Sacraments – An Encounter with Christ Sacramental Marriage Sacraments – An Encounter with Christ

What Makes a Sacrament Traditional language breaks it down by two aspects, “form” and “matter”. When both these exist, the reality of the Sacrament present. The matter for a sacramental marriage would be the baptized man and the baptized woman The form is realized when BOTH parties freely intend to make a gift of themselves to each other until death, by stating their vows and consummating those vows in marital intimacy. Marriage still exists when one party is not baptized, it is understood to be a valid natural union, but not a sacrament.

Catholics and Other Christians When two baptized persons exchange vows freely and intend to enter into a relationship until death, they too have a “sacramental marriage”. If one of the parties is not baptized the Church still presumes that it is a valid natural union that must be respected. Catholics Catholics have an extra requirement to go through a period of preparation for the Sacrament, and to have the marriage performed in the presence of the Church’s minister, or get the permission from the bishop to get married by a non-catholic minister.

Permissions and Dispensations Mixed Religion (A Catholic wants to marry another baptized Christian from a protestant denomination) Natural Obligations – if a person has children from a prior union, those obligations must be met in order to enter into marriage. Dispensations Disparity of Cult – A Catholic desires to marry a non-baptized person Form – The Catholic seeks to marry outside the Catholic Church building in front of one of the Church’s minister. Consanguinity – A catholic would need permission to marry someone closely related.

Marriage is presumed to be Valid An Annulment is the judgment that is made regarding the validity of a Sacramental Marriage. If either party did not freely enter the marriage and intend to remain faithful until death an annulment may be granted. This case is processed by the diocesan Tribunal. Defect of Form If a Catholic did not seek the appropriate marriage and never formally left the Catholic Church and enters into a civilly binding marriage in a court or in a church, the marriage is presumed to be an “invalid” sacramental marriage and would be judged to be so after a recent baptismal certificate, marriage certificate and divorce decree is presented with the testimony of two witnesses.

The Pauline Privilege If two un-baptized Christians enter into a marriage, a valid natural union,(not sacramental) and the marriage ends in divorce, the local bishop can make the judgment that that the party could enter into another marriage with a Catholic. Paul was an early bishop and in his letters he explains the benefit for those Christians who wanted to marry and non-Christian who had previously been married. Bishop’s today share the same “privilege” Paul describes in his letters.

The Petrine Privilege If a Catholic would like to marry someone who had been divorced from a person who was not baptized, so again, a valid natural union, but one person had been a Christian. The pope can dissolve the valid natural union in favor of the faith. Again in the Bible Peter relates such a privilege, and so to the current pope can exercise such a privilege.

The Annulment Process Six months after the civil divorce a Catholic may elect to enter into the process to determine if the Church judges their marriage to be sacramental from the beginning. The Church attempts to determine if both parties, freely and without reservation intended to enter into a permanent commitment until death. The Catholic needs the following to begin the process The Marriage Certificate The Divorce Degree Contact information for the respective parents of the both parties Contact information for two witnesses for each party that can testify to the facts at the time the marriage took place

The Tribunal The Tribunal will gather the testimony and a judgment will be made. After the preliminary judgment, it is send to an neighboring Tribunal for the ratification or appeal of the judgment, if there are no questions the decision is ratified.