[sinkspur]

That's debateable.

The Church doesn't stop people who want to marry from marrying; they just marry outside the Church, without the graces of the sacrament.

Mixed marriages present challenges, to be sure, but, as long as the couple is aware of them, what's the problem? Should the Church stop marriages between Catholics if one of the Catholics never goes to Mass?

How totally free from sin does the couple have to be?

[Maximilian]

Should the Church stop marriages between Catholics if one of the Catholics never goes to Mass? How totally free from sin does the couple have to be?

You're probably aware that this is a growing trend -- pastors refusing to allow couples to be married in Church if they are clearly not practicing the faith and only want the church as a suitable backdrop for their ceremony.

In the sentence that just immediately preceding the excerpt from Casti Connubii above, Pope Pius XI said:

This religious character of marriage, its sublime signification of grace and the union between Christ and the Church, evidently requires that those about to marry should show a holy reverence towards it, and zealously endeavor to make their marriage approach as nearly as possible to the archetype of Christ and the Church.

[sitetest]

Dear sinkspur,

In our archdiocese, the general rules are: Catholic marriage may only be contracted by practicing Catholics who are not cohabitating; baptisms may only be performed on children of practicing Catholics who are in a sacramental marriage.

When my brother and his wife wished to get their two children baptized (he and his wife were not married in the Church), it took a whole lot of exception-making to get it to happen. It only happened as a result of my father's strenuous intervention. That was fifteen years ago. The rules are adhered to even more strictly today.

At least in our archdiocese, it is unlikely that many babies born out of wedlock (where the relationship is not first regularized by Catholic marriage) are being baptized.



sitetest

[narses]

"How totally free from sin does the couple have to be?"

Free of Mortal Sin, at least. Why would a Deacon ask such a question?