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Friday, March 20, 2009

Annulments in the U.S. - Is it Catholic Divorce?


An Anecdotal story may not prove a point, but it certainly can illustrate a problem. I have a sad story that I think indicates the ludicrous nature of annulments in the United States.

For a short time my husband and I were involved with a marriage enrichment program in Virginia. During that time we worked with a couple who participated as a team on numerous marriage weekends. They also headed up the local group and were a model for a good marriage. They invited us to participate in a Mass and party renewing their marriage vows which we happily attended. A few years later, after moving on to other apostolates we were shocked one day at our local Denny's to see John (not his real name) holding hands with another woman.

As we left I expressed my hope that he was expressing affection to his sister. "Maybe they haven't seen each other in a long time," I said to my husband, but I didn't really believe it. Alas, she was indeed the "other woman." Later, we heard through mutual friends that John and Mary had divorced and received an annulment in the Church. Here was a couple who not only had to have their original marriage annuled, but the second set of vows as well. What were the grounds? I don't know, but it is hard to imagine a man who was a military officer, who had held serious responsibility, could be "lacking due discretion" (i.e. being too psychologically immature to make the commitment). That is the primary cause given for annulment in the U.S.

To make the story even more interesting, a number of years later I ran into John's wife at a luncheon where we sat next to each other. I couldn't help asking, "Mary (not her real name), please tell me it's none of my business if you'd rather not talk about it, but I've always wondered how you and John could get an annulment after giving all those marriage enrichment weekends and renewing your vows in the Church." She was not offended and replied candidly -- "I don't understand it either."

Needless to say, Mary had not remarried because, despite the annulment, she still considered herself wedded to John. She would keep her promises.

The question is, what does God think? If John and Mary were married in the sight of God, and Mary obviously believes they were, no clerical slight of hand can sever the bond between them. Which means that John and his second "wife" are living in adultery. Who will be held accountable for that sin? (Set aside any other sins for the moment.) There's only one answer -- the judges of the tribunal.

I don't know whether Mary appealed the decision. Tribunals don't often tell the victims (I use the term deliberately) that they have that right. Sheila Rauch Kennedy, wife of Joseph Kennedy, did appeal, and ten years later (2005) Rome determined the original marriage was, indeed, valid, although Rauch wasn't informed of the outcome by the Boston Archdiocese until 2007. Speedy justice, eh?

In a speech to the Roman Rota January 29, Pope Benedict decried the easy annulment situation and the length of time necessary for tribunal decisions. He warned that "We run the risk of falling into an anthropological pessimism which, in the light of today's cultural situation, considers it almost impossible to marry." He also repeated Pope John Paul II's concern about "the scandal of seeing the value of Christian marriage destroyed in practice by the exaggerated and almost automatic multiplication of declarations of nullity." This is particularly true in the United States where the vast majority of annulments are granted. Are Americans really less able to contract valid marriages than those living in every other country of the world? Is it a case of "Well, I meant it when I said it, but now I've changed my mind?" Would that argument fly for any other form of legal contract? Is marriage less important than buying a house or a boat?

One of the greatest causes of the breakdown of American society is the dissolution of the family. That the U.S. Church has been an enabler of that disaster is one of the biggest scandals we face in this country and a root cause of our abortion holocaust.

Read More Articles:

Pope John Paul II's 2004 address to the Roman Rota

Catholic Marriage and annulments

Tribunals should work quickly, defend marriage, Pope says

Pope cautions tribunals against granting annulments too easily

8 comments:

  1. In our culture, not every cradle Catholic marrys in the Church. Marriages by judges in courthouses are common, as are mixed marriages before Protestant ministers.
    Many of these end in divorce. Should the Catholic later wish to remarry and live according to the teachings of the Church he or she may seek an annulment.
    Under these circumstances, an annulment is granted due to "lack of canonical form". I have no evidence to back me up, but I believe a good many of the annulments granted in the US are because of "lack of canonical form".

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  2. The fact of a Catholic getting married outside the church seems ipso facto to suggest a lack of intention on the part of the Catholic and perhaps both to create a true marriage. So the nature of the abuse suggests a lack of intent and with defective intent there can't be a sacramental marriage I would think. (only have my 8-years in Catholic Jesuit schools to go on I might add)

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  3. The majority of declarations of nullity granted in U.S. diocesan tribunals are for lack of due discretion, which we all lack to some degree or another. This "ground" has been used to increase the number of annulments by 10,000 percent since the 1970s from 400 to 40,000 or more every year.

    Evidence for lack of due discretion includes testimony like "George was always egocentric, while Margaret tended to be jealous and hysterical," "The marriage was engineered and manipulated by Kathleen’s extremely influential mother, so Kathleen was a sort of puppet," "Daphne was overweight, obese really, unpopular, lonely, immature, pathetic and extremely self-conscious." I just picked three silly examples from Fr. Lawrence G. Wrenn's 1983 book Decisions published by the Canon Law Society of America. There are hundreds more equally ridiculous examples from this textbook for canon lawyers who train for U.S. Tribunals.

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  4. Annulments are truly nothing but a "catholic divorce." I had an adulterous husband who sold a house out from under me, cleaned out bank accounts and had credit cards in my name. He petioned for and got an annulment - no problem. Married one of his whores, in "the church"!

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  5. God does not play games; but Tribunals for Annulments do! You can't trick God. God will not be mocked. Many Annulments might very well be INVALID. Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees...He would probably say the same thing to the Tribunals.

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  6. Getting married outside the Catholic church does not make your marraige invalid. It makes your faith in the catholic church invalid.

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  7. Getting marraied outside the catholic church does not mean your marraige is invalid. It means your faith is invalid.

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  8. "Invalid" in this context means the marriage is not sacramental in the eyes of the Church.

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