To establish your freedom to marry,
based on the information you have given,
you will need to complete and submit the form for a
“Total Lack of Form” case.
To navigate to that form, please click on the button below.
A person who is baptized Roman Catholic is always viewed by the Roman Catholic Church as being Roman Catholic. Hence the axiom: Once Catholic always Catholic. As such, a baptized Roman Catholic is obliged to be married according to the laws of the Roman Catholic Church. According to that law, for a baptized Roman Catholic, only a marriage which is contracted in the presence of the local Bishop or parish priest or of the priest or deacon delegated by either of them is valid (c. 1108, section 1). Consequently, if a Roman Catholic did not follow that prescribed manner or form, the marital consent that was exchanged in another manner or according to a different form did not form a marriage binding for life. (Marriage in and of itself IS binding for life. So, in the eyes of the Church, for a Roman Catholic, the marriage attempted through another form is invalid.) Thus, the parties, of which at least one was baptized Roman Catholic, involved in the marriage without Catholic form are free to marry in the Catholic Church.