Everyone thinks the church is the same worldwide. In Brazil, you MUST get married by the state. They do not recognize church marriages.
From the article... “Consequently, any Catholic who marries in a civil ceremony—before a judge, justice of the peace, or other secular authority—is not married in the eyes of the Church. If this is what Catholics intend to do when they elope, their marriage will not be valid, period.”
This brings up an even more interesting question.
If a person has previous marriage in a civil ceremony followed by a divorce, are they free to marry in the Church since the Church didn’t consider the first marriage valid?
Sure you can elope and have a civil ceremony. You’re simply not following church rules. Happens every day.
The Catholic Church could further extend its advocacy of marriage by allowing priests to be married. There is absolutely NOTHING in the Bible mandating a celibate priesthood. Priests, bishops, and popes were in fact married men for at least the first ten centuries of Church history. Mandatory celibacy was largely instituted in the Middle Ages as a way of combating corruption within the Church, nepotism, and the transmission of Church property.
Are you the author? Other blogs can post the entire section. What’s the problem?
I nearly cringe to bring the Bible into this, but Isaac took Rebecca into his tent and knew her...no church, no preacher, no ceremony, no state, no license.
Can you please monitor this then and bring answers to the other questions that come up?
Is the marriage of an eloped couple a sacramental marriage?
Do they have to be remarried in the Church to make it a valid marriage?
Do elopements lead to more divorces?
To put a little finer point on it, in the Bible, marriage was private, and divorce was as well—as per Joseph intending to put Mary away privily.
Didn’t Romeo and Juliet do exactly that with the blessing of the priest?
Are you a canon lawyer?
Or are you a priest who sits on a tribunal?
How can we know that this is really true if you don’t post the entire article.
Most people don’t do a second click on a thread, FYI.
Are you Cathy Caridi?
About
Cathy Caridi is an American canon lawyer who practices law and teaches in Rome. She founded this website to provide clear answers to canonical questions asked by ordinary Catholics, without employing all the mysterious legalese that canon lawyers know and love.
In the past Cathy has published articles both in scholarly journals and on various popular Catholic websites, including Real Presence Communications and Catholic Exchange.
The copyright at the bottom left hand corner of the page says that NONE of the blog can be reproduced.
Good bye.
mark