Annulments aren't always granted

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LaSalle

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I often hear people in the Catholic Answers Radio show getting advised to have their previous marriage sorted out with an annulment.

The impression given is that it is quite a certainty. No mention or follow on caveat is given if it isn’t granted. (At least, I haven’t heard any)

People are expected to live as brother and sister if either or both cannot get their previous marriage/s annulled.

That’s the reality isn’t it?
 
Well, of course they are advised to go through the tribunal process to determine their status. It’s the only way to know what that status is.

Perhaps you are interpreting that as suggesting it’s a “given” but of course it is not a given.

When they meet with their priest, they will be told if they even have a case to submit. Cases without solid grounds are not submitted to the tribunal. And, not all cases that go to the tribunal are granted.

If a person who has remarried civilly is found to have a valid first marriage, then yes they will need to separate from their current spouse… or, live as brother and sister (which is often suggested when there are children involved).
 
LaSalle said:
I often hear people in the Catholic Answers Radio show getting advised to have their previous marriage sorted out with an annulment.

The impression given is that it is quite a certainty. No mention or follow on caveat is given if it isn’t granted. (At least, I haven’t heard any)

People are expected to live as brother and sister if either or both cannot get their previous marriage/s annulled.

That’s the reality isn’t it?
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If one is given some general information regarding the previous marriage it might be possible for another person to advise that, “in all probability” an annullment would be granted.

You are, of course, correct in saying that the caveat should be mentioned.

Peace
James
 
LaSalle said:
I often hear people in the Catholic Answers Radio show getting advised to have their previous marriage sorted out with an annulment.

The impression given is that it is quite a certainty. No mention or follow on caveat is given if it isn’t granted. (At least, I haven’t heard any)

People are expected to live as brother and sister if either or both cannot get their previous marriage/s annulled.

That’s the reality isn’t it?
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I think in some cases, baptized Catholic married outside the Church, w/o dispensation, it IS pretty much automatic.

Otherwise, you’re right, but, I guess they don’t want to discourage people from trying.

God Bless
 
I think the only “automatic” is a marriage where one or both were not been baptised at the time of the marriage.

Chuck
bilop said:
I think in some cases, baptized Catholic married outside the Church, w/o dispensation, it IS pretty much automatic.

Otherwise, you’re right, but, I guess they don’t want to discourage people from trying.

God Bless
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bilop said:
I think in some cases, baptized Catholic married outside the Church, w/o dispensation, it IS pretty much automatic.

Otherwise, you’re right, but, I guess they don’t want to discourage people from trying.

God Bless
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I do believe that if two baptized Catholics were married outside the Church w/o dispensation that there is no marriage to be recognized as far as the Church is concerned, of course I am not an expert on this so they would probably still need to have their Priest look into this.
 
I heard, just today, that the Tribunals are in Rome. Annulments are only decided in Rome?! It’s got to go all the way up there!?
 
LaSalle said:
I heard, just today, that the Tribunals are in Rome. Annulments are only decided in Rome?! It’s got to go all the way up there!?
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There are actually three Tribunals. Two of them are local, and the third one is in Rome. If the first two Tribunals agree, then the result is sent straight away to the applicant.

If the first two disagree, then it goes to the Roman Tribunal, which usually rules in favour of the marriage (meaning that the applicant must consider himself or herself to be married to the original spouse until one of them dies).
 
jmcrae said:
There are actually three Tribunals. Two of them are local, and the third one is in Rome. If the first two Tribunals agree, then the result is sent straight away to the applicant.

If the first two disagree, then it goes to the Roman Tribunal, which usually rules in favour of the marriage (meaning that the applicant must consider himself or herself to be married to the original spouse until one of them dies).
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And either the applicant or the respondent can appeal the decision of the first two Tribunals to Rome, as well, I believe.
 
LaSalle said:
I often hear people in the Catholic Answers Radio show getting advised to have their previous marriage sorted out with an annulment.

People are expected to live as brother and sister if either or both cannot get their previous marriage/s annulled.
Click to expand...
The proper phrase is “decree of nullity”. A marriage is not “annulled”, it never was to begin with. No action is done to the marriage, because it didn’t exist. The “spouses” receive a “decree of nullity” informing that the sacrament was null (void, invalid) to begin with.

Saying that a marriage “got annulled” sounds like “got cancelled” or “got ended”, which is not the case.
 
So why was Ted Kennedy granted an annulment many years ago?
 
The only statistics that I have seen have been from an article, which I beieve was sourced from CARA. “Of those divorced, 85% had not sought an annulment and another 8% had asked for an annulment but it was not granted.”

The source was the Sentinel, the paper of the Oregon Archdiocese, in a column that is from another news source.
 
LaSalle said:
I often hear people in the Catholic Answers Radio show getting advised to have their previous marriage sorted out with an annulment.

The impression given is that it is quite a certainty. No mention or follow on caveat is given if it isn’t granted. (At least, I haven’t heard any)

People are expected to live as brother and sister if either or both cannot get their previous marriage/s annulled.

That’s the reality isn’t it?
Click to expand...
Let’s remember what an annulment is and what it is not. An annulment is not a divorce. A divorce ends a marriage and in the Catholic faith, there is no divorce. Once a couple is married, they are married.

An annulment formally recognizes that there was something about the marriage which made it invalid and therefore there was no marriage to begin with.

So, no, annulments aren’t always granted because they can not always be granted. They can only be granted if the marriage was invalid to begin with.
 
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