Advice: Irish guy marrying Polish girl in Ireland

karlkarlson

I'm marrying a Polish girl this November but we're actually marrying in ireland. Getting to grips with the documentation is difficult enough. I've got a fresh confirmation and birth cert for myself and it seems I need to get a letter of freedom from the parish where i now reside in Dublin (i'm from Sligo).

My bride to be has not been a practicing Catholic since a very young age and in fact she was not confirmed - was baptised and got communion. priest doing the ceremony says he does not mind this fact. But he is doing the ceremony in the midlands and apparently the priest who puts my docs together and signs off on the things is actually my parish priest in Sligo, so hoping he doesn't have a problem either or whether that could be an issue.

my understanding is the other half needs to get a fresh baptismal cert and letter of freedom from Poland (she has been an Irish resident for the past 5 years).

we also both need our original birth certs for the legal side of things. my understanding is that she'll need certified translation of the birth, baptismal certs and the letter of freedom. is there anything else we;re not thinking of or does anyone else have advise here who had a similar situation?

thanks for any help
k

karlkarlson

Anyone got any advice on what my bride to be might need from Poland considering we're marrying in a catholic church in Ireland.

Getting desperate to sort this out and the various priests haven't been too exact.

Beruthiel

Is this Letter of Freedom something the church requires? The HSE doesn't ask for it.
I'm getting married (not in a church or by a priest), I was not asked for the letter you are talking about.
My OH is from France and all he needed was a birth cert with a translation into English.

karlkarlson

letter of freedom is a church thing for sure.

the one she's found out about in Poland seems to be from a civil body, but you'd think it would be from a Church like over here since the religions are the same. I'm trying to work out if there is a separate kind she needs from a church in POland or whether that is something that can be issued by a priest in Poland at all. Any info on online seems to be for Irish men marrying POlish women in Poland, so our situation is unusual I think.

Beruthiel

Can one of her family not go down to the local priest and ask him to just do up a letter?

seamus

A certificate of freedom to marry is a civil document required in some countries for a foreign person to be married there. Afaik, we do not require them in Ireland, but check with the GRO first.

A letter of freedom is a different item entirely required by the church, but it is not a legal requirement.

It is a declaration that the Catholic church requires, from every parish in which you have been resident for longer than 6 months since you were 18. It simply states that you did not get married in that parish while you were there. Whether or not you ever went to mass there is irrelevant - they check the church records for your name and say, "No, nobody by that name ever got married here". My wife lived in London for two years at one point - she simply contacted the parish by telephone and they posted her over such a letter.
The situation will be the same for your Polish girlfriend - she rings her parish and gets the letter. The civil document you mention is something else entirely. Whether it needs to be translated or not is up to the priest receiving the documents. Again, there are no legalities involved here, it's all just church procedure.

Ultimately it's all up to your PP. If he decides that he can't sign off on the marriage because your girlfriend is not confirmed, then that's his perogative; Their game, their ball, their rules. I would suggest that you talk to him.
I find it odd that the PP in Sligo is handling the documentation. The PP who handles the documentation must be the PP of the parish in which you are currently resident.

karlkarlson

Beruthiel - her father's already in touch for the baptismal cert, so he's going to ask for the letter of freedom. thanks for the suggestion.

seamas - thanks a lot for the reply, very helpful. We're going to get in touch with the priest marrying us again as soon as we can. rang the pp of where we're resident last thursday and he's friends with him, so in linking them together we may be able to get rid of some of the complication involving the other priest in sligo.

Crossing my fingers for the confirmation side of things as i won't be making her do it now - if thats what gets suggested - for the sake of a church wedding; would be a false thing to do. She's agreed to a church wedding for my sake already.

GRO mention nothing about a cert of freedom, so i guess ireland is not a country that needs one, even if it is available in Poland from the civil authority.