Divorced Protestants who would like to marry in the Catholic Church are often surprised to learn that they need to petition for an annulment of their previous marriage. Even the Catholic party will object, “But, he’s not Catholic like I am. Why does he need an annulment?”
Mixed religion couples are even more baffled when the bride and groom each have a previous courthouse marriage: the Protestant’s previous marriage is presumed valid by the Church and therefore needs a full investigation of its validity, but the Catholic’s previous courthouse marriage, not having had the proper form, was invalid. The Catholic needs only provide the marriage license, divorce decree, and a current baptismal certificate to document that the marriage was never recognized by the Church. No investigation required. Just a little paperwork.
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