Easier on Mixed Marriages

For the average Protestant, Jew or other non-Catholic, the most perplexing ecumenical problem is a personal one: what if he or she should decide to marry a Roman Catholic? Many a non-Catholic who wants to marry a Catholic has found himself faced with two difficult demands: that he must promise to raise any children as Catholics, and that the marriage must take place before a Catholic priest. Last week, in a 2,400-word instruction, Pope Paul VI removed the promise requirement entirely for the non-Catholic partner and ruled that local bishops may henceforth grant dispensations from a Catholic ceremony.

The new rules go into effect Oct. 1, giving national bishops time to establish guidelines applying the new regulations to local situations. Though applications will vary, the document does mean that a mixed marriage "for serious reasons" may now be performed by someone other than a Catholic priest or deacon --such as a Protestant minister--and it opens up the theoretical possibility that a mixed couple could be joined by a Jewish rabbi or even a Buddhist priest. A "serious reason" might be the forceful objection of the non-Catholic partner's parents to a Roman Catholic ceremony. The Catholic partner will in any case continue to be required to promise "to do all in his power to have all children baptized and brought up in the church." But the non-Catholic party will merely be informed of the promise his spouse has made instead of having to make the promise himself.

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