By Fr. Jaime B. Achacoso, J.C.D.
A more pressing matter has cropped up that requires immediate attention, given the anxiety that it is causing in many people and, unfortunately, even leading to wrong choices out of a seeming lack of legitimate options. This is the matter of how to proceed with the weddings that had been planned for this year, now that the Corona Community Quarantine has placed us all in a veritable lockdown. The matter is urgent, because quite a number of couples have been resorting to civil marriages, thinking that a canonical one is simply impossible to do in the foreseeable future. To these couples, and their Catholic shepherds, this two-part article is addressed. In fact, the Law of the Church gives them options in order to proceed with what I have called a Corona Wedding. This article is divided into two parts: (1) the requirements and preparatory steps for the wedding, and (2) the actual wedding.
Civil law requirements for a canonical wedding: A case where bishops can dispense
Despite the distinction between Church and State as far as law is concerned, c.1071,§, 2º states the following prohibition to priests: Except in the case of necessity, no one is to assist without the permission of the Local Ordinary at a marriage which cannot be recognized or celebrated in accord with the norm of civil law.
This means that Canon Law prescribes that no marriage should be celebrated canonically if the civil marriage is not celebrated simultaneously, unless such civil marriage had been previously celebrated, or—with permission of the Local Ordinary—a purely canonical marriage is celebrated. In effect, a church wedding will have civil law pre-requisites—i.e., those requirements that civil law has in order to issue a marriage license, which are totally dependent on civil regulation, even during the Coronavirus pandemic. Ordinarily, such requirements have to be complied with for any Church wedding to take place.
However, this is one case where the Local Ordinaries may choose to relax the requirements during the Coronavirus pandemic, if needed: should the civil requirements be difficult to secure due to the shutting down of certain government offices, the Local Ordinary can give the permission for the canonical marriage to proceed without the marriage license from the civil authorities—i.e., it will be a purely canonical marriage, perfectly licit in the eyes of God and of the Church, with the civil marriage to follow later when the circumstances allow its proper processing.
This is a better solution than what quite a number of couples are already doing as mentioned in the introduction above—i.e., getting married civilly now and leaving the canonical marriage for after the coronavirus quarantine, with the subsequent cohabitation outside of marriage that this implies.
Canonical requirements for a church wedding: The pre-cana seminar, canonical interview, marriage banns
Before anything else, it is good to establish a principle in Canon Law, with deep Christian anthropological roots: the ius connubii—i.e., the right to get married. Because marriage is a natural institution, every normal human being—in principle—is apt for marriage, marriage being the institutional expression of conjugal love, which is the natural vocation of a human person, unless called to a higher vocation of committed celibacy (in the priesthood, consecrated life or lay apostolate). So natural is marriage that canon law has constituted it into a right, which—however—is subject to regulation (limitation) by Canon Law based on very specific situations or circumstances. Such juridic situations or circumstances incapacitate a person from getting married. These are the so-called impediments—i.e., a set of 12 situations that Church Law has established—that render a person incapable of validly getting married, as juridic protections of the tria bona or the three goods of marriage (in the language of St. Augustine). In other words, in order to safeguard the intended goods of the marriage institution, these 12 conditions have been identified as the minimum requirements so that marriage may attain its ends, such that the presence of any of these impediments at the moment of contracting marriage—i.e., the absence of any of those requirements—would invalidate that marriage from the start. Among them is the minimum age requirement (in the Philippines 18 years for both man and woman), or the presence of any of three bonds (bond of existing marriage, bond of Holy Orders, bond of perpetual vows in an Institute of Consecrated Life), or the impediment of a certain degree of consanguinity between the prospective spouses. On top of these 12 impediments is the so-called psychological incapacity (c.1095, 3º), which incapacitates a person from contracting marriage due to his/her incapacity to assume the serious obligations thereof.
Only the Supreme Legislator can establish additional impediments for the baptized (c.1075, §2). Hence, all other so-called requirements—the so-called Pre-Cana Seminar, the canonical interview, the publication of the marriage banns—are all pastoral measures, which—even through highly desirable—cannot be constituted as requirements sine qua non for marriage. Doing so would be tantamount to establishing another set of impediments—aside from the 13 established in the Code of Canon Law—like the impediment of non-attendance to the Pre-Cana Seminar, or the impediment of non-fulfillment of the canonical interview in the form established by the parish.
