Are most marriages null?

[x1980x]

With all the annulments being granted seemingly at the drop of the hat, I have to ask…

Are most marriages null?

 

[Soldier_Of_God]

With all the annulments being granted seemingly at the drop of the hat, I have to ask…

Are most marriages null?

Would you be able to cite a factual source to demonstrate that annulments are being granted “at the drop of the hot” or is this is intended to be a provocative remark based on misimpressions?

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I do not think the Church releases statistics to make any claims. Not that most are granted, and not that they are granted “at the drop of a hat”.

I also know that the process takes a long time so that is one long fall for the hat.

I also have no problem with the Church not releasing any statistics on this as, after all, it really is none of our business.

 

[Bearontherun]

Since many many people are not seeking annulements, could it not also be that the majority of peole who seek annulements already know that they have sufficient reason to hope for one? Just a thought:shrug:

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

With all the annulments being granted seemingly at the drop of the hat, I have to ask…

Are most marriages null?

A year to a year and a half is “at the drop of the hat”

 

[Corki]

With all the annulments being granted seemingly at the drop of the hat, I have to ask…

Are most marriages null?

No.

There are several problems with your supposed observation.

At least based on antecdotal information, most annullment petitions that reach the tribunal are granted. But many more are screened out before they even get to that point. Others are dropped along the way.

An intact marriage is never considered null. One of the “symptoms” if you will of a fault at the time the marriage was contracted is the inability to sustain permanence. Not that all failed marriages were faulty at the start, of course.

 

[supertubos]

With all the annulments being granted seemingly at the drop of the hat, I have to ask…

Are most marriages null?

I dont know what is rate of the drop but I tell you… from what I see in Portugal … from the comments the brides and bridegrooms, their emphasis on how boring is to go to the course pre-marriage, the motivations, the fact that before the marriage they dont go to Church and after are no where to be seen, the emphasis given to the banquet and so on and not in the marriage itself, and last but not least, this pervasive mentality that if we get along, OK, if not, we’ll find another way, contrary to the values of the Church, I wonder whether such marriages are valid.

Priests, in Portugal are having a hard time fighting this materialistic mentality but they cannot say: “no, you are not prepared, marry on the civil!”

It is a hard fact…

 

[105lynne]

My husband was married once before. He got his gf pregnant and they got married because of constant pressure from her grandfather (who was a Protestant minister). Anyway, the annulment process took 14 months for him. Not exactly a “drop of a hat” thing. Do you mean people are getting divorced/splitting up at the drop of a hat? If so, I could see how someone could view it that way.

 

[x1980x]

…
An intact marriage is never considered null…

Are you sure? A Catholic told me that if a Catholic discovers that they appear to have grounds for an annulment, then their marriage is likely to be, at that point, totally null and void, and that one cannot simply ignore the grounds since that would be consenting to an invalid marriage.

 

[Corki]

Are you sure? A Catholic told me that if a Catholic discovers that they appear to have grounds for an annulment, then their marriage is likely to be, at that point, totally null and void, and that one cannot simply ignore the grounds since that would be consenting to an invalid marriage.

That is incorrect. A marriage is never considered null until it has been investigated and declared so by the marriage tribunal. The tribunal does not even consider petitions unless there is a civil divorce (in the US) or a separation. An individual Catholic has not authority to make a judgement on any marriage, not even his/her own.

The only exception would be a marriage where there is a lack of form - usually a Catholic who married outside the Church. These can often be handled at the parish level and the lack of form can be corrected for an intact couple.

 

[Cyclophile]

With all the annulments being granted seemingly at the drop of the hat, I have to ask…

Are most marriages null?

What?! Where do you get that idea? I’m going through the process and its been a year and a half so far. Even with cases like mine that are pretty clear cut, they seem to go over everything with a fine-toothed comb!

 

[estesbob]

With all the annulments being granted seemingly at the drop of the hat, I have to ask…

Are most marriages null?

I would dispute the fact that annulments are granted at the drop of a hat. However speaking from a statistical standpoint, it would seem that people with invalid marriages would be seeking annulments a lot more often than people with valid ones.

 

[JimG]

I think that it is mainly in the United States that number of annulments has skyrocketed in recent decades. I would not say that they are granted at the drop of a hat, yet the number of null marriages has certainly increased dramatically, if the numbers of annulments granted is any indicator.

canonlaw.info/a_annulments.htm

nytimes.com/books/first/v/vasoli-joined.html

 

[TimothyH]

Personally, I think if there are more annullments granted, it may be because there are so many getting married who really have no business being married in the first place.

One example is the high rate of addiction to sexual sin. A porn addict has no place getting married and study after study finds that aout 25% of western men and about 9% of western women use porn regularly.

