Can a Deacon perform a version of a Catholic and Christian wedding?

maltos469

My family wants me to have a Catholic Ceremony and my fiance's family is Christian. I want to have a Deacon to satisfy both religions and have it at our reception and not in a church. I still would like the traditional lazo and 13 coins from my culture being hispanic. Is this possible?

agapecarrie

A deacon or a priest may witness a marriage for the church. Only a priest can celebrate a mass (which you likely would not have due to your fi not being Catholic). 

Only in special circumstances is a dispensation from form given to have the marriage not in a Catholic church. 

I would urge you though to look into what Catholic marriage means, and please do it because you want to, not because your family wants it. 

maltos469

Thank you. I wanted to see if it was possible. I had known the procedures but I figured it would be either or. Also it doesn't hurt to ask. 

We planned to do the marrage lisence with a Deacon certifying it. I didn't want to choose whether to have a Catholic or Christian Pastor.

chelseamb11

Based on your post, I'm going to assume you are not a regularly practicing Catholic (please correct me if I'm wrong).  Like Agape said, you should not have a Catholic wedding just because your family said so.  If they didn't request it, what would you be doing?

What do you mean by satisfying both religions?  There is nothing in protestant religions that says a Catholic wedding is invalid, so you could do so by having a Catholic ceremony.  However, for a valid Catholic ceremony, there are certain things that need to happen. You either need to either be married in the Catholic Church or have a dispensation.  There are also certain aspect that need to happen for it to be a valid Catholic wedding.  Part of the vows are you promising not only to be open to children, but to raise them Catholic as well.

I hope that makes sense.  Basically all Catholic weddings are Christian.  But not all Christian weddings are Catholic.

agapecarrie

A deacon won't "Certify" a marriage license without witnessing the marriage, and you have to go through the church in order for it to be valid. 

professorscience

You could have a minister from your FI's family's church participate in your ceremony. I was in a wedding where the father of the groom, a Methodist minister, co-officiated (I'm sure there's an official term, but I can't remember it).