Dear Jake,

Whomever is advising you to do a Favor of the Faith case is giving you good advice. If they can be accomplished, they are less intrusive and faster than filing for an annulment.

Whether your marriage was a Sacrament or not, what is important to the Catholic Church is whether we consider it a valid marriage or not. If it is a valid marriage then our theology believes the marriage did not end with the divorce but is a permanent union until proven invalid or until your new Catholic spouse is given a Favor by the Church.

What must be surprising to you is that the Catholic Church recognizes all marriages — not just Catholic marriages. Since you and your first wife were both Mormon, we recognize that you were validly married before God and thus the marital process was valid.

If I did not answer your question let me know.

Fr. Jonathan

Hi, Jake —

No matter what religion you were at the time of the Marriage, if it involved two non-Catholics (or if neither was Orthodox; i.e. Greek Orthodox) then the Catholic Church considers it a valid union from God and therefore you are not free to marry in the Catholic Church without some type of process.

Having a Favor of the Faith case is the way to go if one of you were unbaptized, as it seems in this case.

Fr. Jonathan