Can my priest tell me to ignore a denial of annulment?

[troutlc]

I recently had my annulment denied by the marriage tribunal on the basis of no grounds for annulment. My parish priest says I can use internal forum for receiving the sacraments after confession. He also stated that he can bless a new marriage without any formal church ceremony. I am a practicing Catholic and the marriage was dissolved 38 years ago. He said I did everything possible to have it annulled and suggested the internal forum. Your thoughts!

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Keep in mind that I am not a canon lawyer, so you may wish to confer with one. But it sounds to me like your priest is telling you that you are free to ignore the fact that the tribunal denied your request for an annulment, and to proceed as if one had been granted, simply because you “tried your best” to convince the tribunal to grant an annulment. If this is the case, then I can only say that this sounds extremely problematic to me. Nobody is “entitled” to a declaration of nullity; tribunals grant them when it is clear that no marriage existed. If this tribunal denied your petition for an annulment, you can appeal the decision to a higher ecclesial court, but you must abide by the decision given in the meantime. That means that you may not get your current marriage “blessed” by this priest at this time, and that if you want to receive the sacraments right now then you and your spouse must first agree to live as brother and sister.