Posted on 02/21/2014 6:25:32 AM PST by Weiss White
Q: What does canon law say about Catholics eloping? I understand the issue from the perspective of the sacramental theology of the Church, but was wondering if canon law had anything to say about it. –David
A: When we speak of “elopement” today, we usually envision a young couple running away in the middle of the night to be married in secret, and without the consent of their parents—usually by a justice of the peace in a civil wedding ceremony. Is it ever possible for a Catholic couple (or a couple including only one Catholic) to marry under such circumstances? There are actually several different components of the question that merit a closer look from a canonical standpoint.
(Excerpt) Read more at canonlawmadeeasy.com ...
Everyone thinks the church is the same worldwide. In Brazil, you MUST get married by the state. They do not recognize church marriages.
From the article... “Consequently, any Catholic who marries in a civil ceremony—before a judge, justice of the peace, or other secular authority—is not married in the eyes of the Church. If this is what Catholics intend to do when they elope, their marriage will not be valid, period.”
This brings up an even more interesting question.
If a person has previous marriage in a civil ceremony followed by a divorce, are they free to marry in the Church since the Church didn’t consider the first marriage valid?
Which is weird considering the word "catholic" means "worldwide".
In Brazil, do people go to church afterwards and get their “Church” marriage?
If you mean the state doesn’t recognize church marriages, that’s the way it is most places, to my understanding. The US allows religious figures to act as representatives of the state, which apparently is pretty unusual. It would be interesting to know how all countries handle it.
FReegards
That doesn’t seem very different from what we have here if I understand you correctly. One can’t be recognized as “married” here either without a state license.
It just appears that our churches here (Catholic or otherwise) “marry” a couple because the ceremony is coupled with the legal process, usually because the pastor or priest is authorized by the state to marry people, in other words functions as an agent of the state (e.g. A justice of the peace)
So, for example, if for whatever bizarre reason, a given priest or pastor wasn’t authorized by the state to marry people, then the ceremony itself, even a Catholic one, wouldn’t be recognized by the state as a valid marriage until and unless the couple went to the courthouse and got a marriage license signed by an authorized state representative.
My case is probably a good example of what I’m taking about. When I married my Italian wife in Italy, that marriage wasn’t recognized as a valid marriage here, even though it was in a Catholic Church. We had to go to our local courthouse and get married by a justice of the peace to have a “valid” marriage here, in the US.
And likewise, the Church does not recognize civil marriages, so for Catholics to be married in the eyes of the Church, they MUST do a church ceremony. In countries with a civil requirement, they can then do a civil ceremony after the Church ceremony.
They are not free to marry another person in the Church unless they get their first marriage annulled. If there are no children and it’s a relatively short term marriage, then it’s not difficult.
I think that’s also the law in California.
Nope...you have to get the civil marriage FIRST in Brazil.
Sure you can elope and have a civil ceremony. You’re simply not following church rules. Happens every day.
I believe that those people would need to seek an Church annulment of the civil marriage - which would be relatively straight-forward.
The Catholic Church could further extend its advocacy of marriage by allowing priests to be married. There is absolutely NOTHING in the Bible mandating a celibate priesthood. Priests, bishops, and popes were in fact married men for at least the first ten centuries of Church history. Mandatory celibacy was largely instituted in the Middle Ages as a way of combating corruption within the Church, nepotism, and the transmission of Church property.
Some do. Some don’t. While they have a large Catholic population, only a small percentage follow all the rules.
Are you the author? Other blogs can post the entire section. What’s the problem?
I nearly cringe to bring the Bible into this, but Isaac took Rebecca into his tent and knew her...no church, no preacher, no ceremony, no state, no license.
Can you please monitor this then and bring answers to the other questions that come up?
Is the marriage of an eloped couple a sacramental marriage?
Do they have to be remarried in the Church to make it a valid marriage?
Do elopements lead to more divorces?
To put a little finer point on it, in the Bible, marriage was private, and divorce was as well—as per Joseph intending to put Mary away privily.
“They are not free to marry another person in the Church unless they get their first marriage annulled.”
But if the Church didn’t consider the first marriage valid, then why would an in-valid marriage need to be annulled if it didn’t exist in the first place?
That’s not logical...
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