Marriage cannot go ahead QUESTION from Joseph Salazar on March 4, 2002 This may be a question that is just as much a moral one as a liturgical one. I believe that the Catholic Church forbids, for a number of reasons, any of the faithful from marrying a person who believes abortion to be the 'right' of a woman. An acquaintance of mine disagrees. What has the Church said on the matter?
ANSWER by Mr. Jacob Slavek on March 10, 2002 Dear Mr. Salazar,
The church does not require that Catholics must only marry other Catholics. Therefore, it is permissible that a catholic may marry someone who holds contrary beliefs to the Catholic church's Teaching. The key word being beliefs.. by this I mean that if a Catholic were to marry someone who felt that abortion is okay, it must be understood and agreed BEFORE marriage that the couple is going to raise all children Catholic and be baptized Catholic, as is the requirement. This obviously is not going to happen in the baby is aborted, so the person believing that abortion is okay MUST agree that it is not going to happen to his/her baby.
So although there is room for the contrary belief, there is no room for the contrary action.
If you are dealing with someone with these beliefs, I would encourage you to show them how it is NOT the right of a woman to have an abortion. It actually is quite easy as long as the person is reasonable.
Thanks for writing,
Mr. Slavek
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