Annulment question

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DVIN_CKS

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How does the church define the term “sufficient capacity” in the following context of annulment:

*“It [an annulment] is only a determination of one or more of the following: that, at the time of the wedding, one or both parties to the marriage lacked sufficient capacity for marriage;…” * source: CA This Rock article

Does this mean that one or both parties had to have enough knowledge to know what they were getting themselves into or does it mean that their mental capacity to enter into a marriage was fully intact and “sufficient”? Trying to find answers for a friend.
 
DVIN CKS:
How does the church define the term “sufficient capacity” in the following context of annulment:

"It [an annulment] is only a determination of one or more of the following: that, at the time of the wedding, one or both parties to the marriage lacked sufficient capacity for marriage;…" source: CA This Rock article

Does this mean that one or both parties had to have enough knowledge to know what they were getting themselves into or does it mean that their mental capacity to enter into a marriage was fully intact and “sufficient”? Trying to find answers for a friend.
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A lack of knowledge or understanding about Marriage, it’s purposes, it’s responsibilities, etc.
 
“its responsibilities”…meaning the physical AND emotional? My friend has discovered after a lot of marital therapy that her marriage has lacked the emotional “connection” normal to most marriages. Her husband has recently been diagnosed with a form of autism that makes it impossible for him to relate competently on an emotional level with her. Would this be grounds for an annulment?
 
DVIN CKS said:
“its responsibilities”…meaning the physical AND emotional? My friend has discovered after a lot of marital therapy that her marriage has lacked the emotional “connection” normal to most marriages. Her husband has recently been diagnosed with a form of autism that makes it impossible for him to relate competently on an emotional level with her. Would this be grounds for an annulment?
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No one here can judge that. The facts and evidence must be submitted to a Marriage Tribunal for review and a determination of their impact on the validity of the Marriage.
 
thanks…I figured as much and have advised her to seek council with her tribunal.
 
From this EWTN list of annulment grounds:
Canon 1095. They are incapable of contracting marriage:
(1) who lack the sufficient use of reason;
(2) who suffer from grave lack of discretion of judgment concerning essential matrimonial rights and duties which are to be mutually given and accepted;
(3) who are not capable of assuming the essential obligations of matrimony due to causes of a psychic nature.
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  1. Finally, there can be a defect due to the inability to actually assume the essential obligations of marriage. A person may have sufficient reason, even sufficient discretion, but have a psychic condition that incapacitates them for fulfilling marriage’s essential obligations (the conjugal act, the community of life and love, providing mutual help, and procreating and educating children). As noted by Pope John Paul II regarding the lack of reason, it must be an incapacity not just a difficulty, and it must be present at the time of exchanging consent. Examples of such conditions are psychosexual disorders and personality disorders.
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WOW!! Thanks…all the detail one could ask for and then some!! I’ll pass it on and will pray that she finds what she is (or is not) looking for.
 
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