Ask Father Tom: We’ve seen an uptick in convalidation. What does that mean?

By Father Tom Knoblach

In the course of presenting his “Theology of the Body” over 40 years ago, St. John Paul II stated that marriage is the “primordial sacrament.” That is, the communion of love between man and woman reflects and makes effective in the created world a sign of the eternal communion of love that is the inner life of God. Joined in an unbreakable exchange of love and life, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit created the human person to mirror that life-giving bond of love in the marriage covenant.

This “natural” sacrament of married love, rooted in our creation in the image of God, is elevated to become a Christian sacrament between two baptized persons. Baptism is our share in the death and resurrection of Jesus, so marriage between the baptized becomes a sign of that same mystery of self-giving love expressed most profoundly by the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross, and the new, everlasting life it makes possible for us.

For a valid sacramental marriage in the Catholic Church (that is, a true participation in the very mystery of this Paschal love of Christ), several elements are essential: the free and mutual consent of the spouses, at least one of whom is a baptized Catholic; the lack of any impediments (such as being in a previous marriage bond or having promised perpetual chastity, being of sufficient age, being able to engage in sexual relations, and others); having the exchange of vows witnessed by a representative of the Church who has the authority to witness them; and having sufficient understanding of the life-long commitment to one’s spouse that is open to procreation. Confirming all of these elements are part of the preparation process to ensure that the couple is free to marry in the Church.

Invalid marriages arise when one or more of these elements are lacking. Among the most common are civil marriages that take place without being witnessed by a priest or deacon, but rather by a justice of the peace or another person who has credentials in the civil realm but does not act on behalf of the Church. Sometimes in an interfaith marriage, the couple exchanges vows in a non-Catholic denomination but the minister does not have Catholic authorization to witness the marriage for the Catholic party. At times, a civil divorce is followed by a marriage to another person, without the previous bond being formally determined to be null. Other possibilities also exist.

Convalidation is the Church’s provision for making a marriage valid when some condition for validity has been lacking. At times people refer to this as “having the marriage blessed.” While the convalidation usually includes the nuptial blessing the Church offers to the newly-married, this new exchange of marital consent is an act of the spouses, not of the Church’s minister as with blessings.

When it is clear that any impediments have ceased or have been dispensed, the couple’s vows are newly exchanged in the presence of a priest or deacon with faculties to witness marriages and two witnesses. Most often, this is done in a small ceremony that includes prayer, the reading of Scripture, the exchange of consent, the nuptial blessing, and the Lord’s Prayer. It may also include a blessing for the couple’s rings.

Sometimes the assembly is the immediate family and close friends of the couple, including those who were at the civil ceremony. It can take place during Mass or outside of Mass, with or without music, with a large group or only the required parties. In other words, there is flexibility.

When the couple was married civilly in the past, there is no marriage license from the State, but couples usually receive a certificate from the church where the convalidation takes place. This new sacramental marriage is recorded in that church’s Marriage register with a notation in the Baptismal register where each spouse was originally baptized.

This form of “healing” an invalid marriage allows the Catholic party(ies) to return to Eucharistic communion and brings the deeper graces of the marriage sacrament to their human relationship. At the same time, the Church obviously desires that couples enter valid marriages from the beginning. The same requirements for validity exists in both timelines – to be married according to the Church’s requirements from the start, or to have a marriage convalidated later.

Sometimes people may say that the children of a couple whose marriage is invalid are therefore “illegimate,” but that is not the case. The legal status of the couple’s children is not affected by the parents’ invalid marriage.

The Church’s conditions may seem overly complex in the realm of a couple’s deeply personal love (there are 110 canons in the Code of Canon Law regulating marriage). But in fact, they are a sign of reverence for the great mystery of becoming a sign of Christ’s own love for his people (Ephesians 5:32). Further, they are a sign of respect and charity for the couple, that they may be filled with the graces of the sacrament of marriage and have God’s help to raise their human love for one another into something interwoven with God’s own love that conquers all things and endures forever.