Hi, Jackie —

Thank you for your question.

If your sister is indeed a Catholic in good standing, she would be willing to go through the course with her fiancé. The fact that she refuses to, tells me that her faith is not all that important to her. I know that sounds tough, but when you take away any flowery language, this is the bottom line.

The priest has a responsibility to make sure (to the best of his ability) that every marriage he performs is valid. While your sister went through the course, her fiancé has not. He is a Protestant and therefore probably has a very different understanding of what a Sacrament is, let alone the sacramental nature of a marriage.

I was a Pentecostal-Baptist Minister. We did not recognize Matrimony as a sacrament.

It is important for the Church to make sure that the marriages she witnesses are between people who understand what a Catholic Marriage is. This is even more so the case when we are dealing with a mixed marriage.

Should your sister marry outside the Church, she would at the very least be committing an act of schism. If she is a Catholic in good standing, she knows Jesus Christ founded one Church,
not 30,000 denominations and sects. The Church He founded fully subsists in the Roman Catholic Church.

For your sister to seek a sacrament in another community, means that she is rejecting her faith.

John
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