Hello, my fiance and I are planning to get married by the Catholic church in Spain next fall. I am catholic, and he was brought up by a Catholic mother and a Jewish father. He was informally baptized by his catholic maternal grandmother. He grew up participating infrequently in the ceremonies of both religions, but he does not actively practice either. My question is: in order to get married in a catholic service, what steps do we need to take? Thank you.

-- Mariona Mulet (marionetamulet@yahoo.com), May 17, 2004

Answers

Mariona,

Begging the question of whether your fiance considers himself Catholic or Jewish...

If your fiance's maternal grandmother is still alive (or someone else who was present at the "informal" baptism) have them swear out a statement that he was baptized. Presuming you all are in the US now take that sworn statement to the local parish to have his baptism registered. When you go to Spain you'll need to take along copies of your baptismal certificates for the priest over there to marry you.

If, for whatever reason, this is not possible then you'll need to get a dispensation for "disparity of cult" from the local bishop.

Hope that's helpful.

-- Fr. Mike Skrocki, JCD (cand) (abounamike@aol.com), May 17, 2004.

Hi,

You should speak with your priest for clarification, however, I think your fiance's maternal grandmother and his parents would need to agree that he was a baptized catholic.

I baptized my very premature twin daughters immediately after they were born. My priest told me that anyone could baptize my daughters as long as it was done with my permission. Then, at 1 years old we went through the baptismal ceremony at the church, however, since my daughters were already baptized the priest did not place the holly water on them. He said my baptismal was valid and did not need to be repeated.

Hope this helps.

Sheryl

-- Sheryl Schenkman (Sheri8000@aol.com), May 21, 2004.