Hold the Intent!

So the last hurdle that we are facing is with the Catholic diocese in Hawaii. We are exactly 3 weeks from the wedding date and they have decided that the paperwork submitted by our home diocese is not currently enough to grant us permission to marry in the Catholic church. Agh!

Here's the deal:

I was married before to a Catholic. However, we were not married in the Catholic church. Nor did we ever speak with a priest about marriage. Instead, we had a ceremony that was written by me, officiated by my grandfather (a minister in the Wesleyan Methodist Church) and performed in a Lutheran Church. In other words, in the eyes of most religious bodies, it really wasn't a sacrement. Because my ex was Catholic and because we didn't speak to a priest about getting married, in the eyes of the Catholic church, we were never married. Strange, but true. The issue is coming into play in that the church has been unable to get in touch with the Catholic church in Dortmund. It turns out that the information on the church where Sven was baptised was never sent to our local parish until today.

Because of the time frame, and because the church in Germany has been unresponsive, the Hawaiian diocese is requesting a signed document by a higher official than our priest saying that my ex husband was, in fact catholic and did not, in fact speak with a priest. Him signing this document will allow us to marry in the Hawaiian diocese.

So everyone...please hold the intention that the responsible person in the church signs this document and it gets to Hawaii in time for our ceremony!

Thank you!