I was divorced and remarried, and then my ex spouse died – now what?

At times it may be helpful for readers if I share some of the many email questions I receive through this blog.

Here is a recent one:

My husband and I are mid-60's. We have been married 40 years and were married by a Justice of the Peace. We both were divorced at that time, no children. Neither of us wanted the divorces.

My ex husband was homosexual and my husband's ex wife suffered from a serious mental illness. They both wanted out of the marriage for these reasons. Sadly, both of these previous spouses have since died.

We have never been Catholics, but now we are about to begin the classes to become Catholic. We have one grown child from our marriage. Our questions are:

QUESTION:
If we are confirmed in the Catholic faith, can we then take Holy Communion in view of these past marriages, divorces, and deaths of previous spouses? If not, what can be done to remove this roadblock?

ANSWER:
The answer to the questions is that since you are both widowed neither of you needs a church annulment. The death of a spouse ends the legal union of husband and wife. So you are both presently free to marry in the Church.

As you work with your parish priest/associate for entering into the Catholic Church, simply inform them of your previous unions. They may/may not need to submit copies of your former marriage licenses and the death notices of your former spouses to the tribunal or chancery for church confirmation. But that is just a matter of paperwork.

The good news for you is there is nothing to block the way of having your present civil marriage blessed in the Church.