Proof I am a catholic needed for wedding abroad...

SuomiJohn

Hello all,
I will be getting married in Finland next year to my Finnish fiance. I have lived up here for about six years and originally from Ireland. I was baptised and am a part of the Catholic church.

In order to get married by a priest up here I need to prove that I am Catholic.
Would anyone have any Idea how I would go about this?

Thanks for looking.

kitten_k

Baptism cert?

mapaca

Get a copy of your baptismal cert from the parish where you were baptised. You might also need a letter of freedom from your parish priest stating that you were not married in that parish. HTH.

mapaca

Get a copy of your baptismal cert from the parish where you were baptised. You might also need a letter of freedom from your parish priest stating that you were not married in that parish. HTH.

Grumpypants

SuomiJohn wrote: »

Hello all,
I will be getting married in Finland next year to my Finnish fiance. I have lived up here for about six years and originally from Ireland. I was baptised and am a part of the Catholic church.

In order to get married by a priest up here I need to prove that I am Catholic.
Would anyone have any Idea how I would go about this?

Thanks for looking.

The Church that you were baptized in will have a baptism cert. Might charge a few Euro for printing and posting it but nothing major.

I had to get mine from the UK and just googled the church for the email and they scanned it for me.

SuomiJohn

Thanks for the replies.
I actually need to prove that I am a current member, and not just baptised. (my apologies , I should have mentioned that in the first post)
It seems a bit of a strange request, but thats how it goes up here I guess!

Manach

As OP mentions that does seem a tad unusual to confirm ones current Catholic status. Perhaps drop by a friendly Priest and ask for a written doc some form of parish letterhead. Still enjoy the ceremony up there.

homer911

SuomiJohn wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
I actually need to prove that I am a current member, and not just baptised. (my apologies , I should have mentioned that in the first post)
It seems a bit of a strange request, but thats how it goes up here I guess!

You have lived in Finland for 6 years and you need to prove that you are a current member of the Roman Catholic church?? I would have thought that something from Ireland would be completely irrelevant..

hinault

SuomiJohn wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
I actually need to prove that I am a current member, and not just baptised. (my apologies , I should have mentioned that in the first post)
It seems a bit of a strange request, but thats how it goes up here I guess!

It is a strange request because normally a baptismal certificate issued from the parish where you were baptised suffices.

I can't think of any other proof one could supply to prove that one is Catholic (and I'm a practising Catholic).

Lucy8080

Does Finland impose a tax on Catholics? I think they have a tax on Lutherans/orthodox(?), not exactly sure. It would ,perhaps, explain the request for proof you are still a member. I think you can avoid the tax by formally leaving. Those churches would then have a record that you were not a current member.

SuomiJohn

Lucy8080 wrote: »

Does Finland impose a tax on Catholics? I think they have a tax on Lutherans/orthodox(?), not exactly sure. It would ,perhaps, explain the request for proof you are still a member. I think you can avoid the tax by formally leaving. Those churches would then have a record that you were not a current member.

I think you hit the nail on the head there. There is a tax that all members of the Lutheran church must pay every year. It´s 1.5% of your earnings. A lot of people have been leaving recently over comments made by priests about rights of marriage for gay people. In the case of proving my Fiance is currently a member of the Lutheran church, they just had to look up here name and social number to confirm she still is part of the church.

I did some research last night and came across a website for Catholic members in Finland. That has some useful information on it.

"All Catholics who have lived in Finland for three months or more belong to the Catholic diocese of Helsinki regardless of their nationality"

So I presume I can get the relevant prove from them once they have seen a copy of my birth cert / confirmation cert.

It also goes on to say :

"What is the membership fee? The membership fee is payed by all Catholics who belong to the Catholic Diocese of Helsinki in order to support financially their local Church. Solidarity is one of the basic principles in the Catholic Church. This is why the members of the Church have always felt throughout history their responsibility for the activities of their local Church."

It seems they want the 1.5% of my annual earnings , although it is not compulsory , unlike members of the Lutheran church.

I found the info here : katolinen(dot)fi

I have sent them an email to see if they can give me more information on the subject, I presume they have dealt with the issue before.

neemish

They want to know what Parish you are registered with and possibly contributing to.
Unlike Ireland where you are automatically in a Parish based on geography, most countries in Europe require that you formally register and are an active member of the community. It's the same in the States. Parishes are not obliged to provide you with Sacraments or other Church services (such as letters of freedom) unless you are registered.