Convalidations

Bringing Your marriage Into The Church

Like others in our parish, you may be wondering if your marriage is fully recognized by The Catholic Church. The Canon Law of the Catholic Church ordinarily requires baptized Roman Catholics to marry in the presence of a priest or deacon.

Unless the Catholic party has received a "dispensation from canonical form," which is a formal request granted by the bishop, a Catholic who exchanges vows in the presence of the minister of another religious tradition or a civil official is not considered validly married in the Catholic Church.

No matter what has taken place in the past, we at St. Mary's invite you to consider having your marriage convalidated, meaning that it will be valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church. This is sometimes colloquially referred to as "having a marriage blessed".

For more information on having your wedding convalidated by the Church please see this resource from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

If you or your spouse have been married in any way prior to your present marriage that you wish to have convalidated, you may need to undergo a process whereby an investigation is done to determine whether or not the marriage was sacramentally valid before you can prodeed with convalidation. This is commonly referred to as an annulment. You can find information on that process here.