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puzzleannie
Guest
talk to the priest and keep talking til you understand the situation and what is required thoroughly. the alternative would be for the Catholic Church to NOT recognize the marriages of non-Catholics as valid, which would be a terrible state of affairs.I’m not even Catholic, and I have to get an annulment before joining the Catholic Church! I was just told this in a pre-RCIA Inquiry session. This was very upsetting to me,especially the thought that I am not really married to my present husband of nearly 20 years. And how am I supposed to find witnesses to my first husband’s violence 37 years later? Or HIM, for that matter. !
all you need to do is fill out the interview, and supply as many witnesses as you can to the conditions that pertained at the time you married (not afterward, which is not pertinent, unless it sheds light on the state of mind and ability of either party to fully consent to the marriage, or their capacity to contract a valid marriage). You are not required to prove anything, to find witnesses, nor must your ex respond if he can’t be found. The tribunal investigators will make a good faith effort to locate him, but if they can’t his testimony is not required. Please get more advice from your pastor and the tribunal advocate who guides you in this process, because like most people you will come to look on this as an immensely healing process.