Home Forums All Things Catholic I am Catholic, my brother is not. Reply To: I am Catholic, my brother is not.

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Anonymous
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Again we need to stress that Canon Law does not apply to Non-Catholics. It is one thing to apply it to those who are under the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, however when we read the CCC or the Codex Juris Canonnici, we need to keep in mind who it applies to.

One section of the Code refers only to Clergy, there are laws that only apply to Religious who are bound by vows, and those laws that apply only to Lay people, then those that apply to every Catholic. The Code for Eastern Catholics is different. There are also special Canon Laws for Catholics of the Eastern and Latin Rites who marry, and how they should raise their children. So it gets quite technical.

In the last section of your posting regarding Civil Marraige, we are looking once again at legislation that is directed toward Catholics of the Latin Rite. I have a copy of the Code for Eastern Catholics, but have not yet had the opportunity to read through it, thankfully it is much smaller than the Code for Latin Catholics.

Now that we’ve discussed that, I will look when I have a little more time to see what other sources from the Church I can find, as well as look for the resources we were given at the Seminar on Marriage and Canon Law presented by two JCL and one JCD, the priest with the JCL was a professor of Canon Law at the seminary I taught at. So I would trust his learned opinon on what the Canons say and mean, rather than my own, unaided by a commentary on the Code. As the majority of my books are still in boxes, I will have to see if I can find the Commentary on the Code online or in a local book store I know. As soon as I have a chance, I’ll post it.

In summary, from the Conference I attended, just as Baptism by most Protestant and all Orthodox is accepted by the Catholic Church as a valid Sacrament, even where the baptized or the sect consisted of those who do not accept the Sacramental nature, but simply symbolic act, the Catholic Church has pronounced that the Sacrament in most all cases does exhist. While she takes care to investigate it to see if there was anything that could have effected the validity, such as using rose petals, or baptizing in the name of the “Creator, Savior and Sustainer” as “Bp.” Pike of the Epsicopal Church promoted. So too the Sacramental bonds of Matramony are not deminised by the lack of belief that Marriage is a Sacrament. Until I’ve found and posted the information you reaquest I remain confident in what I have posted as being the Authentic teaching of the Church. As I am not infallible, and as our memories are not always faithful servants, I may have to change my postion, but if it is what the Church teaches, I would bend to the Church over my own private opinion.