Canonical Form of Marriage

[Jmartyr]

My niece, who is also my Godchild, is getting married outside the Church. How do I explain why the Church requires people who were baptized into the Church but have since left to be married by Catholic ministers for the Church to recognize it?

[VeraeFidei]

People who are baptized Catholic are Catholic forever; there is nothing anyone can do about it.

The Church has the authority to both recognize and enforce Divine Law, and to create, promulgate, and enforce Ecclesiastical Law. The Church's authority includes the regulation of the Sacraments, per Divine Law.

In other words, if you join a group, that group gets to decide what its entrance rules and rituals mean, and gets to set rules for the members of the group.

The Catholic Church is the singular entity authorized by God for the bestowing of Divine Grace; Matrimony is a Sacrament which gives Grace, therefore Matrimony (for Catholics) may only exist under the auspices of the Catholic Church.

[MichaelNZ]

You can try explaining that the sacrament of baptism leaves an indelible mark on the soul, which means that you will always be Catholic, even if you stop believing.

[Daniel]

My niece, who is also my Godchild, is getting married outside the Church. How do I explain why the Church requires people who were baptized into the Church but have since left to be married by Catholic ministers for the Church to recognize it?

The Church requires it because the Church's law requires it. And the Church's law requires it, I'm guessing, because the Church doesn't want her members entering into bad marriages.

This is my speculation, but: If you could bypass the Church's marriage process, and get married outside the Church, 1) how could the Church possibly assure you that your marriage was free from impediments? and 2) how could the Church possibly evaluate your potential marriage ahead of time to tell you whether or not it would even be a good idea? (This is especially true for mixed marriages. Because the primary purpose of a sacramental marriage is to draw closer to God. But how can you possibly draw closer to God when your spouse is leading you away from God? It makes no sense. Not to mention that when you become a parent you then have a duty to educate your children in the faith, which is pretty much impossible to do when your spouse is busy teaching them all sorts of errors.)


The thing I'm still not sure about is: why is it that two baptised cannot possibly enter into a purely natural marriage with one another, outside the Church? I'm sure there's some theological reason for this, but I don't yet know the reason.

[Gardener]

If she gives the old standby of, "well who is the Church to decide who is and isn't married!?", "Anyone can marry anyone and it's no one's business", etc.:


Even Islam has rules for marriage and ways that it can be said a marriage is not a marriage. Here's one school's rules:

https://www.al-islam.org/islamic-laws-ayatullah-ali-al-husayni-al-sistani/marriage-part-i-ii

In a lot of ways, those rules are wayyyy more convoluted than even the most confusing Catholic case.

Also, even the State has rules for recognition of marriage and they're likely adhering to those rules. So the logic of rejecting who/what gets to determine a marriage outside of the two people themselves becomes relativistic as an excuse to ignore the Church.

The history of those secular rules is quite sinister in certain regards. In others, they share affinity w/ the rules of the Church (no attempting marriage while already married, etc.).

[dolores]

The thing I'm still not sure about is: why is it that two baptised cannot possibly enter into a purely natural marriage with one another, outside the Church? I'm sure there's some theological reason for this, but I don't yet know the reason.

You're getting mixed up again.  It is only baptized Catholics that are required to be married in the Church, and if they attempt to marry outside the Church, it is invalid (both sacramentally and naturally).  If two baptized non-Catholics (i.e., Protestants or Orthodox) marry outside of the Church, it is both a valid natural and sacramental marriage.

With this important distinction in mind, the legal mechanism that prevents a Catholic from even entering into a natural marriage outside of the Church is canon law, not divine law.  So, theoretically, if the Church decided to permit such a thing, it could.  I speculate that the reason the Church forbids Catholics from marrying outside of the Church is similar to the reason is prevents marriages in secret; the Church wants to assure there are adequate witnesses and proof when a marriage occurs, otherwise it would be a nightmare anytime a Catholic came to the Church seeking marriage, and another person came out of the woodwork and claimed that they are, in fact, already married to the Catholic because Pastor Bob at the Protestant church five states over married them in secret years ago.

[Daniel]

You're getting mixed up again.  It is only baptized Catholics that are required to be married in the Church, and if they attempt to marry outside the Church, it is invalid (both sacramentally and naturally).  If two baptized non-Catholics (i.e., Protestants or Orthodox) marry outside of the Church, it is both a valid natural and sacramental marriage.

With this important distinction in mind, the legal mechanism that prevents a Catholic from even entering into a natural marriage outside of the Church is canon law, not divine law.  So, theoretically, if the Church decided to permit such a thing, it could.

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the reason that Protestants and Orthodox can validly marry outside the Church is because the Church's laws say that they can, while Catholics cannot because the Church's laws say they cannot?

What do the Church's laws say about formal apostates who marry outside the Church? Valid sacramental marriage? Valid natural marriage? Neither?
What about fallen-away Catholics who are practically apostates yet have never formally renounced the faith?

Anyway, what I'm still kind of confused about is, how does the Church have power over natural marriages? I understand that the Church has power over the sacraments. So I understand that the Church has full control over the contracting of sacramental marriages. But, the Church doesn't have power over nature, do they? So how is it that the Church has power to prevent two baptised persons from entering into a purely natural marriage? Is it because the Church not only has power over the sacraments but also has power over her members? Or is there some other reason?

I speculate that the reason the Church forbids Catholics from marrying outside of the Church is similar to the reason is prevents marriages in secret; the Church wants to assure there are adequate witnesses and proof when a marriage occurs, otherwise it would be a nightmare anytime a Catholic came to the Church seeking marriage, and another person came out of the woodwork and claimed that they are, in fact, already married to the Catholic because Pastor Bob at the Protestant church five states over married them in secret years ago.

Good point. I'd never considered that before.

[dolores]

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the reason that Protestants and Orthodox can validly marry outside the Church is because the Church's laws say that they can, while Catholics cannot because the Church's laws say they cannot?

Correct.  See Canon 1099 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

What do the Church's laws say about formal apostates who marry outside the Church? Valid sacramental marriage? Valid natural marriage? Neither?
What about fallen-away Catholics who are practically apostates yet have never formally renounced the faith?

That's a complicated question that I don't have an answer for.  From what I've read, under the current (Novus Ordo) Code of Canon Law, a Catholic who attempts to marry outside of the Church does so invalidly, unless the person has defected from the Church "by a formal act."  What precisely that entails, I do not know.  I also do not know what the rules were under the 1917 Code.

Anyway, what I'm still kind of confused about is, how does the Church have power over natural marriages? I understand that the Church has power over the sacraments. So I understand that the Church has full control over the contracting of sacramental marriages. But, the Church doesn't have power over nature, do they? So how is it that the Church has power to prevent two baptised persons from entering into a purely natural marriage? Is it because the Church not only has power over the sacraments but also has power over her members? Or is there some other reason?

I suspect it is because the Church has authority over the conduct of its members, although that is just speculation on my part.

[spasiisochrani]

Benedict XVI amended the law so that Catholics who defect from the Catholic faith are no longer exempt from the requirement of canonical form.

[kmo_9000]

Have them listen to this.