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Claudia
Petursson wrote: |
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Hi, guys —
I read recently that Jennifer Lopez wants
to have her marriage to Ben Affleck in a Catholic
Church.
She has been married and divorced
twice before, but both marriages took place
outside the Catholic Church. The article stated
that she was free to marry without having
to have her two previous marriages annulled,
because they did not take place in the Catholic
Church.
I certainly hope not, because it makes a mockery
of the commitment required in marriage.
Thank you for your help with this question.
Claudia
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| { Can you remarry without having annulments because the earlier marriages were outside the Church? } |
Eric replied:
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Hi, Claudia —
Technically No, but essentially,
Yes.
She still needs (as far as I know)
declarations of nullity for her first
two marriages, but in cases such
as these, it's merely a formality. Any
marriage a Catholic attempts outside
of the Church is automatically invalid.
These marriages are not seen as true
marriages
and so a marriage outside of the
Church is considered ipso facto invalid.
In a sense, the mockery of commitment
was committed when she decided to
marry outside of the Church. The
Church does not recognize such attempts
at marriages as life-long commitments,
and so She does not recognize them
as marriages. Consequently, now allowing
them to marry in the Church is not
a mockery of those previous unions,
because they aren't recognized as
life-long commitments anyway. It's as if she was just living together
in those previous marriages.
Yours in Christ,
Eric Ewanco
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Fr. Jonathan replied:
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Dear Claudia,
If what is reported is true, her two previous marriages lacked proper form. Proper form for Catholics says, to be considered a valid marriage, there must be:
- a man and a woman
- two witnesses, and
- someone receiving the vows who is recognized by the Church.
The person recognized by the Church is a priest or deacon or someone who has been given a dispensation by the Church for that particular wedding. For this reason, because she didn't follow proper form for a Catholic, they are considered manifestly invalid and therefore she is could be easily recognized as free to marry in the Church.
Hope this helps,
Fr. Jonathan
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