Jump to content
An Old School Catholic Message Board

Can I Officiate at My Non-Catholic Friends' Wedding?


Gabriela

Recommended Posts

Could a Catholic officiate a wedding of two gay friends when neither are Catholic?

No, because they cannot get married (even if the state says they can).  It is not a natural marriage, and a Catholic cannot officiate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basilisa Marie

Could a Catholic officiate a wedding of two gay friends when neither are Catholic?

Nope, because it's not a marriage. There's no way around it. The Church understands marriage as a thing that applies to all humans, not just Catholic ones. Marriage is the faithful, exclusive, permanent union of a man and a woman directed at the good of the spouses and having and educating children, only broken by death. Two men cannot by definition get married, and officiating (and even attending, really) such a ceremony is basically affirming a falsehood. Catholics can attend a marriage by two non-Christians because we still recognize their marriage as valid. Our tribunals will process cases involving only non-Christian people (usually because someone now wants to marry a Catholic) because marriage is a natural right that predates the establishment of the Catholic Church. But marriage is fundamentally about a relationship between a man and a woman and has always been that way. 

You couldn't officiate the wedding of someone who is already married. It's impossible, because there's something lacking that's fundamental to the very definition of what marriage is. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...