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Hi Felicia,
Fr. Jonathan sent me the following answer:
That is a perfectly valid Marriage.
It does not involve a Catholic so neither party was bound to Catholic form.
The bottom line — he needs an annulment in order to marry a Catholic.
Fr. Jonathan |
You also may have the following question:
- Why does he need an annulment if he is not Catholic?
One of our retired Apologists, Mary Ann Parks answered this question below, saying:
Your husband's prior marriage is presumed to be valid. A courthouse marriage is not valid for a Catholic, but it is valid for others so the Church needs to see if there is any reason why the marriage might not be valid. For instance:
- the concept of marriage might be defective
- one of them might have had a faulty intention regarding:
- children or
- the permanency of marriage or
- one of them might have lacked full consent or discretion
This can be caused by pressure, fear, pregnancy, age, mental or emotional problems — or one of them might have been deceptive in a serious matter (alcoholism, prior unions, occupation, etc.)
If your husband loves you, he will want you to be at peace in your conscience and will want you to be able to receive Holy Communion.
Mary Ann
I hope this helps,
Mike
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