Hello Judy,

It's a good question, but a wrong one for them to ask. The child will never be illegitimate.

That is an archaic term that has little meaning today. The Church recognizes children from a valid marriage, or one that was presumed to be valid, as legitimate. As the situation stands now,
the child must be presumed to be born of a valid marriage, since there has been no annulment declared, hence, the more important question to ask is:

• Would the new union be a valid marriage?

From the information you have provided the answer would be No, for two reasons:

1. the first marriage is presumed valid
   (It exists regardless of what a civil court states unless there is a Church annulment), and
2. the false new union would not be of proper form, without a priest or deacon present.

Christ informed us that marriage is indissoluble and is broken at the death of one of the spouses, not before. An annulment would officially declare that the original union was never a real, valid marriage; but from what you indicate, an annulment has not been declared or even sought.

Paul

Hi, Judy —

You said:
Her father has said that because the divorced son never had his first marriage annulled, the divorced son's little boy will be considered illegitimate once he marries his daughter.

• Is this true?

No.

Judy —

The son is from a prior marriage so nothing can make him illegitimate.

I'm not sure where this person is getting his information. There is sometimes confusion about marriages that are annulled. Some fear that if a marriage is annulled that makes the children from that marriage illegitimate but that is not the case. Since the marriage was presumed valid at the time the children are born, the children remain legitimate.

Now, let me address the real problem. The girl is obviously not too Catholic if she is willing to marry in a Lutheran Church. Lutheran's don't even consider Matrimony a sacrament. They only have two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. This girl is putting herself in a situation whereby she is committing adultery and will not be able to receive the Eucharist.

This man is still considered validly married to his first wife and because there is no annulment, he is in an adulterous relationship. If he's not Catholic, then she's also marrying a non-Catholic without a proper dispensation from the bishop and, whether she knows it or not, has cut herself off from the Church.

John