Dear Karl:

The situation that you described about your friend has about thousands of light-years difference in the situation discussed with Christina. What your friend has done, along with his "wife", and the friend at work, is commit a felony in which all three of them could go to prison for five years.

These people are stupid to think that they're going to perpetrate a fraud upon the American government. The government does check up on such marriages to determine if they are legit. They cannot live a part, for example. These investigations by the government can last more than a year. As soon as this is discovered your friend will be deported if not put in prison first and then deported. The friend at work and his cousin, when this is discovered, will likely spend time in prison. 

As a Disabled Veteran I am offended by these people. How dare they do such a thing. If this man has so little respect for this country, then he needs to leave. To make matters worse, he has paid money to secure the cooperation of the woman. All three of these people need to go to prison.

To be frank, at the very least, I hope this man is caught and deported. He is not worthy to be a citizen. He has made a mockery of the thousands of my comrades who served this country and made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom this dispicable person wants to enjoy. He has already violated the oath immigrants must make to be a citizen. He has made a mockery out of marriage. He has slapped the face of every good and hardworking immigrant who came here legally.

Your question is whether or not this is sinful. You better believe it sinful. To commit a felony is sinful in itself. But, in addition to this, these people have spit in the eye of God, and have blasphemed the Sacrament of Marriage.

Our debauched society seems to have no knowledge, and perhaps does not care, that when they do these things, such as a sham marriage, they are spitting in the eye of God. We are a society of geeks. The original definition of geeks was a "person without shame." Indeed our society has lost all sense shame. We have no sense of honor, integrity, truth, or of the sacred.

For a Catholic, all marriages outside of the Church, regardless with whom they marry—a fellow Catholic, non-Catholic Christian, non-Christian, or the man on the moon—are invalid. Catholics are required to be married within the Catholic Church.

The reason for marriage must be for love and family. These fake marriages to pool one's resources together to buy a house or whatever, and worse, to commit a felony for someone to get a green card, are not just sins, but are evil acts.

Your friend, this woman, and the cousin are all risking their souls. What needs to happen is that your friend must contact the Immigration Office and confess his crime. If he does turn himself in there is a chance that the authorities will go easy and just deport him. It might keep him out of prison. Either way, he must confess unless he wishes to risk his soul.

If he continues with this fraud, he risks his soul. Even if he gets by with it in this life, he will not get by it with God in the next life.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary