Can someone please tell me if my kids are considered bastards in the Church's eyes?

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I am a divorced & remarried Catholic. My first marriage was annulled and my second validated by the Church. I have 3 kids resulting from that marriage. Someone had the unmitigated gall to call them bastards!!! She said it is bc I had my first marriage annulled. Please tell me this is not true.
 
Don’t worry; an annulment does not affect the legitimacy of the children.
 
Can. 1137 Children who are conceived or born of a valid or of a putative marriage are legitimate.
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But I have wonder what your rude acquaintance believes would be the consequence if your children *were *illegitimate…? (Since canon law seems not to specify any) :hmmm:

tee
 
JMJDevotee said:
I am a divorced & remarried Catholic. My first marriage was annulled and my second validated by the Church. I have 3 kids resulting from that marriage. Someone had the unmitigated gall to call them bastards!!! She said it is bc I had my first marriage annulled. Please tell me this is not true.
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Dr. Ed Peters, a canon and civil lawyer, affirms:
Will an annulment render the children illegitimate?

Let me say two words about the term “illegitimacy”: It stinks. Babies are not illegitimate, no matter how illegitimate might have been the acts by which they were conceived. Babies are conceived in the image and likeness of God, who loves them all.
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Next, illegitimacy no longer carries any canonical consequences. The main reason why the concept of legitimacy is still treated in the 1983 Code is, I think, because some nations, by treaty with the Holy See, accept canonical declarations of nullity in place of civil divorces. Thus, civil law questions of child-support and inheritance could be clouded if legitimacy were not treated in canon law.
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Canon 1137 states that children born or conceived of a valid or putative marriage are considered legitimate. Canon 1061 § 3 calls “putative” those marriages that, though invalid, were nevertheless celebrated in good faith by at least one of the parties, until that time, if any, when both parties become certain of its nullity. The great majority of the formal nullity cases coming before diocesan tribunals involve at least one, usually two, persons entering marriage in good faith, hence entering at least a putative marriage, resulting in the legitimacy of the children.
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Moreover, if a child is born to parents not married or only civilly married, but the parents later validly or even putatively marry, such marriage automatically renders the child or children canonically legitimate (canon 1139). Even here, the later annulment of the marriage would not render these children canonically illegitimate. Finally, canon 1139 states that children can be legitimated by rescript of the Holy See. In brief, ***the granting of an annulment petition does nothing to affect the legitimacy of children. ***
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Source: Answering Common Questions about Annulments
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JMJDevotee said:
I am a divorced & remarried Catholic. My first marriage was annulled and my second validated by the Church. I have 3 kids resulting from that marriage. Someone had the unmitigated gall to call them bastards!!! She said it is bc I had my first marriage annulled. Please tell me this is not true.
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It most certainly is not true! I cannot believe someone would have the nerve to say such a thing. Have you ever asked this person what were her reasons for saying that to you? I can’t imagine she thought it would do anything other than hurt you.
 
Thank you all so much!! I hope now that I know this, I can help others who have been told this lie.
 
JMJDevotee said:
I am a divorced & remarried Catholic. My first marriage was annulled and my second validated by the Church. I have 3 kids resulting from that marriage. Someone had the unmitigated gall to call them bastards!!! She said it is bc I had my first marriage annulled. Please tell me this is not true.
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They are not bastards and this person should pray a novena to Our Lady of Mind Your Own Damn Business.
 
JMJDevotee said:
I am a divorced & remarried Catholic. My first marriage was annulled and my second validated by the Church. I have 3 kids resulting from that marriage. Someone had the unmitigated gall to call them bastards!!! She said it is bc I had my first marriage annulled. Please tell me this is not true.
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not only gall but ignorance. If this person works for the Church you suggest to her pastor that she should be fired for such falsehood and uncharity. No annulment has no effect on the status of the children of the marriage. this question has been addressed many times here. since more questions are bound to arise I suggest a search on the topic, because some very valuable info and links are there.
 
Don’t feel bad…my ex’s lawyer tried that one on me too! I thought, “how inappropriate of this Jewish lawyer to speak on Catholic doctrine… and incorrectly at that!” I think he just wanted to rile me up before court.
 
This was one of my concerns and why I originally threatened to try and stop my dad’s annulment. To appease all of us including my mom he gave us all some money to cooperate. (My dad could have got the annulment anyways but it would have been a little harder and taken a little longer if we dind’t cooperate) I found out that me and my ciblings are certainly legitamate even with an annulment a few years ago and this thread only further shows that my original worries were not justified.
 
If it had been me to whom this was addressed, I fear I might have rashly reacted by saying that it isn’t my kids who are the bastard.
 
JMJDevotee said:
I am a divorced & remarried Catholic. My first marriage was annulled and my second validated by the Church. I have 3 kids resulting from that marriage. Someone had the unmitigated gall to call them bastards!!! She said it is bc I had my first marriage annulled. Please tell me this is not true.
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So what did you do with that jerk? I hope you give her a piece of your mind (or better yet, your palm on her face! Please tell if you did; I’d really enjoy it).

While I don’t advocate hitting people, sometimes, it’s just so much fun to give insensitive characters like these what they so richly deserve.
 
Goodness, that has to be one of the more shocking things I have heard. How. . .rude and insensitive. I second all that has been said, correctly, about decrees of nullity and the Church’s stance on legitimacy. And I’ll say a prayer for your family, JMJ, that they (and you) be comforted by Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

And (though this will be hard) I will also say a prayer for the one who made that remark. . .that she open her eyes to God and His truth, and not to whatever falsehood and/or evil she had accepted which had as its fruits that shocking remark. May the love of God soften her heart, bring her to repentence, and heal all of you.

God bless.
 
All children are gifts from God. You experienced reason no. 1 why less people go to church these days, having experiences like this. I know most of my cronies that don’t attend church anymore do so because of the negative and un-Christian attitudes that they have been victims of over the years.
 
Thank you all for your wonderful words of support. I have not reacted negatively at all. I orginially said I needed to look into the matter but did not believe her information was correct. I simply guided her to the cannon law so graciously provided.

And then I got to thinking, if we as a universal Church, are to follow the magestirium, what happens when a priests makes statements like this that are false and misleads the parishoners?
 
Thank you all for your wonderful words of support. I have not reacted negatively at all. I orginially said I needed to look into the matter but did not believe her information was correct. I simply guided her to the cannon law so graciously provided.

And then I got to thinking, if we as a universal Church, are to follow the magestirium, what happens when a priests makes statements like this that are false and misleads the parishoners?
 
JMJDevotee said:
And then I got to thinking, if we as a universal Church, are to follow the magestirium, what happens when a priests makes statements like this that are false and misleads the parishoners?
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:eek:

Has someone claimed a priest has made such statement?

(Priests are just as susceptible to fall into sin as any of us – And they have farther to fall! But I don’t know why you mention this here and now!?)

tee
 
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