Mixed Marriages

Mixed Marriages

MIXED MARRIAGES

BASIC R.C. BELIEF The Catholic Church has always differentiated between marriages of a Roman Catholic to a baptized or unbaptized non-Catholic. Marriages to unbaptized people weren’t allowed; other non-Catholics had to sign a pre-nuptial agreement.

POST VATICAN II Regulations have been relaxed since Vatican II, and many progressive priests do not even follow these. There is quite a variety in the way mixed marriages are treated today, but the following are the actual Vatican regulations:

(a) The pre-nuptial agreement is not necessary. The Roman Catholic party must agree never to expose himself to the danger of losing his Faith, and to see that the children are baptized, brought up as Catholics and receive aids to salvation offered by the Church.

(b) If the marriage to a baptized non-Roman Catholic is contracted without dispensation, it is valid but not licit. If the party is unbaptized and no permission has been given, the marriage is invalid. However, a dispensation from both these impediments may be had if the Roman Catholic party agrees to conditions mentioned in the previous paragraph, and the nonRoman Catholic party is informed of these promises either orally, in writing, or before witnesses, according to the decision of the Bishop.

(c) The Protestant minister may give a short exhortation, but is not supposed to participate in the actual ceremony. No religious ceremony before or after the Roman Catholic sacrament (ceremony) is allowed.