Bringing you the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and His Church While PROMOTING CATHOLIC Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's magisterium
Home About
AskACatholic.com
What's New? Resources The Church Family Life Mass and
Adoration
Ask A Catholic
Knowledge base
AskACatholic Disclaimer
Search the
AskACatholic Database
Donate and
Support our work
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
New Questions
Cool Catholic Videos
About Saints
Disciplines and Practices for distinct Church seasons
Purgatory and Indulgences
About the Holy Mass
About Mary
Searching and Confused
Contemplating becoming a Catholic or Coming home
Homosexual and Gender Issues
Life, Dating, and Family
No Salvation Outside the Church
Sacred Scripture
non-Catholic Cults
Justification and Salvation
The Pope and Papacy
The Sacraments
Marriage
back
Relationships and Marriage situations
Specific people, organizations and events
Doctrine and Teachings
Specific Practices
Church Internals
Church History

Sharon Sunseri wrote:

Hi, guys —

Our grandson is getting married, but he has not been a practicing Catholic since elementary school because of choices his parents made.

I don't know the religious affiliation, if any, of his fiancé. As a result, they are not having a Catholic wedding.

  • Is it a sin for us to attend?

Sharon Sunseri

  { Can we attend this marriage if our grandson is not a practicing Catholic and we don’t know the fiancé faith? }

John replied:

Sharon,

Sorry for the delay in answering.

This is not so much a matter of your attendance being sin or not.  It's a matter of providential prudence. 

Your grandson, through no apparent fault of his own, was not brought up in the faith, so he can't be held to the same standard as a well-formed Catholic.  

So, it's not necessarily a sin, if you go as a passive participant to show your love and support for your grandson, on what is an important day in his life but, if it involves some kind of other religious ceremony, you can't actively participate in any religious rite.  And even then, use your judgment.

If it’s some kind of Christian/Protestant ceremony and the congregation asked you to join in saying the Our Father or as they may call it, the Lord's Prayer, it's not the end of the world. 

This kind of passive participation is allowed and tolerated by the Church.

In this case, it sounds like you're the only possible Catholic influence in your grandson's life.   You don't want to lose that connection. At some point your grandson may have a crisis of faith. He may remember your faith and come to you for help. But if you sever or hurt the relationship by not attending, it might give him the wrong idea about what Catholicism is all about. We obey the Church's rules, out of love for Christ, not out of fear.  

The flip side is that you don't want to appear to approve of his decision to marry outside the Church, so stay clear of the subject.  This boy, now man, simply doesn't know better. By going, you leave the door open.

Just remember why you’re there. You certainly want to celebrate his finding a woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with together. 

Pray for him and his bride . . . and pray for the boy’s parents. It sounds like they need it (prayer) more than anyone else. 

I hope this helps,

John 
Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
© 2012 Panoramic Sites
The Early Church Fathers Church Fathers on the Primacy of Peter. The Early Church Fathers on the Catholic Church and the term Catholic. The Early Church Fathers on the importance of the Roman Catholic Church centered in Rome.