NOTIFICATION REGARDING CATHOLIC CELEBRATIONS OF THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE IN THE DIOCESE OF TRENTON
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
I have been informed by a number of priests about several attempted celebrations of marriage within the Diocese of Trenton (Mercer, Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean Counties) by former priests or others posing as bishops or priests who are not authorized by the Roman Catholic Church and the Diocese of Trenton to witness or officiate at weddings, thus making any attempted marriages of Catholics performed by them invalid. Only authorized Roman Catholic priests or deacons (priests or deacons “with faculties”) are permitted to officiate at Catholic weddings within the Diocese of Trenton. Such “invalid” weddings regularly occur at places other than Roman Catholic churches (eg., catering halls, hotels, beaches, etc.) where Catholic weddings may not take place without dispensations, officiated by individuals misrepresenting themselves as valid, authentic Catholic clergymen. Anyone planning for a Catholic wedding should contact his/her parish first to make sure that the officiating clergyman is validly authorized to preside at the ceremony and to ensure that his/her wedding is truly the sacrament of marriage recognized by the Roman Catholic Church that they intend. If you have been an unfortunate victim of such fraud, please contact your parish.
Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.
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I have been informed by a number of priests about several attempted celebrations of marriage within the Diocese of Trenton (Mercer, Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean Counties) by former priests or others posing as bishops or priests who are not authorized by the Roman Catholic Church and the Diocese of Trenton to witness or officiate at weddings, thus making any attempted marriages of Catholics performed by them invalid. Only authorized Roman Catholic priests or deacons (priests or deacons “with faculties”) are permitted to officiate at Catholic weddings within the Diocese of Trenton. Such “invalid” weddings regularly occur at places other than Roman Catholic churches (eg., catering halls, hotels, beaches, etc.) where Catholic weddings may not take place without dispensations, officiated by individuals misrepresenting themselves as valid, authentic Catholic clergymen. Anyone planning for a Catholic wedding should contact his/her parish first to make sure that the officiating clergyman is validly authorized to preside at the ceremony and to ensure that his/her wedding is truly the sacrament of marriage recognized by the Roman Catholic Church that they intend. If you have been an unfortunate victim of such fraud, please contact your parish.
Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.