Divorced v Widowed?

[woofas]

We have a divorced friend who was refused permission to re-marry in church. If her ex-husband had died before application, would she have still been considered to be divorced or would the church have considered her to have been widowed? Similarly what would be her official status after her ex had died - divorced or widowed?

[Marijn]

Do you mean Catholic church or Church of England?

[woofas]

No! Application to marry in church.

[woofas]

In this case it was a Catholic church - but would it make any difference anyway?

[ummmm]

It has to be a Catholic church....

If her husband had died then she would be able to re marry.

[ummmm]

Yes it does make a difference. You can divorce in COE but not in Catholic.

Ask Henry the Viii.....

[Sandy-Wroe]

In th eyes of the Catholic Church she would still have been married even if she was divorced.

[Marijn]

As far as Catholics are concerned it's "till death do us part". And as her ex-husband is not dead, then as far as they are concerned, she's still promised to her ex-husband. Nothing to do with the law of the land. .it's just a Catholic thing.

[woofas]

You can be divorced whether you were married in a CoE or Catholic church. Some CoE vicars will allow remarriage in church. No Catholic and other CoE will not permit remarriage in church.
My query related to the timescale. If the death of the ex-spouse occurs after the divorce, are you still a divorcee or then a widow(er)?

[Marijn]

I've not heard of any Catholics remarrying in the Catholic church, celebrity or not. Who are the celebrities who have married twice in the Catholic church, with their ex-spouse still alive?

[ummmm]

I've not heard of it either notafish....The Catholic church do not recognise divorce.

[jackthehat]

It usually offers 'anullments' in the first instance...........
Magically, the marriage can be made 'never to have happened' thereby freeing both parties to be able to marry, again, as Catholics.

[Marijn]

Woofas, your friend doesn't sound like a practising Catholic otherwise she would have known that she couldn't marry twice in the Catholic church, with her ex still alive. She could go to a church of another denomination and get married there instead. Oherwise she'd have to wait for her ex to die, if she was adamant she wanted to get married in the Catholic church.

[society]

If the two parties involved are in love and are committed to each other, why do they so desperately need the permission or consent of the church to get married. Hell... tell them to go to Vegas and get hitched.

[Marijn]

Unless she's thinking of killing her ex, this is all hypothetical anyway! And I wouldn't advise her to do that, cos it doesn't go down well with the Catholics either.

[fredpuli47]

When I married, both of us had been divorced. The C of E refused to marry us. The Roman Catholic church would marry us because neither of us, in the eyes of the Church, had been married before.She is a Catholic. I can't remember where she was married before ,but her husband was certainly not Catholic, and I was C of E and married in a C of E church.That didn't count.The only snag was that I'd have to become a Catholic first !

[woofas]

OK, so the problem of remarriage is complicated by the religion by which someone was married the first time and the religion of a subsequent marriage.
Lets go back to the basics, if your divorced spouse dies - must you still describe yourself as "divorced" or can you now describe yourself as "widowed"? (particularly with respect to official documents)

[Bapla]

the church will allow the remarriage of partners if either of them are widowed or their previous marriage was by civil ceremony (as such a ceremony is not one which is recognised by the Roman Catholic church).