satisfy the non-Catholic party and his family, while at the same time leaving no room for doubt that the Catholic priest/deacon alone receives their marriage vows. The same can be done if the wedding, with the necessary dispensation, takes place in a non-Catholic Church.
Requesting a dispensation from canonical form, of course, does not mean it will be automatically granted! It is necessary for the Catholic to give good reasons for the request – more often than not, harmony between family members is the main issue – and it should be sufficiently clear that the Catholic party is not making this request simply because he or she considers a wedding in either the Catholic or the non-Catholic venue to be theologically equivalent.
The Sacramentality of a Marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian
Canon 1055.1 echoes the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes 48) when it asserts that the marriage covenant has, between the baptized, been raised by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament. The following paragraph is even more precise: a valid marriage cannot exist between two baptized persons without it being by that very fact a sacrament (canon 1055.2). From a Catholic perspective, this means that when two Catholics, two Protestants, or a Catholic and a Protestant marry validly, their marriage is by definition a sacramental marriage. It is the belief of the Catholic Church that it is impossible for two baptized people to validly marry without their marriage being a sacrament. If a Catholic marries a baptized non-Catholic (for example, a Baptist) in a Catholic wedding ceremony, the Church teaches that each spouse is indeed receiving the sacrament of matrimony. Since the Church generally recognizes the validity of non-Catholic baptisms, the Baptist spouse would indeed be receiving the sacrament along with the Catholic spouse.
Let me add that from the foregoing it is clear that the important thing in a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian is the granting of the dispensation by the bishop. Thus, whether one is a Presbyterian or Anglican or Baptist does not matter. None of them has the advantage. It is not easier for a Catholic to marry a Baptist than it is to marry an Anglican or a Presbyterian!
Marriage between a Catholic and a non-Christian
The questioner, Thomas Asamane, mentioned “a group of Catholic young men who are dating ladies outside the Catholic Church” and made specific reference to the Baptist Church. If, for some reason, some members of this “group of Catholic young men” are not successful in their quest for wives in the Baptist and other Christian Churches and decide to marry non-Christian women, what happens? Are those marriages also sacramental?
Canon 1086.1 states that marriage between a Catholic and a non-baptized person is invalid. This is because such a marriage has an impediment known as “the impediment of disparity of cult”. Simply put, it means that the two belong to different religions. But the Church has a way out of this problem. A bishop (or other diocesan official with dispensing authority) may grant a dispensation known as a “dispensation for disparity of cult”. Once such a dispensation has been obtained, a Catholic may validly marry a non-Christian.
People who obtain such dispensations or permissions often never even know about them. Generally, when the pastor of the Catholic party meets with the prospective spouses, he assesses whether there is any possible threat to the Catholic’s faith, and makes a determination to seek a dispensation or permission from the bishop. Unless the bishop disagrees with the pastor’s assessment of the situation, the request is generally granted. The dispensation or permission is in fact a part of the marriage record, and should be noted in the parish sacramental register.
Are marriages between Catholics and unbaptized Persons Sacramental?
By definition, a person who is not baptized cannot be married sacramentally. Both the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1213) and canon law (canon 849) state that baptism is the “gateway to the sacraments”, because a person must be baptized first before receiving any of the other six sacraments – including the sacrament of matrimony. When a Catholic marries a Jew, a Mormon, a Muslim, a Buddhist, an adherent of African Traditional Religion, or any other non-baptized person, even when the wedding is celebrated validly in the Catholic Church, their marriage is non-sacramental. This is because it involves one party who is not baptized. The Church regards it as a totally legitimate marriage – and a valid one, assuming that nothing happened at the celebration to render it invalid – but this wedding did not involve the celebration of a sacrament. The fact that one of the spouses is Catholic is insufficient to make the marriage sacramental, since a sacramental marriage requires both parties to have been baptized. It is referred to as a non-sacramental marriage. When a Catholic marries an unbaptized person, even in a Catholic ceremony, the Catholic spouse is not conferring the sacrament of matrimony on the non-Christian spouse. The Church teaches that in a Catholic wedding, the sacrament of matrimony is not conferred on the spouses by the priest or deacon who assists at the marriage. It is conferred by the spouses themselves, who administer it to each other when they exchange their consent.
Reasons for Dispensations
Why does the Church make it more difficult for Catholics to marry non-Catholics, whether they are baptized or not? The Church’s main concern is for the faith of the Catholic party to the marriage. Marriage to someone who does not share his basic beliefs understandably poses a challenge to a Catholic, who has to preserve his faith without the benefit of sharing it in common with his spouse. It is the responsibility of a diocesan bishop to see to the spiritual welfare of the faithful in his diocese (canon 383.1), so he must rightly be concerned about the Catholic party’s faith. Before granting either a dispensation to marry a non-Christian, or permission to marry a non-Catholic Christian, the bishop is obliged to see to it that Catholics seeking to marry non-Catholics are prepared to remove any dangers of defecting from the faith (canon 1125 n. 1). Thus, the bishop should not grant permission if he sees, for example, that the non-Catholic party is so virulently anti-Catholic that he intends to try to prevent the Catholic party from practising the faith; or that the non-Catholic party is actively working to convert the Catholic over to another faith and the Catholic’s faith appears to be so weak that he is vulnerable to such a possibility. The Catholic party must also promise sincerely to do all in his/her power to ensure that any children of the marriage will be baptized and raised in the Catholic faith (canon 1125 n. 1). In contrast, the non-Catholic party to the marriage is not required by the new Code of Canon Law to make any such promise. The law does require, however, that the non-Catholic be informed of the promises made by the Catholic party to the marriage (canon 1125 n. 2). We should note that the law here binds only the Catholic party, and not the non-Catholic.