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Officiated by a priest

msgrinnmsgrinn
First Comment
in Christian Weddings
It seems that civil wedding is not that powerful for most Christians. They have to ensure that each marriage is under the catholic church and officiated by a priest when in fact marital rights are they same whether couples were married under the church or by a court official as long as they have signed the appropriate documents. What are your views about this?
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Re: Officiated by a priest

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer First Anniversary
    I'm not Catholic, so I may be entirely wrong when I say this next part: to my knowledge, if you want to be a practicing Catholic once you are married, you must be married within a Catholic church. 

    That being said, I'm getting married in a church because it has significance to me, not because I feel like I have to. I want to. I don't think anyone - Christian or Catholic or Lutheran or any denomination, really - is any "less" married if you don't get married in a church. However, some denominations suggest/require that you get married in a certain way for it to be recognized by that church. 
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  • fpaemp2011fpaemp2011 member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary First Answer Name Dropper
    I'm not Catholic, but it was very important to us that we were married by a pastor in a Christian ceremony.  

    We view marriage as an ordinance of the (universal, Christ as Savior whatever your denomination) Church, and the marriage license we received from the state is only a governmental formality for filing taxes, etc, and really, I don't think the government should have anything to do with marriage.  

    We made the Marriage Covenant in front of family and friends, most of whom are Christ-followers, with several pastors officiating (DH's dad and the pastors from the church I grew up in).
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  • ochemjennochemjenn member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary First Comment

    If you mean Roman Catholic, they are expected to follow proper form and be married in the Church by a priest who has the authority to perform the rite of marriage to be considered valid in the eyes in the Church.

    If you mean catholic as in universal (like in the Nicene Creed "one holy catholic and apostolic church") I can give a more thorough answer.  We opted to wed in the church DH had attended for more of his life and where his parents still attended.  He already had a good relationship with the reverend.  We preferred to be married by someone we knew than having a judge or other stranger officiate.  We wed in the eyes of God and felt that the appropriate place for that was church.  Others may feel that is outside.  that's fine too.

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