DISPARITY OF CULT

Disparity of cult, sometimes called disparity of worship, is a one party not being baptized
into a Trinitarian Christian denomination. It means here, a woman that were not baptized as a
Christianity cannot marriage a man who are Christianity.
A marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic is a mixed marriage. There are a
few things to highlight in Canon Law that are particularly important. Canon Law on mixed
marriages is contained on the 1983 Code of Canon Law in canons 1086 and 1124-1129. In
Canon 1124, it is made clear that a mixed marriage is strictly forbidden. According Canon
1125—The local ordinary can grant this permission if there is a just and reasonable cause; he
is not to grant it unless the following conditions have been fulfilled:

1. The Catholic party declares that he or she is prepared to remove dangers of

falling away from the faith and makes a sincere promise to do all in his or her
power to have all the children baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church;

2. the other party is to be informed at an appropriate time of these promises which

the Catholic party has to make, so that it is clear that the other party is truly aware
of the promise and obligation of the Catholic party;

3. both parties are to be instructed about the purposes and essential properties of
marriage, which are not to be excluded by either contract.

It is important to note that a dispensation (permission from the bishop) is required in all cases
in which a Catholic marries a non-Catholic, baptized or not. In cases where the non-Catholic
party is baptized and a Catholic rite of marriage is used, this permission is required for the
marriage to be licit (that is, in conformity with the laws of the Catholic Church). But it would
be invalid (i.e. no marriage) if the couple were married in a non-Catholic ceremony and did
not receive a dispensation to do so. In cases where the non-Catholic party is not baptized, this
permission is required for the marriage even to be valid (that is, a true marriage, a marriage in
the eyes of God). Unless such a dispensation is granted, a marriage between a Catholic and a
non-baptized person is invalid because of the impediment known in Canon Law as disparity
of cult (cf. canons 1086, 1129).
Disparity of worship can be dispensed for grave reasons, and on the promises (usually
written) from the spouses: the unbaptized not to interfere with the spouse's practice of
religion or the raising of the children in religion, the Catholic to practice the Catholic religion
and raise the children in it.
Besides, disparity of worship does not affect the marriage of a Catholic or baptized non-
Catholic with one whose baptism, even after careful investigation concerning
the baptismal ceremony or its validity, remains doubtful. Neither does it in any way influence
the marriage of two who, after diligent examination, are still considered doubtfully baptized.
The more common opinion is that disparity of worship does not void this marriage. However,
that the Church in dispensing with the prohibitive did not implicitly dispense with the
diriment impediment (annulment), seems to be at variance with a decree of the Holy Office
(29 April, 1840, n. 2) which clearly .states that the Holy See dispenses with the impediment
of disparity of worship only in express terms. Where no dispensation has been granted, he
holds that the marriage is null on account of the existing disparity of worship and must be
revalidated. He recognizes, however, as valid the marriage of the doubtfully baptized, if they
had been considered and had considered themselves Catholics, and had
followed Catholic practices, and afterwards it was discovered that one of them had not
been baptized. (Rock, 1909)

Rock, P.M.J. (1909). Disparity of Worship. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton Company. Retrieved October 21, 2019 from New
Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05037b.htm
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.(2019). https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Disparity_of_cult&oldid=897208247
Mixed Marriages And Disparity Of Cult,( February 3, 2018). In The Wanderer Printing
Company Copyright 2019 Continental Data Service from
https://thewandererpress.com/catholic/news/our-catholic-faith/mixed-marriages-and-
disparity-of-cult/
Marriage between a Catholic and a Non-Catholic , (2007)
https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2007/08/09/cath_noncath_marriage/
Mixed Marriage, (2005). https://catholicexchange.com/mixed-marriage
Code of Canon Law, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P41.HTM
AFFINITY (CANON LAW)

In Catholic canon law, affinity is an impediment to marriage of a couple due to the

relationship which either party has as a result of a kinship relationship created by
another marriage or as a result of extramarital intercourse. The relationships that give rise to
the impediment have varied over time. Marriages and sexual relations between people in an
affinity relationship are regarded as incestuous.
Today, the relevant principle within the Catholic Church is that there is no affinity between
one spouse's relatives and the other spouse's relatives. Canon 109 of the Code of Canon
Law of the Catholic Church provides that affinity is an impediment to the marriage of a
couple, and is a relationship which "arises from a valid marriage, even if not consummated,
and exists between a man and the blood relatives of the woman and between the woman and
the blood relatives of the man." Also, affinity "is reckoned in such a way that the blood
relations of the man are related by affinity to the woman in the same line and the same
degree, and vice versa."[2]