Two Ceremonies?

A reader writes:

A friend of mine is getting married and his fiance wants very much to have a protestant marriage ceremony (she herself is mildly protestant and her father is a minister in a protestant denomination). Can my friend and his fiance have a Catholic wedding ceremony IN ADDITION TO the protestant one?

No, canon law specifically prohibits this:

Canon 1127 §3.

It is forbidden to have another religious
celebration of the same marriage to give or renew matrimonial consent before or
after the canonical celebration according to the norm of §1 [i.e., the Catholic wedding]. Likewise, there is
not to be a religious celebration in which the Catholic who is assisting and a
non-Catholic minister together, using their own rites, ask for the consent of
the parties.

The parties therefore need to decide whether they want to have a Catholic wedding OR obtain a dispensation from form so that they can have a Protestant wedding. They can’t do both.

This is not to say that ministers from both religious communities can’t play a role in the wedding. If they have a Catholic wedding the then Protstant minister can be invited to participate and visa versa. The Norms for Ecumenism provide:

157. With the previous authorisation of the local Ordinary, and if invited to do so, a Catholic priest or deacon may attend or participate in some way in the celebration of mixed marriages, in situations where the dispensation from canonical form has been granted. In these cases, there may be only one ceremony in which the presiding person receives the marriage vows. At the invitation of this celebrant, the Catholic priest or deacon may offer other appropriate prayers, read from the Scriptures, give a brief exhortation and bless the couple.

158. Upon request of the couple, the local Ordinary may permit the Catholic priest to invite the minister of the party of the other Church or ecclesial Community to participate in the celebration of the marriage, to read from the Scriptures, give a brief exhortation and bless the couple.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

7 thoughts on “Two Ceremonies?”

  1. What if the other ceremony is not Religious, but civil? My wife and I were married civilly in the Philippines so we could start the paperwork for her visa to come here to the US. We then had a Wedding Mass at our parish here in the US after she got here. The quoted canon doesn’t seem to apply to a situation such as ours, but I am wondering if another paragraph does. Anyone know?

  2. Wow! I’m so blessed to be married to a fellow Cradle Catholic. There are so many things to argue about, I can’t imagine writing in “religious beliefs” in the “not in common” column.
    All the same, it’s interesting to see questions like this are always about “a friend” or “a family member”. It would seem that actual couples getting married don’t want to be bogged down by canonical form, etc.

  3. chris-2-4
    I’m married to a Protestant. When we got our marriage blessed, our religious beliefs were about the only things we had in common (compared to every other aspect of our lives.) 🙂

  5. Marc,
    Civil marriages are handled differently, because the Church recognizes the differences in national laws regarding marriage. In Mexico, for example, priests and ministers are not authorized to preside over legally recognized marriages, so couples have a civil ceremony (for the legal purposes) then, if they are faithful to their religious traditions, they head to Church for the religious ceremony.

    Mexican Law Relating to Marriage

    1.- Before a couple may be married by the Church (or receive the Church’s blessing) they should* have been married under civil law by a judge or justice of the peace. It does not matter whether the civil ceremony was performed in Mexico or in some other country, but proof of the marriage must be presented. (* This is a legal requirement aplicable to Roman Catholic Clergy and a recomendation for clergy of other churches.)

    2.- To be married under civil law in Mexico, if one of the spouses is a Mexican national, permission must be given by the Secretaria de Gobernación; this request may require several months to be processed. In the case of two non-Mexicans (or two Mexican citizens), the process is much less complicated and designed to eliminate undue delay.

    3.- A blood test must have been performed for each person no more than 14 days before the civil ceremony. If the report is not written in Spanish, a certified translation must be provided. (The blood work costs less in Mexico than the translation, so do this here.)

    4.- The judge’s time must be scheduled in advance. A marriage license must be requested at least three days prior to the date of the ceremony. This is done at the offices of the “Registro Civil”. .

    5.- The fees for performing a civil marriage between foreigners vary with the dollar to peso exchange rate, but are around $450 Dlls. U.S. The ceremony can be held at the Registro Civil or at a location of the couple’s choosing. Four witnesses must be present.

    6.- At the time of entering into the civil marriage, the couple must declare that they are being married either :
    (a) with all goods and property in common (all goods held as “community property”) or
    (b) under the regime of “separación de bienes” which means that each individual will maintain ownership of their pre-marriage property.

    7.- Proof of identity must be provided as well as proof that both individuals are in Mexico legally. The identity documents must be either a valid passport or a birth certificate that has been certified in the country of origin using the “apostille” protocol. (United Nations Apostille Treaty) (There is usually only one state government office per state or province authorized to do this.) To show that you are in Mexico legally, you need photo I.D., or a passport, plus your “Tourist Card” immigration papers.

    8.- If one or both individuals has previously been married to a person still living, then proof of a legal divorce must be provided. These also must be certified under the “Apostille Protocol”.

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