Dear Amy,

One can only make a true Confession if one can make a firm purpose of amendment to sin no more.

If a Catholic is married outside of the Church they are presumably engaging in sexual relations outside of Marriage. With no intention to stop, there is no firm purpose of amendment.

The end result is that a Catholic cannot go to Holy Communion.

You and your husband should talk to your priest. It might be a fairly straightforward Annulment.

Fr. Jonathan

Hi Amy,

Let me say up front your Old Mexican tradition is just that: an Old Mexican tradition, and is certainly not in line with Catholic teaching on the sacrament of Marriage.

Any family who would put your Old Mexican tradition before their Catholic faith, really doesn't believe in the Catholic faith and are basically practicing Protestants.

You originally said that both, you and your husband, truly want to get married in the Catholic Church. For this to happen, both of you have to believe and accept the faith of the Church. This includes raising your children Catholic.

• Are both of you willing to do this?

As lay Catholic Apologists we do not have the background to make an annulment assessment.
Neither would Fr. Jonathan without investigating both of your backgrounds.

This is the purpose of the local marriage tribunal within your diocese. The Church isn't trying to be mean or make your life terrible. She first has to verify, before she blesses or convalidates any marriage, that a current marriage doesn't exist.

If there was a marriage that was valid and the Church went on to bless your current marriage, She would be blessing bigamy. Something Jesus obviously would not bless.

Issues like being married under pressure are real, but none if us, including Father can make that judgment.

I would encourage you to get the ball rolling by talking to your local pastor about petitioning for an annulment.

Mike

Hi Amy,

You said:

My question is:

• Would an annulment be possible?

I would have said yes. As in, it is possible.

Fr. Jonathan