Non practicing Catholic wanting to Marry non religious person in a Catholic Church

My understanding is the process to get married in a church is a long one. We had to go to counseling for my Pastor (not catholic) and finding time in our schedules to meet was challenging! We'd meet once a month or something and had to cram in some sessions at the last minute to get everything in. Note that easter, and may/June (graduations /weddings) were hard to schedule with him.
While you'll of course have to wait until you speak with your church in February. I suspect your partner not being religious will be a big deal. You mentioned it's "extremely important your potential future children are raised catholic". Does your fiancé share the same belief? I'm not sure I understand why it's so important to you to get married in a catholic church when you are not an active member in years. You said "you're drawn back to the church as you get older." when was the last time you've gone and what's stopping you from going back? There's many masses during the week. If it's important for you to reconnect with your church, i hope the first time you step foot in it won't be February for this meeting. And I hope that if the answer in February is no, that that doesn't deter you from rejoining your church.

Kind of the same situation here, except I regualarly attend mass.
We had to meet with my priest and he asked a lot of questions. When he found out we lived together he paused and I got nervous. All he sad to say about it was divorce rates go up. He finally said technically were not allowed to get married (a Catholic has to marry a catholic), but he can (a will) allow it. The meeting took about an hr.
We then got a mentor couple that we had 6 sessions with, went to an engaged couples retreat, and a meeting with the coordinator to go over everything. None of these requirements had anything to do with my FH not being Catholic. That being said, I think it will depend on the priest. I know it’ll be hard to wait, we had to wait until March. If this church says no you can try another. They may say yes but require you become a memeber and regularly attend mass.

I feel like my meeting with the priest wasnt that bad..I was raised and baptized mormon, (FH is Ukrainian Catholic) that's probably the thing that tripped him up the most of anything. He asked why he hasn't seen us in church but we live 800 miles away and we've been attending a parish out here. FH is still registered at that parish with his family and they haven't been going and the priest made a comment that they at least should start attending because he remembers FHs family and that's the whole reason he agreed to let us get married there. But of course, you can't force adults to do things they don't want to do...

But anyway, it was maybe an hour or so but he sat us down individually and went through the questionnaire and paperwork. We've still got to do the PreCana classes but it's been a huge pain in the hindquarters trying to get a hold of the right people out here to do it as the priest would prefer it be done within the UCC.

I’m a semi-practicing Catholic and my fiancé is Methodist. We live together and are having a small Catholic church ceremony prior to the big wedding to appease my mother.
Our priest isn’t affiliated to my church, but he will perform the service there. We didn’t have any issues regarding the different religions and he also made no comment about us living together. We still do have to have the counseling sessions, though.
Also, I’m pretty sure divorce rates have gone down in part to people living together prior to marriage - so I’d probably double check that stat. Your priest might just be trying to scare you there.

Sorry, I didn’t clarify that the last paragraph was in response to Cassidy’s reply.

I am a practicing Catholic and my fiance is not baptized in any religion. Due to this, we are not allowed to have a full mass at our wedding ceremony (without ArchBishop's consent) but are still able to have a Catholic wedding. Same as other Catholic couples we have to attend marriage preparation classes and meet with the deacons/priests at our parish and the one we are getting married at.

Catholics and non-Catholics get married all the time so that part is not that big of a deal but I think the priest is concerned because you yourself have not been a "practicing" Catholic. If you seriously want to pursue the Catholic faith again and not just have a Catholic ceremony to please your family, I would talk to your priest about it. Sign up to join a parish and make sure to attend mass regularly - bring your FH too if he is open to it. Prove that you will still be coming back long after the wedding.

Even though you have already received all sacraments, you might try attending RCIA classes to get back into the faith and have your FH consider whether converting is an option for him.

View Quoted Comment

I'm not sure if this link will let everyone open it, but this is the article that my marriage preparation class shared on cohabitation before marriage. I've just browsed through it right now but it states "On average, marriage preceded by cohabitation is 46% more likely to end in divorce." with a cited source. Not saying it is right or wrong, just passing on information.

http://www.oicindy.com/images/pdf/Articles_Cohabitation.pdf

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

A Catholic CAN marry a non-catholic. That is not at all a problem. My FH is non-catholic and I am a practicing Catholic. If you are going to marry a non-baptized person (like I will be) you just have to jump through extra hoops. The Priest/deacon marrying you and the Bishop of the archdioceses have to "consent" to it. In my situation, my Pastor told me the Bishop pretty much never denies the request if the priest marrying you consented. And then, you most likely cannot have a Catholic Mass as your ceremony (because your FH cannot take communion). This is also the case with me and my FH, we will be having a shorter ceremony instead of a full Mass. Other than that, the process is exactly the same as if you married a Catholic. There is paperwork and pre cana classes and etc. Typically you need to start the process before the 6 month mark because of the classes and such, but me and my FH will be starting earlier since we are long distance and will likely take much longer to complete the classes. Hope this helps! I wouldn't stress as long as you give yourself plenty of time to complete everything!

View Quoted Comment

Maria: Thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and your advice, i am going to have a good chat with our priest :-)

View Quoted Comment

Thank you so much for you advice, I really appreciate it and it has really put my mind at ease, i am so pleased I found this site

A lot of how annoying this is is going to be depends on the particular priest and diocese. Some don’t care so much, some try to make the process as difficult as possible. You might look into a little about the priest and the diocese and how traditional they are. Plus, if you don’t agree with Catholic views on things like birth control you may end up sitting through some lectures that range from obnoxious to offensive. I’d think really carefully about why this is important to you. Do you actually want a marriage guided by the teachings of the Catholic Church? If not, I’d think twice about jumping through all the hoops.

Hi. My FH is not Catholic but it has not being an issue. We went to a meeting with the father and he explained the process. I had to sign an agreement where I promised i would raise my kids catholic and would not change my religion for FH. After that we picked the date and went to a couples one day retreat and thats it. I think you have enough time. Hope everything goes well.

Atabey, thank you, that has really put me at ease. The priest actually called me today and said to have a copy of my baptism and confirmation certificates for when we go to see him in February and also go to the council and fill in a "blue form" to say we intend to get married x

The Roman Catholic Church is probably one of the most rigorously dictated denominations to get married in; that being said, there is some wiggle room priest to priest and parish to parish. Don't be surprised if the baptism of your fiance and regular attendance of mass from now until your wedding are conditions of being married in the church. I know some couples who have had to jump some hurdles to get married in a catholic church, where others were more hands-off and only required one of the partners to be a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

Hey Ladies,

Just a quick update, we have met the Priest and he is brilliant. Very relaxed, put my partner completely at ease. he did not ask any awkward questions or even insist that we attend church every week ( however we are going to start attending more regularly) Also the congregation were lovely and very supportive.

Its now official I am getting married on 21st September 2019 :-)

View Quoted Comment Where did you get married? Which state??