Hi Winnie,

Thanks for the question.

If you were a baptized Catholic who married outside the Church, I would question the validity of your marriage, though I'd want to know what my colleagues think.

A greater concern I have is whether you have a correct understanding of what marriage is.

Marriage is a sacrament. It's a life-long commitment to between ONE man and ONE woman with the intent to manifesting their love through their sexual union and the bringing forth of new lives. (the fruit of their love) Those that, for some medical, physical or some other reason, can't bring forth new life, can still adopt and raise children with strong Catholic Christian values.

The word sacrament comes from a word which means to swear an oath. Despite very good intentions of both the bride and groom, God is fully aware that they are human and can be drawn into tempting, sinful situations. At a Catholic marriage, God is swearing an oath to assist both the bride and the groom to be faithful to each other for a life time.

The way I explain this to my niece and nephews is:

God takes the strong intent of both the bride and the groom and strengthens the bond. During their life time of faithfulness, He is the Krazy glue (as seen on TV) that holds them together during the tough times.

That is the { POWER |crazy glue } behind a sacramental Catholic marriage.

To your question:

• Is there any possibility of a Catholic Ceremony between myself and my future bride-to-be now; something resembling a sort of engagement, seeing that I am currently only married according to civil law?

No, not until the Church reviews your current marriage to your Jewish spouse. Many may see this process as the Church just being a pain, but rather, it is, the Church keeping faithful to Jesus' teachings about divorce and re-marriage.

The non-Catholic party in a mixed marriage is not required to agree to raise the children Catholic. He or she is merely informed of the Catholic spouse's duty. This is all spelled out in Canon 1125.

I would make an appointment with a priest with a reputation for being holy, prayerful and faithful to the Church.

He can guide you the best!

Hope this helps,

Mike

Dear Winnie,

Thanks for writing to askacatholic.com. Here's some more information on the subject.

A civil marriage to a non-Christian is always invalid if the Catholic party did not have a dispensation from his bishop (according to Canon 1086 in the Code of Canon Law). Therefore, such a civil marriage is not an obstacle to undertaking a valid marriage later on.

After your divorce is completed in the future, you and your Catholic fiancé will be able to approach your priest to make arrangements for your marriage. The Church will not start any preparations until the divorce is final, for reasons of prudence. When you contact your priest, it will be his duty to make sure that both of you are free to marry (Canon 1066). At that time, you will be obliged to disclose the civil marriage to him and provide documentation of it, and the priest will be able to follow up with any necessary procedures from there.

A full annulment procedure usually would take a year or more to complete but based on what you've told us your case, of a civil marriage, is probably relatively simple. Such cases actually do not require a full investigation and tribunal procedure. Instead, the priest involved will use the documentation available to confirm that the civil marriage had no dispensation and therefore was not sacramentally valid.

I hope this helps reassure you that things can eventually be worked out for you and your Catholic fiancé!

With best wishes,

— Richard Chonak