Just this month, I discovered the that in May, 1977, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to lift the penalty of excommunication imposed by the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884) which applied only to American Catholics who remarried after a divorce from a valid marriage.

My question is -- based on the above as a devote Catholic marrying a Greek Orthodox who was properly married and then divorced/annulled in Greek Orthodox church (my wives previous husband has since died). I was told in 1976 that if I married this person I would be excommunicated. Out of love I married the person and accepted the excommunication, having been raised and schooled in devote Irish Catholic family/school/community.

From 1976 to present I have not set foot or recieve any Catholic sacraments, based on local priests advise given in 1976. I was never told by local priest that the Catholic church made the change in 1977, even though I stayed in same community.

In 1986 after attending the Greek Orthodox church for 10 years every Sunday and not being allowed to recieve communion and believing I was excommunicated, I converted to the Greek Orthodox faith.

What is the status of my marriage?

If I wanted to have marriage blessed by Catholic church, would that be possible? Would I be able to have Catholic church under current rules bless my "new" marriage but have service performed in Greek Orthodox church?

-- Michael (NYConsulting2@aol.com), April 24, 2002

Answers

Hello, Michael.

Meaning no offense, but I noticed that this is the third time that you have begun a thread about your marriage situation.
Click here to see the first thread.
Click here to see the second thread.

Did you have some difficulty understanding what we told you on those threads, or were you unable to find the threads in order to read the responses?

Now that I have linked you to the threads, do you still have difficulty understanding? We can try to clarify something for you.
I hope that you would like to return to the practice of the Catholic faith.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), April 25, 2002.

Michael, I see that you also had a third thread, just posted a couple of days ago, in which you are asking about matters related to annulment/nullity.

From the description of your case (if it is complete), I can see that you do not need a Decree of Nullity. The woman you love was married once, but her husband is now dead. That leaves her free to marry you in a Catholic ceremony (or in an Orthodox ceremony, if your Catholic bishop approves [which he will]).

The most important thing for you to have on your mind now is not nullity or marriage, but reconciliation with your Church and with God. You need the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist. Please visit your local Catholic parish priest as soon as possible.

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), April 25, 2002.

Maybe I'm wrong but so what is wrong with staying Greek Orthodox? They are recognized as a valid church by the Catholic church and therefore can issue the valid sacraments. If they recognize the nullity then why are you worried about it? If the Catholic church recognizes their sacraments then the church must also recognize that what the Orthodox Church "ties on earth" shall be "tied in heaven." Therefore, while you might not be able to be admitted validly under the Roman Catholic rules, you still will not go to hell for following the rules of the Eastern Church. It may hurt that you will not be able to part of the western church anyone but you at least won't be damned if you follow the rules of the valid eastern church. Please correct me if I'm wrong here but being an Catholic that has grown up and date many a greek girlfriend, I've never really seen a problem here.

-- Guest (raptor@mediaone.net), July 04, 2004.