The Catholic Church presumes that a marriage between a man and a woman irrespective of religion is valid and binding for life, until proven otherwise. If one of the parties is a baptized Catholic, the marriage must be witnessed by a priest or the couple must have the church's permission to be married in a place other than the Catholic Church.
After a couple is civilly divorced one or the other of the Catholic parties can approach their local parish to look into the possibility of obtaining a declaration of nullity (an annulment) for their marriage. The person at the local parish (called a Advocate) will help the applicant to see if there are valid grounds to pursue a declaration of nullity at one's local diocese. If it seems there are valid grounds on which to petition our Marriage Tribunal for a declaration of nullity for one's marriage, the parish Advocate will assist the Petitioner throughout the entire process.
Q. 1) What is a church Annulment?
An annulment is a judgment by a Marriage Tribunal of the Catholic Church that a particular marriage was not a true marriage because some essential qualities needed for a valid marriage were lacking in some way from the beginning of the relationship. Some of the essential qualities of sacramental marriage are: free and true consent of both parties, an ability to sustain a close intimate relationship, an intention to be faithful to one's marriage vows until one spouse dies, openness to having children and a personal belief in God and his ways.
Q. 2) What are some grounds for which one can seek an annulment?
Two grounds on which many annulments are pursued are lack of true consent or the inability of one or both of the parties to fulfill the duties of marriage. Lets look at both of these factors a little further.
Lack of Due Discretion
For example there may be a lack of due discretion when a couple decides to marry because the woman is pregnant. The couple may marry so that the child is not born out of wedlock or because they feel it is the "honorable" thing to do or because there is pressure on them to marry from parents. True consent may also be absent when either one or both parties enters the marriage in order to escape an unhappy home situation or when a person remarries on the "rebound" because he or she cannot stand living alone. Also, true consent may be absent when one or both parties are very immature when they marry.
Inability of One or Both of the Parties to Fulfill the duties of a Faithful Marriage.
The inability to fulfill the duties of a marriage may be present when either one or both parties are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Or one or both partners are unfaithful during courtship and may continue to be unfaithful during the marriage. Also, one or both parties may lack the capacity to sustain a close, intimate relationship. One may be very successful in social and professional relationships and a total failure in personal relationships. Also, it may be shown that from the beginning of the marriage one party was simply not committed to making it work. His or her priorities and energies lay elsewhere, often in work and in climbing the corporate or social ladder.
Some other factors that may also be used to pursue an annulment are: inability of one or both parties to handle conflict and problem solving, verbal, or physical or sexual abuse. One spouse constantly interferes with the other party's practices of his/her faith or refuses to be open to having children. Usually, an annulment is granted on a combination of the above factors and not just on any one factor. Also, the problems must have existed in some form from the beginning of the marriage or very early in it. The church does not issue a declaration of nullity for a marriage that was healthy for several years and then slowly or suddenly fell apart.
Q. 3) How does one begin an annulment process?
A person seeking an annulment (called "Petitioner") must be legally divorced before he/she can begin an annulment process. One can start the annulment process by calling one's parish office. The parish personnel will put the petitioner in touch with the priest or pastoral minister who handles annulments for the parish. The process will involve the following:
When all the questionnaires and documents required to hear a case are in the hands of the marriage tribunal, the case is heard and a declaration of nullity is granted or denied. The tribunal usually does not hear a case if it believes that there is lack of sufficient evidence to reach an affirmative decision. The tribunal does this because it is most difficult to have a case heard a second time once it has been heard and denied.
Q.4) How long does an annulment case take and how much does it cost?
While marriage tribunals are very reluctant to state the length of time, it is safe to say that most annulments in our Diocese take about a year. The fee in the Diocese of Orlando is $350. Petitioners may request a reduction of the fee. Under no circumstances in our diocese is the annulment process delayed or denied because of the petitioner's inability to pay part or all of the expense incurred by the Tribunal.
Q. 5) What happens once the local Diocese grants a Declaration of Nullity?
The respondent is given thirty days to contest the case. If the respondent does contest the case, then it is sent back to Miami for a second review. Miami may or may not decide to uphold the Orlando decision. In some instances, the case may be appealed to Rome.
If the respondent does not contest the case, all the paperwork is mailed to the Archdiocese of Miami, for ratification and review. Upon review of the case, the officials at the Archdiocese of Miami could reverse the decision of the diocese of Orlando, saying that there was insufficient grounds and testimony to grant the annulment. While this very rarely happens, it can and does happen. This part of the process takes about two months. In other words, there must be two affirmative decisions by two Tribunals for any annulment to be final.
