My boyfriend and I were both previously married. My marriage is invalid in the eyes of the Church since I am Catholic and was not married with the blessing of the Church. My boyfriend (non-Catholic) was previously married to a Catholic in the Catholic Church. Does he need an annulment prior to us getting married?

MEA--

Yes. If he married a Catholic in the Catholic Church, then he married according to Catholic marital law and the marriage is presumed valid. If he is a baptized Christian, then it is presumed sacramental. You also need to put your own marriage before a marriage tribunal before you are free to marry. The Church wants to look at anything that appears to have been a marriage in order to ensure the freedom of the parties to marry other partners.

In the meantime, if you are a divorced Catholic, then you should not even be in a romantic relationship with anyone until your marriage has been reviewed and definitively declared to have been invalid. Still less should you be romantically involved with a man the Church presumes to be married.

Michelle Arnold
Catholic Answers

COPYRIGHT 2013

Click here to send this Question and Answer to a friend