[Vee]

Hi

What exactly is this?

The Roman Catholic Church considers a marriage valid when:

It is celebrated in a ceremony according to Church law;

[startingover]

We're not sure we understand your question. The Roman Catholic Church considers all marriages valid until proven otherwise. Valid does not necessarily mean sacramental in nature. There is an important distinction.

A Roman Catholic wedding needs to abide by Church canon law; however, non-Catholics are not required to marry by the same standards. Therefore a non-Catholic couple could have a civil ceremony and the Church consider it a valid marriage. This would not be the case if the couple were Catholic, since the ceremony would not be according to canon law. We hope this answers your question.

May God bless you.

[Vee]

What I mean by my above question is (I copied it from somewhere in this forum), which church law are they referring to? Catholic church law or the person's church's law (seeking the annulment-if they are not Catholic)? And what are those laws?

[Frieda Arpoika]

If a person is a baptized Catholic then he is bound by his Catholic Church's law to marry in a Catholic Church. That is part of what it means to be Catholic. However if a person is not a Catholic then he is not bound by Catholic Church law and not expected to marry in a Catholic church. If for example a Methodist marries in his church or by civil ceremony, Catholics would consider that marriage valid since he is not Catholic and not required to follow Catholic law. Unless it is a second marriage, then it gets more complicated ... but unless he wants to marry a Catholic he wouldn't have to worry about that.