Mixed Religion Wedding in Catholic Church??

Mrs2014 · by **Mrs2014** » Wed Apr 11, 2022 11:19 am

So I'm a confirmed Catholic, but used to attend protestant church for a number of years. OH was originally Church of England, but considers himself atheist I suppose. I am a Christian and want a church wedding and he doesn't mind, but what will the story be if we go to a Catholic church?

I'm hoping to find a church near whatever venue we choose, so we won't know the priest and honestly I don't know any priests/vicars that I could ask to come down. It all seems so messy!

OH wasn't baptised and wouldn't be prepared to convert to a catholic to marry in a catholic church. I read somewhere about getting a dispensation from a bishop or something to allow a catholic to marry a non-catholic? (But if i've been a member of a protestant church, am I still catholic?!)

It's so confusing, help please!!!

SpillingMoonbeams · by **SpillingMoonbeams** » Wed Apr 11, 2022 7:52 pm

I'm applying for dispensation from the bishop since my OH is atheist while I'm Catholic and it's pretty painless, just send them a letter. We have had no problems so far with a mixed marriage in the church, it's fine as long as your OH is ok with it. The church you decide on, you should be able to have the local priest do it, mine is, another possibility wasn't even mentioned so I don't think you need to go hunt one down... For yourself, do you still consider yourself Catholic? As long as you haven't converted to something I presume you still count as one but you don't want to be having a marriage rite you don't agree with so I think that aspect would be best to ask a priest, preferably in the church you choose!

by **cantwaittilltheday** » Mon Apr 16, 2022 11:47 am

Hi All,

I am Catholic and my Bride to be is Protestant and our priest has informed us that we need to send a letter of dispensation to Archbishop Dermot Martin asking for permission to have an inter church marriage.
Does anyone have a copy of this letter of dispensation as I haven't a clue what I am supposed to write and its getting close to that day.

Please help,

cant wait! O:o)

shoveover · by **shoveover** » Mon Apr 16, 2022 5:23 pm

OH is a non-practicing Catholic and I am Christian. We looked at having a Catholic wedding, and there would have been no problem from the church's point of view (once we met all the paperwork requirements) but once I looked into what the ceremony involved I decided against it. We have found a Christian pastor of a non-denominational church who will conduct the wedding for us. The ceremony will be a reflection of us as a couple like a civil ceremony can be, but will still contain the christian elements which are important to us.

SpillingMoonbeams · by **SpillingMoonbeams** » Mon Apr 16, 2022 10:14 pm

cantwaittilltheday wrote:Hi All,

I am Catholic and my Bride to be is Protestant and our priest has informed us that we need to send a letter of dispensation to Archbishop Dermot Martin asking for permission to have an inter church marriage.
Does anyone have a copy of this letter of dispensation as I haven't a clue what I am supposed to write and its getting close to that day.

Please help,

cant wait!

I had one and am currently trying to find it again for myself too, when I do I will send it to you! In the mean time ask your parish office, mine gave me the template!

by **Shadyladee** » Thu Apr 26, 2022 3:15 pm

Hi All,

You sound like you are the people in the know about permissions for interchurch weddings! Im feeling fairly clueless... Can I send the letter to the bishop myself? My local priest doesn't really want to help me (Im a catholic living in England) so I was wondering do I need my local English priests help at all to marry an anglican in an anglican church in Ireland? I'm getting a lot of conflicting advice at the mo

Any advice would be appreciated!

Sorry to hijack an existing thread!

SpillingMoonbeams · by **SpillingMoonbeams** » Tue May 01, 2022 10:37 pm

Shadyladee wrote:Hi All,

You sound like you are the people in the know about permissions for interchurch weddings! Im feeling fairly clueless... Can I send the letter to the bishop myself? My local priest doesn't really want to help me (Im a catholic living in England) so I was wondering do I need my local English priests help at all to marry an anglican in an anglican church in Ireland? I'm getting a lot of conflicting advice at the mo

Any advice would be appreciated!

Sorry to hijack an existing thread!

Ooh, not sure about that one, I only know how to apply to the bishop for permission to marry in a Catholic context, not sure what they do if you're the one marrying in another Christian ceremony. If your priest isn't being very helpful I would suggest contacting your local bishop's office by post or phone, I have found the staff in my Dublin diocese very helpful so far. If it helps, I think you have to do it yourself, I was told to and was given the template for the letter but had to do it myself rather than the priest doing it. HTH

DelightedB2B2012 · by **DelightedB2B2012** » Sun May 06, 2022 2:48 am

I was baptised Catholic and H2B is athiest. I applied for a dispensation from the Bishop to marry someone not christened and received a letter granting the marriage and a really sweet book about prayers to get you through any difficult times. ALl painless and nice really. O:o)

by **ClareBKS** » Mon May 14, 2022 11:59 am

My sister had a mixed marriage, she is Catholic and her hubby is protestant. They had no trouble at all. The only thing they had to do was sign a form to say that they agreed to baptise their children as Catholic but the prest said they are entitled to change their mind in the future if they wished. The service was in a Catholic church but they did not go for the full mass. Their prest was great an provided they had the marrage vows and a gospal they could do what ever they liked (within reason) after that. They decided to go for readings from lost of different religions including muslin, hindu and american indian!

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