Having a marriage blessed

Hi all

I am looking for some help with regard to finding a Catholic Priest willing to bless a Civil Ceremony.

I and my Fiancée are both Catholic and lead “good” lives but we decided for personal reasons to get married in a Civil Ceremony.

We always intended and thought that there would be no problem with arranging for a Catholic priest to bless our marriage, ideally after the ceremony or a day or so after.

Either way we wanted and still do to have our wedding blessed.

We consulted the GRO who have a list of Registered Solemnisers, priests who can bless a civil ceremony. I contacted the local parish priest, who is on the list, and he was frankly very unhelpful.

It turns out that the list is made up of priests nominated to perform various duties but is not a list of priests who want to do the various “other” duties, such as bless a marriage.

I contacted the GRO and they said that there are priests who will do blessings but that I would have to literally “ring around” to find one.

So far, I have had no luck.

Does anyone know a Catholic priest who would be willing to perform a blessing?

I can arrange to have a former Catholic Priest who is now a COI minister perform a blessing but would rather have a Catholic Priest perform one.

Or does it make any difference?

Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

STB

Dont see what role the GRO has given that this is a church ceremony.

I think you're approaching this the wrong way - I can understand why a catholic priest would not want to give a blessing to a civil ceremony as it is not religious.

But why are you complicating things?

Why not simply have a catholic marriage ceremony? You dont need to do any of the extras such as receptions, flowers, expensive clothes etc. Just ask your local church to perform it. As you've already done the civil part, there no need for 6 months notice or any of the legal paperwork. Just a question of the priest administering the vows and maybe a short mass.

As you are both catholics, there is no reason for the catholic church to turn you down.

Agree with csirl, just ask a priest to marry you, but without performing the civil part of the ceremony.

As previous posters have stated you can have a church marriage ceremony involving just the vows, theres no requirement to hold Mass as part of the ceremony, ie readings, communion. You would be in and out in 5 mins.

you can ask priest for short version of marriage ceremony.. dont understand why your priest didnt tell u that... maybe traditionalist that wants to run full ceremony?

+1

[" We understand your predicament in finding a 'helpful' priest willing to consumate your marriage "]

Yea, I wondered about that also.
Why would a priest be involved in consumation of your marriage.
Are there now 3 people in this marriage