There is an argument to be made that a man who places such a low value upon his future spouse as to have sex with her before marriage, to use her in that way, really doesn’t understand what love is. The same can be said for a woman who gives her body to a person to whom she is not married. In our hyper-sexualized culture where sex is a recreational activity, there are probably many who confuse lust with love and with such a distorted view, these really have no business being married to anyone.

If there is a high rate of annullments, then it may just be a reflection of the worlds distorted view of love and marriage. I have no proof of this but in light of society trying to tell us that two men can be married, who really understands what marriage is, not to mention being properly prepared to enter into it?

Could it be God’s will? Could God be pulling people out of marriages that were not entered into with the intent to sacrifice themselves for the safety, health and wellbeing of their spouse and thereby recieve the sacramental grace of a marriage modeled on the trinity? It is a tough process but God does chastise those whom he loves, and a valid annullment might be a means to repentance and grace for those who had no aiblity or intent to live a sacramental marriage in the first place.

Just some random thoughts…

-Tim-

 

[JimG]

Personally, I think if there are more annullments granted, it may be because there are so many getting married who really have no business being married in the first place.

I agree with your post; and what it means is that there really are a huge amount of null marriages being attempted. If that’s the case, the high number of annulments makes sense.

 

[TimothyH]

I agree with your post; and what it means is that there really are a huge amount of null marriages being attempted. If that’s the case, the high number of annulments makes sense.

I’ll be blunt in what I am saying.

It could be a reflection of the success Satan is having in teaching us his lies about what love is and is not, and what marriage is and is not.

If so, God’s grace is in action in the annullment process, granting mercy and forgiveness to those who bought into Satan’s lies and got married without a clue as to God’s design and intent for marriage. In such a scenario, annullments can be seen as the action of a merciful Father.

-Tim-

 

[JimG]

I’ll be blunt in what I am saying.

It could be a reflection of the success Satan is having in teaching us his lies about what love is and is not, and what marriage is and is not.

If so, God’s grace is in action in the annullment process, granting mercy and forgiveness to those who bought into Satan’s lies and got married without a clue as to God’s design and intent. In such a scenario, annullments can be seen as the action of a merciful Father.

-Tim-

Yes, that’s a blunt way of putting it, and I’ve been coming around to that viewpoint for some time. Many have said that the annulment process, while painful, was a grace and a blessing for them.

The detritus of those failed, null, marriages, though, has left a lot of pain and sadness in its wake.

 

[Bookcat]

no.

 

[odile53]

I don’t know: With a divorce rate nearing sixty percent in the US, I’m thinking that a lot of these marriages were null at the time, and shouldn’t have been attempted by anyone with the good sense God gave peat moss! Sure, maybe some with salvageable or reconciliable marriages approach the tribunals, but they must have some sort of screening process along the way, so that those cases get eliminated. By the time a case makes it to the defender of the bond, in other words, it’s probably been pretty thoroughly dissected and any shred of evidence that a valid marriage ever existed has been debunked. Since tribunals are a service of the diocese, and the cost that they charge petitioners doesn’t approach what it costs the diocese to try (if that’s the right word) a case, I doubt the dioceses would want to waste their resources on anything that looked superficially valid.

I may sound a little cynical about marriage here–my own husband has developed alcoholism. I did NOT see the red flags because at the time we met and married he wasn’t drinking! I would have had to be clairvoyant to have seen it at the time. However, I am informed by friends of his that he was drinking like a fish up until six months before we met, and I have the documentation of two DWIs to support this. He had temporarily gotten sober, and almost immediately after the wedding started experiencing severe depressive symptoms. My priest informs me that some of this points to a condition that existed at the time of the wedding that made it impossible for him to validly contract marriage, and if we divorce I should seek an annulment.

I’m not in a great mood tonight (mostly after watching alcoholic antics all weekend,) and all I can think of is the Groucho Marx quote (it sounds like something Groucho would have come up with, anyways,) “Marriage is an institution, and lots of married people belong in one!”

I don’t know about “most” marriages, but there are plenty of people who seem to be, to the casual observer, to be living in invalid marriages. Just my two cents on the matter, that and another 98 cents will get you a cup of coffee at Mickey D’s, for what it’s worth.

 

[AHapka]

Are you sure? A Catholic told me that if a Catholic discovers that they appear to have grounds for an annulment, then their marriage is likely to be, at that point, totally null and void, and that one cannot simply ignore the grounds since that would be consenting to an invalid marriage.

Nope, marriage enjoys the favor of the law. From the Canon:

“Can. 1060 Marriage possesses the favor of law; therefore, in a case of doubt, the validity of a marriage must be upheld until the contrary is proven.”