NOTES ON RELIGIOUS PRACTICE AND MARITAL STATUS
Potential applicants for senior management posts in diocesan schools who wish to have advice on whether they satisfy the Bishops’ requirement on Catholic practice should consult the Chancellor of the Diocese at Bishop’s House, Hove.
A Catholic in communion with the Church is defined as follows in Canon Law.
· Fully initiated through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion.
· On Sundays and other holy days of obligation participating on the Mass. (ccc2180-2182, Canon 1247).
· A regular communicant. (ccc 1388-1389, Canon 917)
· In communion with the Church ‘through the grounds of profession of faith, the sacraments and ecclesiastical governance’. (Canon 205: in communion of mind and heart with the Pope and the Bishop)
Other relevant part of Canon Law are as follows
· Teachers must be outstanding in true doctrine and uprightness of life. (Canon 803, Canon 804)
· To carry out with great diligence their responsibilities towards both the universal and the particular church to which they belong. To be registered with one particular parish- a normal place of worship; to be, as circumstances permit, visibly a member of the parish actively involved in e.g. the liturgical ministry, groups, social life. (Canon 209)
· Supporting the church financially so that it has available the necessary means for divine worship, apostolic and charitable work and the clergy. (Canon 222)
· Those who are married are bound by the special obligation, in accordance with their own vocation, to strive for the building up of the people of God through their marriage and family. (Canon 226)
Diocesan advice on marital status
· The marriage of a Catholic person is governed not only by divine law but also by Church Law.
· To contract a valid marriage, the Catholic party must be free of any impediments and so must be the other party.
· A Catholic who is free to marry must observe the form of marriage, i.e. marriage in a church before a priest and two witnesses.
· Those people who attempt marriage with a person bound by a previous bond do so invalidly and bar themselves from sacramental communion.
· If after the breakdown of a marriage a person contemplates entering another relationship, recourse should be made to the Chancellor at Bishop’s House, The Upper Drive, Hove, East Sussex BN3 6NE.
· The annulment process conducted by the Matrimonial Tribunal may be appropriate to examine the possibility that the original marriage was null and void.
DIOCESE OF ARUNDEL AND BRIGHTON September 2016