Stacy,

Good question.

We must first focus on your statement about you being Catholic while marrying in the Lutheran church.

• If you did not get a dispensation from the Catholic Church to marry there, and
• if a Catholic priest or deacon did not officially witness the wedding

it looks like that marriage might be invalid.

If that's the case, you would have to get married because you never were married, at least, validly.

If you were validly married, then the marital bond is not dissolved by a civil divorce or adultery. Both of you would still be married in the eyes of the Church. The only thing that dissolves a true marital bond is the death of one of the spouses.

Paul

Hi, Stacy —

Thanks for the question.

Since the Church and God don't recognize divorce, if your original marriage was indeed valid, then your marriage is still valid.

That said, if you married this man in a Lutheran church, without a dispensation from the Church, then you need to resolve some issues in order to be in good standing with the Church as a Catholic.

For starters, you should abstain from receiving the Eucharist. The next thing you should do is talk to your local priest about getting the situation set straight with the Church. It sounds like you didn't realize what would happen. Nevertheless, you violated canon law and you should get it fixed.

Don't worry, the Church will be happy to help you out. If your priest doesn't know exactly what to do, he'll know someone that does.

Another issue is that you are legally divorced. If you are going to remain living together as husband and wife, you ought to get that straightened out as well. You might try getting married in the Catholic Church this time.

God Bless! If there is anything else we can do to help you, by all means, please feel free to contact us.

John DiMascio