They Invited You to the Wedding: But Should You Go? – Questions with Father #53

SSPX Podcast

SSPX / Angelus Press

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

5 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today on Questions with Father, we take on a difficult and emotional topic: Can Catholics attend the weddings of lapsed Catholics or non-Catholics? Fr. Ian Andrew Palko walks us through the moral principles, Canon Law, and the issue of scandal involved in these situations. From civil ceremonies to non-Catholic weddings, remarriages, and destination weddings, Father explains how charity, clarity, and courage must guide our decisions. He also discusses the high bar for fraternal correction, the proper way to excuse ourselves, and how to stand firm without being harsh. This episode is a must for anyone facing painful choices about family, faith, and fidelity to the Church. See all our Questions with Father Episodes >

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on Questions with Father, we take on a difficult and emotional topic.
0:14.0	Can Catholics attend the weddings of lapsed Catholics or of non-Catholics?
0:19.0	Father Ian Palco walks us through the moral principles,
0:21.9	canon law, and the issue of scandal involved in these situations. From civil ceremonies to
0:27.1	non-Catholic weddings, remarriages, and destination weddings, Father explains how charity,
0:32.6	clarity, and courage must guide our decisions. He also discusses the high bar for fraternal correction,
0:39.2	the proper way to excuse ourselves and how to stand firm without being harsh. This episode is a must
0:45.5	for anyone facing painful choices about family, faith, and fidelity to the church.
0:50.3	This is free to listen to and always will be, but if you can help with a one time or a small
0:53.5	monthly recurring donation on SSPXpodcast.com, you'll be making sure that we can continue this good work.
0:59.3	So now, let's join Father Ian Palco for Questions with Father Episode 53.
1:04.4	They invited you to the wedding, but should you go?
1:15.6	Father Palco, good to have you back again, not doing the Mass series, but we are doing a kind of a one-off episode of questions with Father.
1:18.6	Got an interesting question that you volunteered to answer, right?
1:23.6	I did, yes.
1:24.6	Okay.
1:25.6	And the answer is broadly, can I go to the wedding of a lapsed Catholic?
1:31.4	So can I go to the wedding of a family member who is a lapsed Catholic no longer practicing?
1:35.4	And maybe it would be good to approach this from looking at kind of the principles.
1:40.0	We always start with the principles.
1:41.2	But what are our obligations or non-obligations for towards family members and what constitutes our participation or approval of a wedding?
1:49.9	Sure.
	...

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