Is the marriage between a man and a women considered a sacrement in the Catholic Church or is only the marriage to God considered a sacrement?

-- Erin Welsh (sainteza10@hotmail.com), March 04, 2001

Answers

Response to Is the marriage between man and women a sacrement

Jmj

Hello, Erin.
Imagine a baptized man and a baptized woman who are free to marry each other validly -- that is, who have no obstacles called "impediments" in their way. That couple can celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage (sometimes called Matrimony).
This is possible if one or both of the spouses is Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant. Thus, a sacramental Marriage can occur even when both spouses belong to a Protestant sect that does not believe in sacraments. (Catholics and Eastern Orthodox all believe in the Sacrament of Marriage.)

St. James, pray for us.
God bless you.
John
PS: I have never heard of "marriage to God." (I suppose that some people might use that term figuratively to describe the espousal of the soul of a religious, especially a nun, to Jesus. Or someone may have used the term to speak of the spousal relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit.)

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), March 04, 2001.

Response to Is the marriage between man and women a sacrement

Hi John,

You said "...a sacramental Marriage can occur even when both spouses belong to a Protestant sect that does not believe in sacraments." For a valid Sacrament to take place it requires valid form, Matter and Intent. Form - exchange of vows, Matter- one validly Baptized man and one validly Baptized woman, and Intent- the intention of doing and believing what the Church intends of the Sacrament.

-- Br. Rich SFO (repsfo@prodigy.net), March 05, 2001.

Response to Is the marriage between man and women a sacrement

Yes, Rich. I agree with you completely.
In my statement that you quoted, I was referring to those Christian sects that perform baptisms, marriage ceremonies, and sometimes "Lord's supper" commemorations -- but without ever referring to them as "sacraments." [They may use the term "ordinance" or no term at all.]
Within such a sect, two validly baptized people who exchange vows with the proper intention can be validly married.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), March 05, 2001.