I am catholic born and raised and my fiancee had been baptized Catholic. She has not received any other sacrament. The church where she got baptized can not find her baptismal certificate and the preist that performed the ceremony has sinced moved outside the country, not like he would remember anyway. My question is, Can we get married in a catholic church with mass? Any comments/ help you may have is greatly appreciated.

-- Jason Quizon (jsunq@yahoo.com), May 27, 2004

Answers

Yes, there should be a backup copy somewhere at the diocesan level. They keep these in case of fire, flood, etc. I'm not sure how you would go about finding it, but I am suprised that the Parish that baptized her didn't send her off in this direction.

Dano

-- Dan Garon (boethius61@yahoo.com), May 27, 2004.

If the certificate cannot be obtained, a sworn written statement by an eye witness - usually a parent or godparent - will usually suffice.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), May 27, 2004.