Hi all,
So I've been reading through a few posts and have gotten myself confused about when a marriage is considered valid. For the record these questions don't apply to my FI and I, as we are both practicing Catholics and getting married in a Catholic church, I am just curious.
Okay so from what I've learned on this board my understanding is (and please correct me if this is wrong!) if two non-Catholics get married their marriage is assumed to be valid unless there is evidence otherwise (this would be determined through annulment process).
But if a non-practicing Catholic marries a non-Catholic outside the Catholic church this marriage is not considered valid unless a proper form is filled out and apporved or there is a covalidation ceremony later in a Catholic church.
So I am particularly confused about the second scenario as to why this marriage would be considered invalid. My guess is because the Catholic party knows that proper form is to marry in a Catholic church and choses not to do so anyway.
Okay, so then I also have a question about a particular scenario. My MOH is a practicing methodist but she was baptised in the Catholic church. Her dad was Catholic and her mom a protestant. They were married in a Catholic church and had their two kids baptised in a Catholic church. Her dad then fell away from his faith and stopped attending mass with the family. Her mom continued taking the kids to the Catholic church for a little while but then starting taking them to a Methodist church where she felt more comfortable when it became clear that the dad no longer cared about attending church or raising the kids Catholic. So from the time my MOH and her brother were 5 and 3 they have been raised methodist by their mom. (Side note about a decade later her dad had a change of heart and suddenly decided he wanted to go to church again and they are all practicing methodists now). So... if my MOH were to marry a non-Catholic in a protestant church would her marriage be considered valid? LIke I said she was baptised Catholic as a baby but has received no other sacraments, nor was she raised in the faith.