With this principle established, it is easier to understand the latitude permitted the Local Ordinaries and the parish priests as regards these canonical requirements.
- The pre-cana seminar (Cana 101): A webinar
The Code of Canon Law does not establish a specific way of administering such a seminar: the terminology itself may be quite unique to the Philippine setting. What Canon Law has established in c.1063 is the obligation of parish priests to see to it that their own ecclesial community furnishes the Christian faithful assistance so that the matrimonial state is maintained in a Christian spirit and makes progress toward perfection. This assistance is especially to be furnished through:
1º preaching, catechesis adapted to minors, youth and adults, and even the use of the media of social communication so that through these means the Christian faithful may be instructed concerning the meaning of Christian marriage and the duty of Christian spouses and parents;
2º personal preparation for entering marriage so that through such preparation the parties may be predisposed toward the holiness and duties of their new state.
Can. 1064 adds: It is up to the Local Ordinary to make provisions that such assistance is duly organized, even after consulting men and women of proven experience and skill, if it seems appropriate.
With the constraints to mobility occasioned by the quarantine—whether MECQ or GCQ and hopefully later even MGCQ—such constraints will remain, making attendance to the usual Pre-Cana Seminars organized by the parishes very difficult. Add to this the provisions on physical distancing and one understands why many parishes are hard put to organize their Pre-Cana or Cana 101 Seminars in the accustomed manner.
Here is where Pope Francis’ principle of reaching out to the peripheries comes in, or what the old saying affirms: If the mountain does not come to Mohamad, let Mohamad go to the mountain. If the engaged couple cannot go to the parish for a Pre-Cana Seminar, then let the seminar go to the prospective couples, as provided for by c.1063, 1º quoted above. This was actually the rationale behind a webinar organized by the Asian Institute for Marriage and Family (AIMFam), adapting a Pre-Cana Seminar that they had been conducting four times a year at the St. Alphonsus Ma. Ligouri Parish in Magallanes Village for the last eight years. Using the Zoom platform, this group of young couples are conducting what they have called the Before I Do Webinar, on six consecutive Saturdays at 10:00am-12:00pm, starting last May 16 and running through to June 20. Originally offered to a reduced base of friends, the webinar has become so popular that the number of registrants have exceeded the comfortable level for the Zoom platform, such that a second group has been organized, with the encouragement of the Chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Family Life, Abp. Gilbert Garcera.
- Canonical investigation of the parties: personal Messenger, Viber, Zoom or Facetime
The next hurdle to be overcome in this period of very limited public transportation is the so-called canonical investigation—i.e., the personal interview by the parish priest of the prospective couple, for the former to ascertain that they are ready for marriage and that nothing stands in the way of its valid and licit celebration (c.1066). Can. 1067 of the Codex puts the responsibility on the Episcopal Conference (CBCP) to issue norms as regards:
(1) the examination of the parties,
(2) the marriage banns or other appropriate means for carrying out the necessary inquiries that are to precede marriage.
Here indeed is another area for the CBCP to reach out to the peripheries and facilitate the conduct of the canonical interview to be more responsive to the times of the Covid Quarantine, for example:
- The examination of the parties by the parish priest can be carried out through the means of mobile social communication—e.g., platforms as Personal Messenger, Viber, Zoom or Facetime. If even the Holy Mass can be attended through these means, there is no reason why the canonical investigation prior to marriage cannot.
- The system of posting the Marriage banns in the parish church is pre-medieval: the same inquiries can be accomplished in a much more efficient and faster way through mobile platforms—e.g., Facebook. The Code does not specify any system for the publication of the marriage banns.
- Additionally, the submission of other documentary requirements can also be facilitated by accepting a digital facsimile of the same—even just a photograph—transmitted through a mobile platform (e.g., Viber or Messenger), with the actual physical documents to follow even on the day of the marriage celebration itself. If the corporate world accepts such digital documents—with billions of dollars at stake sometimes—there is no reason why the canonical investigation cannot do the same. (To be concluded.)
(Eds. Note: Due to the urgency of the topic taken up by this article, we are continuing the Second Part of “Liturgical Law in Times of Corona Pandemic” in subsequent issues.)