[sitetest]

Dear Xenalyte,

Do you view the progeny of non-Catholic marriages to be illegitimate? Do you view the children of married Jews to be illegitimate? Of Buddhists?

Wouldn't you say that all these are legitimate, because they were legally married, not illegitimate because they didn't meet the standards of the Catholic Church for a sacramental union?

Even the Catholic Church acknowledges the legal nature of civil marriage, and in the view of the Church, legitimacy is a function of LEGAL status, not CHURCH status. Is your view different?


sitetest

[Xenalyte]

No, no, and no - unless any of the marriages professed to be made under the Catholic purview.

Yes, I would, because Catholic doctrine doesn't matter a whit to non-Catholics, Jews, or Buddhists.

And yes, to me (and to my church) legitimacy is a function of church status. (Legal status has nothing to do with church matters.) That's why we have weddings, and concepts like "fornication."