Q. 6) What if the case is denied at the local diocese or at the Metropolitan Archdiocese.
The petitioner should speak to his/her local priest to talk about his/her pastoral and spiritual status in the church and to explain any other options that may be available to them.
Q. 7) Doesn't it seem wrong that a Catholic, married for a long time receives an annulment?
Not really, sometimes spouses who had severe problems with their marriage (abuse, alcoholism etc.) stayed in the marriage for the sake of the children or because they felt they should stay 'for better and for worse'. While the above may be good reasons for staying in a marriage and while a couple should do everything possible to resolve their problems, the fact remains that, in some cases there are very legitimate reasons for the church to grant a declaration of nullity to someone who was in a long term marriage.
Q. 8) Does an annulment make the children illegitimate?
This issue is a reason why many people do not pursue an annulment. This is unfortunate because an annulment has to do with the validity of a marriage and not with children. Children born of a civil or church marriage are legitimate offspring and nothing can make them illegitimate. Legitimate means "legal". A civil divorce or a church annulment does not in any way impact the status of the children.
Q. 9) What about the case of a Catholic who had a previous marriage but not in the church?
Such an attempted marriage is not seen as a true marriage in the eyes of the church. Catholics are expected to be married according to the rules of the church. This is called a Lack of Form case. The marriage lacked the Catholic form of marriage. If a Catholic was in a previous marriage, but not in the church and now wants to remarry in the church, he/she must petition our marriage tribunal for a Lack of Form case. This involves obtaining an updated baptism certificate, a legally certified copy of one's marriage and divorce papers. Then, the petitioner fills out a one-page questionnaire. The parish mails the forms and documents to the Marriage Tribunal and the Lack of Form case is automatically granted about one month later.
If the non-Catholic pursuing an annulment was married to someone with a previous marriage, he/she will only need to obtain a marriage and divorce certificate of his/her ex-spouse's marriage and fill out a brief questionnaire. In Canon Law, this is called a Ligamen case.
Q. 10) Why does a non-Catholic with a previous marriage desiring to marry a Catholic or desiring to have their marriage to a Catholic blessed in the church, have to have their marriage annulled?
The Catholic Church accepts as valid a marriage between two non-Catholics. The church will not dismiss such a marriage as a non-marriage
without a formal investigation. Of course, the only reason the Catholic Church becomes involved with a previous marriage of a non-Catholic is because he/she wants to marry a Catholic in the Catholic Church, or because the Catholic party wants the Church's blessing on his/her marriage.
Sometimes, non-Catholic spouses are resistant to having the Catholic Church investigate their previous marriage. This is understandable but hopefully, the non-catholic spouse will be open to seeking an annulment of one's previous marriage out of love for his/her spouse.
Q. 11) If divorced and not planning remarriage in the church, why pursue an annulment? Why revisit a painful chapter in ones life.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of Catholics wait until they are planning remarriage in the church to seek a declaration of nullity for a previous marriage. This is unfortunate because they have to do something painful during what should be a very happy time in their lives. Rather than waiting to pursue an annulment prior to a new marriage, divorced persons are encouraged to consider pursuing one shortly after one has completed a civil divorce.
Most people who have completed an annulment process have found it to be a very healing process. It helped to bring closure to a painful chapter of their live.
Q. 12) Isn't there a danger that because of the large numbers of people receiving annulments that an "annulment mentality" will gradually creep into the church and people will begin to think that the church's watering down Christ's teaching about the permanency of marriage?
An "annulment mentality" may creep into the church as more and more people petition for and receive annulments. Such a danger should not be used to withhold justice from deserving cases. The church will always have the unenviable task of preaching and protecting, in season and out of season, Christ's lofty ideal on the permanency of marriage and, at the same time, showing his mercy to all who fail to live up to that ideal.
Q. 13) What, according to the church, is the status of Catholics who are divorced and remarried, but not with the church's blessing?
Catholics in such a state can enjoy all the spiritual benefits of church except those that come through the reception of the sacraments. God's blessings come to us through many channels. Catholics who sought and failed to receive an annulment for their marriage should speak to their local priest about other possible options available to them. The same applies to a Catholic whose spouse, with a previous marriage, refuses to petition the church for an annulment. If you have any questions about this bulletin or other questions about the annulment process you can call me at 254-1595 ext 3070 or email me at tobin2@bellsouth.net.