Permissions are needed for:
- Mixed marriage – a Catholic wishes to marry a baptized non-Catholic
- Canon 1071 situations
- Marriages of vagrants (those who have no domicile)
- Marriages which cannot be recognized or celebrated in civil law
- Marriages in which a party is bound by natural obligations arising from a prior union, to some individual or children (i.e. alimony or child support are being met)
- Marriages involving a party who has notoriously rejected the faith
- Marriages when one or both parties are under ecclesiastical censure
- Marriages involving one or two minor children when parents are unaware of the proposed marriage or offer reasonable objections to its celebration
- Marriages to be celebrated by proxy
- Marriage outside an approved place – when a Catholic deacon or priest will witness the vows of the couple, but the wedding will not take place within a Catholic parish church. THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER DOES NOT ALLOW OUTDOOR WEDDINGS.
- Dispensations are needed for:
- Disparity of Cult – a Catholic wishes to marry an unbaptized person
- Impediment of Consanguinity – the marriage of first cousins
- Impediment of Affinity – relationship with the in-law family
- Impediment of Crime
- Canonical Form – when a couple does not want a Catholic wedding but wants their marriage officiated by a rabbi, Protestant minister, etc. to be recognized by the Catholic Church. This dispensation is NEVER given for two Catholics.