A common question among Catholics is whether they are permitted to attend invalid marriages (that is, weddings which result in an invalid marriage). Despite the prevalence of the question, there has been little formal explanation by Church authority. The following then is merely one canonist’s view on the topic.
The fundamental moral issues underlying this question relate to cooperation and scandal. That is, if one attends a wedding which celebrates an invalid union, is the person in attendance cooperating in the sins related to the invalid union? More directly, does attendance encourage and celebrate another’s sin? And further, would this attendance engender scandal, in that others may feel there is no issue with the wedding and intended union in light of the open encouragement?
Some Distinctions
Before we begin tackling these questions, we need to do a bit of canon law. This may seem tedious, but it is important for determining whether one may attend a particular wedding or not. To start, not all invalid marriages are invalid for the same reason. There are in fact a number of ways in which a marriage can be invalid.
At the most basic level, and for all people, marriage only requires two elements to exist: (1) one…
