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Anna Anonymous wrote:

Hi, guys —

I am a baptized Protestant who is 48 years old. I married in August 1979 in a Protestant church.
I left my husband after 10 months as I did not love him and married him under extreme pressure from my parents and my husband-to-be.

I remarried in 1983 in a civil ceremony. I have one child from that marriage who is now 22 years old. I left my second husband in 1987 when my daughter was 1 year old. We were divorced in 1989.

I met my third husband, who is a Catholic in 1987 and we were married in 1994. He has brought up my daughter as his own and formally adopted her in 2001 when she was 15.

We are a very happy family and live a Christian lifestyle. My husband's parents, sadly, both now deceased, were very staunch Catholics and were an inspiration to me. Although I do not attend church regularly, I have a strong desire to become a Catholic.

  • Is this possible?

I am aware that the Catholic Church regards my husband and I as being adulterers, because
I remarried before my marriage(s) [was/were] annulled, and therefore I will be unable to
become a Catholic.

  • Can you confirm that it will be necessary for me to have my first (sacramental) marriage annulled before I can be accepted into the Catholic Church?
  • Given that my first marriage was sacramental:
    • does this render my second marriage invalid, such that there would be no requirement to have the second marriage annulled, or
    • would the Catholic Church still regard it as a marriage and therefore require it to be annulled as well?

I have no contact with either of my previous husbands.

  • Would it be necessary for them to be involved in any annulment process?
  • In a nutshell, given my past marital history, could I be accepted into the Catholic Faith and, if so, what would be required by me to facilitate this?

Thanks!

Anna
  { Given my marital history, could I be accepted into the Catholic faith and, if so, what is needed? }

Mike replied:

Dear Anna,

Thanks for the question.

I would encourage you to find a priest who is well-known for his holiness and faithfulness to the Church and Holy Father.

We get many questions like these and welcome them with open arms, but in order to detect all the nuances that may be missing in your e-mail, you should really sit down with a priest and figure out the validity of you previous marriages. He will be able to guide you the best. You appear to have a good understanding behind the reasoning for investigating your previous marriages. Yes, I believe your sacramental marriage(s) would have to be annulled, but I am no expert.

The strong desire you have to become a Catholic is not a whim but is a calling of the Holy Spirit.
I encourage you to follow it. I am a big believer in developing a personal daily prayer life and strongly suggest you develop one.

Here are several resources that may help:

The Church welcomes all people around the world to join the Church with open arms!!

So, Yes!, you can be accepted into the Catholic faith, but the Church has to look into your previous marriages so it can remain faithful to Our Lord's Teaching's on divorce and remarriage while ministering to your spiritual needs.

I used to run a free program that sent Catechisms to seeking Protestants and non-Christians but I no longer have the financial or operational means to do this anymore. Nevertheless, if you wish to go deeper, consider buying a cheap copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn everything we believe as Catholics.

— If you, or any visitor, have been helped by our work at AskACatholic.com, consider financially supporting us today.
— If you can't right now, click on a few ads on our website. Every ad click brings in a bit more revenue that supports our work. Every click helps.

If you are interested in the process of becoming a Catholic, check out this web page:

How does one become a Catholic?

Hope this helps,

Mike

Fr. Jonathan replied:

Hi, Mike —

She needs two annulments from what she has written. The reason is that the first one is presumed valid. If an annulment is granted then that means she was free to marry when she married the second man and that one is then presumed valid.

The annulments can be done simultaneously and will definitely involve attempting to contact both of those husbands to the best of the Church's ability to find them.

This is doable but she will need to have patience and participate fully. Faith is a journey of a lifetime and not immediate gratification.

Hope this helps,

Fr. Jonathan
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