Divorced Catholic to remarry without annulment

Honestly, as someone who grew up Catholic and got far far away.... TBH, Find a priest who will do it to please your religious needs, or get over it lol. 99% of Catholic Churches are centuries behind in their way of thinking, so good luck!

You can be married by another denomination such as United, Anglican, Unitarian etc. However, your marriage, although recognised civilly, and legally will not be recognised by the Catholic Church unless an annulment is granted.

You may apply for a covalidation if/when his ex-wife dies, but that may be many years off.

Some Christian churches will marry after a divorce. In my experience, it's generally the more liberal ones... Maybe try a United Church of Christ/Congregational?

Celia would have a great answer! #freecelia

Celia would probably have some great suggestions.

Go to the Vendors tab above and search for officiants in your area. Look them over to see who is willing to do a religious or spiritual ceremony (their WW storefronts will have a lot of info about them and reviews). Then contact those who interest you.

Celia actually should have the perfect advice. You can hire any officiant who will officiate a religious wedding. Check the vendor tab.

Talk to your local Unitarian Universalists-- they are totally nondenominational and will be happy to have a service as religious or not as you like.

Since people want to be Sensitive Sallies, the one person who could really answer this won't be able to for 3 weeks. I'd definitely use the vendors tab and speak with a non-denominational officiant.

I was married in the Catholic Church the first time around. I didn't get an annulment at this time. I will be married in the Methodist Church as I wanted it to be a religious ceremony. The Catholic Church considered the 1st marriage a sacrament. Other religions don't consider it a sacrament but a covenant between two people.

Thank you everyone for the advice, I really appreciate that there is hope to have a meaningful ceremony. I don't think any of the vendors on this site are located in Ireland, where we will be having the ceremony, but the ideas have been extremely helpful. I have plenty of time to explore your suggestions, as our wedding won't be held until after I start residency training... In 2020 please keep the suggestions coming, I appreciate every one.

@Dreamer: Do either of us need to be Methodist to be married in the Methodist Church?

Fh was married before as well, not in a Catholic Church though. I spoke to my priest (I'm catholic, he is not). They will not marry us without an annulment. I have found a retired United Minister who eill perform a religious ceremony outside of the church. It was important for me to have a person of the cloth but with only 40 guests I can't justify the cost of a church.

FH and I just finished pre Cana and they seemed to have their own specific rules for this per diocese. So right now I'm in the Sacramento diocese but used to be part of the Stockton diocese.. and they differ so you'd have to ask around a bit. Some diocese will allow it, others are far too old school.

Lutheran ceremonies marry after divorce. You could always have a secular officiant (like Celia) write a ceremony but include religious pieces. We didn't do a full Lutheran ceremony but we had many parts and two scripture readings. No singing of hymns or anything though

Just popping in to say that most Methodist churches will marry you without having to be Methodist! I was raised Catholic and am getting married in a Methodist church. They tend to be a little more open-minded, depending on the specific congregation.

If you want a Catholic-style ceremony (albeit one that won't be recognized by the Catholic church), you could look for one of the former priests who left the priesthood (e.g., to get married). I know there are people like that in the US, but unfortunately don't know where to find them in Ireland. But they must exist there.

You could get married in the Episcopal Church.

My DH is Catholic and I am Lutheran. We had a non-denominational officiant marry us, because I did not want to get married Catholic and also we got married outside at our venue, not in a church. We are both religious though so the best part about a non-denominational officiant was that we were able to completely customize our ceremony to fit our religious beliefs!

@Laura. I'm not sure if you need to be a Methodist to be married there. I did join my Methodist Church.

@SimpleSeamstress - this is what we are doing!

We are both Catholic but FH is divorced. He started the process of getting an annulment but, it can take over a year and they still may not grant it. We wanted to get married in a church and started looking at our options. We looked at an Episcopal church near the reception venue and found that the ceremony is very much like the Catholic one. People say it's like Catholic light!

Anyway, we found that the priest was very welcoming and is working with us to keep it as traditional as we were hoping to have in the Catholic church.

ETA: I just noticed your wedding date. You have plenty of time to figure out the ceremony and citizenship issues.