My wife was going through RCIA two years ago. She was told that in order to continue she needed to get her previous marriage annulled. She is in the annulment process. What if the annulment isn’t granted? Would she be able to come into the Church?
not enough info
the only way to gather the required info is for her to visit the pastor of the Church where she wants to prepare for reception into the Church, give all the relevant facts about current and past marriages, and follow the procedures to determine validity of past marriages. Each situation is unique so any advice here will be general in tone only, not particularly helpful to her individual circumstances.
some questions that will arise
were either spouse of any past marriages ever baptized Catholic and if so were those marriages contracted under Church law
baptismal status of all parties
and so forth
witnesses who can attest to circumstances that pertained at the time of the original contract which would support her contention that the union was invalid: consent, intention and capacity are the general categories that cover dozens of possible grounds for invalid contract.
she has probably by this time provided all this relevant information to the tribunal and now is waiting for the results of her investigation. The timing will depend in a large part of the quality of the information she gave, and success in locating and getting testimony of witnesses. AFter that the time period to process depends on the work load of the diocesan tribunal. It can be a few months in some places, a couple of years in other. She has a tribunal contact or advocate who should be able to field inquiries about how the process is going. Bear in mind, like any legal case, anytime you ask someone to review your file that takes it out of the work flow stream, and creates a time lag before it gets back on the desk of the right person.
worst case scenario
the annulment is not granted because the first marriage is found to be entirely valid
again, you both have to visit the priest to get spiritual and practical counsel for your own situation. Objectively, spouses in such a situation would be in a state of mortal sin, and so neither could validly partake in any sacrament of the Church, including matrimony, unless they agreed to suspend or forego the marital embrace until such time as both are free to marry (death of prior spouses).
I am wondering why those who prepared you for this marriage did not advise you properly at that time? You were badly served if they did not, so not all the guilt rests on you if in fact your current marriage is not valid.
The time of waiting, testing and even sacrifice involved is an occassion of immense grace and opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work in you both, and the annulment process itself is healing, so the best counsel know is prayerful, obedient humility and wating.
yes it is also a possibility that she could enter the Church if she separated from the current spouse in the current (presumed invalid) marriage. If there are minor children involved it is doubtful a priest would counsel that. This is a situation where you both should have continuing spiritual support and counsel of your Catholic pastor, you especially since as the Catholic party to a (presumed at this time) invalid marriage the state of your own soul is in jeopardy. People on an internet forum cannot help you.
Your question has been discussed in great detail on this and past threads so I can only offer our prayers and the earnest counsel that you go for help where you need to, your own pastor.
My “wife” was baptized Lutheran and her “ex” supposedly, was baptized Catholic. He didn’t practice the faith. His baptism certificate cannot be found and all of the witnesses of his baptism are deceased.
the inability to locate documents is the biggest roadblock in such cases, next to inability to locate witnesses or get their timely cooperation.
this actually can work in your favor as the tribunal goes on information it has
the fact that the former spouse was CAtholic should have made this a slam dunk
but the key is proving his baptismal status
this takes a lot of detective work
a diocesa archivist of the diocese where he was most likely baptized may be of help
we had a similar case that took over two years for precisely the same reasons, but thankfully the tribunal accepted the word of the “bride” and her family that the former spouse and his family had assured them he was CAtholic, and their was corroborating evidence, so the lack of form was granted. the couple, and their children were received into the Church at Pentecost last year. alleluia
I would still like to know who dropped the ball for you when you prepared for this current marriage, because they are guilty of letting you get into this troublesome situation and I would like to rattle their chains a bit.
