Because the Orthodox Church recognizes the priestly blessing as what establishes “the mystery of Orthodox marriage,” any valid Orthodox marriage needs an Orthodox priest or bishop present.
But in the Catholic faith, the couple confers the sacrament, not the priest. In “extraordinary circumstances, the man and woman can marry without the blessing of a priest,” the Consultation noted. Because of this, a Catholic-Orthodox couple would usually be married by an Orthodox bishop or priest, in an Orthodox Church.
However, the document suggests that the Orthodox Church recognizes these interfaith marriages in a Catholic Church.
Father Walter Kedjierski, who heads the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the USCCB, notes that this is a “humble recommendation.”
“Yet from the perspective of our Churches coming closer together, for the Orthodox to recognize Catholic marriage would be a major, major step toward our reunification, which is our ultimate goal,” he said.
The Consultation asks the Catholic Church to recognize Orthodox dissolution of marriages, and by extension, select remarriages between interfaith couples.
The Orthodox understanding of marriage is “lifelong,” but Church leaders can grant “exceptions” out of “pastoral recognition” of human “frailty and error,” the document noted.
The Catholic Church, meanwhile, allows annulments in cases where it can be determined that the initial requirements for the sacrament of marriage were invalid, rendering the marriage void in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
If the Catholic Church were to recognize an Orthodox dissolution of marriage, this would allow the Catholic party of a remarried interfaith couple to receive the Eucharist in the Catholic Church.
Mutually pastoral
Despite theological differences, the representatives of the two Churches recognize the importance of “shepherd[ing] the flock” in light of the cultural changes “in the wider world regarding marriage.”
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“Many increasingly view the institution of marriage as superfluous and unnecessary, whether it is sanctioned by the state or by religion,” the Consultation noted. “Where matrimony does occur, civil marriage is becoming normative for many people.”
“We propose that instead of dividing the parties in a mixed marriage into yours and mine, to adopt, as a starting principle, a joint solicitude for the spouses and embark on the pastoral care of each mixed marriage as our concern,” the Consultation continued.
Determining which Church to raise children in can be another challenge of an interfaith marriage, but the Consultation emphasized that mixed marriage families are “our common concern.”
“Ideally, both Churches are jointly responsible for the pastoral care of spouses and children in mixed marriages,” the Consultation stated.
For the future
Kedjierski noted that the “practical effects of this document … have yet to be seen.”
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