Getting married in Seattle and having trouble finding an officiant

It has never been invoked as far as I know. However, it is in canon law. You would be fulfilling his requirement for bringing your own officiant, although it would be in the most unexpected way possible.

Under canon law, a layman officiating a wedding needs approval from both the bishops conference and the Holy See, and the bishop needs to make sure that the layman knows how to do the ceremony properly. That is why it would be a bureaucratic nightmare for the bishop if you were to try to fulfill his requirement for bringing your own officiant with a layman as an officiant.

By the way, it might be a good idea to give him a list of lay eucharistic ministers willing to officiate with the bishop’s permission. They have already been vetted by the church’s hierarchy for handling the Eucharist, so they should be trusted to perform the ceremony properly when given the correct materials explaining it. The idea of giving him a list was inspired by the Holy See picking candidates for bishop from a list of three and it would mean that the bishop cannot say that you did not give him choices.

/r/Catholicism Thread Parent