Dear Larry,

I wish we could help but your question is one that should be directed toward the marriage tribunal. As stated on our question page:

• From our Ask A Question page:
  Dateline: February, 2011 Marriage, Divorce And Annulment Issues.

None of us on this site would be able to make any helpful comments because we can't give either positive or negative answers on questions that are out of our realm of expertise.

We would be second guessing on judgments we trust the Church to make.

Although your cousin wanted their marriage blessed, it appears they didn't really care about the Church's opinion. Waiting for a reply would have been the appropriate thing to do.

What we know is for a Catholic to have a valid marriage, they have to marry according to form . . . meaning:

• they must marry in the Church (easy)
• if they marry a non-Catholic, they must get a disposition from the local bishop,
  (pretty easy) and
• though, the non-Catholic spouse does not have to change their faith, they must agree not to interfere with the Catholic spouse's obligation to raise your children as faithful Catholics.

Mike

Larry —

While my colleague is correct and we are not trained in canon law, this situation looks quite doubtful. The Church's principle is that if someone got married and their spouse has not died, before they can marry someone else after a divorce, they need to get an annulment to prove that the previous marriage was not actually valid.

If an annulment is in process and you attempt to marry before it completes, that marriage would not be considered valid (that is, it is not a real marriage in the eyes of God). That's fairly straightforward.

Generally, it is not advisable to attend the wedding of a marriage you know to be invalid (which, in this case, the evidence is strong that it would have been). This would give scandal as it has the appearance of endorsing the action.

It is canonically forbidden to serve as a witness (best man/maid of honor) for such a wedding.

In extreme circumstances — say it was an immediate family member and, not attending, would cause irreparable harm — it might be permissible to attend if your disapproval was made clear.

Eric