There are many Catholics who know their or their spouses previous “marriage” is invalid according to the teachings of the Church. The problem is that it takes the Church a very long time to process annulments. Lack of Form annulments go rather quickly, but the long form annulments typically take between 1 and 4 years to complete. Mostly because of the diocese and/or tribunals being understaffed considering the sheer number of applications.
So, we end up with people who are well aware their previous marriages were invalid and who have made valid marriages, yet who are in limbo until a tribunal of 1st and 2nd instance makes a final determination.
I think the problem here is when people assume that their current marriage is valid and that they “know” any previous marriages are invalid. The tribunal starts with the assumption that the first marriage is valid and then proceeds to investigate any subsequent marriages, not the other way around.
What I am saying is that people should assume the same. Until it is shown that any previous marriages are invalid they should not assume that their current marriage is valid. If that were the case the Church would allow them to receive the sacraments unless their previous marriages were shown to be valid.
Living separately or as brother and sister is often either not financially feasible or would seriously damage the marriage. Not to mention how this would affect any children involved.
I don’t disagree that it could cause problems. I simply said that if a person loves Christ they should put Him (and their souls) above earthly concerns.
I disagree about referring to each other as husband and wife, as well. Remember, marriage is not simply a religious institution. Marriage is also a legal and social status. The reality is that people who are legally married and who are known socially as married are, for all intents and purposes outside of strictly religious ones, married. They are, in fact, husband and wife.
The problem with the view of marriage as primarily a social and legal phenomenon is that it has led to things like gay “marriage” and other open relationships. If we as Catholics don’t accept the primacy of the divine aspects of marriage then it leave us without a leg to stand on when talking about “alternative marriages”. Yes, there might be legal reasons to keep up the appearance of marriage, but until an annulment is granted and the current relationship is either convalidated or sanated we should be very careful assuming that the legal situation matches divine reality. The question is do we stand for the teaching of the Church or the teaching of society first?
The fact is that marriage issues are a common cause of people leaving the Church or quitting the conversion process in favor of other faiths or no faith at all. If the Church wants to bring those people home and to gain new converts then the Church is going to have to do something to speed up the annulment process. I’d say the best place to start is tribunal staffing increases.
The issue here is that people put their wants before the teachings of the Church. “I want the sacraments and to continue in my current relationship. If I can’t have them now (or soon) then I’ll go someplace that will let me have everything I want.”
The reason that annulments take a long time is that the Church needs to ensure that each marriage is fully investigated and that takes time. You have to wait for the forms and witness statements to come back, time for the advocate and defender of the bond to review all the evidence, etc. All of that is going to take 4 to 6 months minimum. Add to that the fact that many couples have multiple marriages that need to be investigated and it adds up. It’s not just a matter of adding people, but it requires adding people with canon law degrees. For instance the Defender of the Bond has to have a J.C.L. or J.C.D. and there are maybe a dozen schools where these degrees can be obtained.
The other thing is that there is a presumption that annulments will be granted so making them faster would be a good pastoral step. What about those where their first marriage is found valid? What should be done for them? While I’ve seen numbers as high as 90% of annulments being granted in the US Italy “only” has something like a rate of 30 - 40%.
To be honest setting up a fast food tribunal system would be a travesty. Tribunals should not be churning out 6 week annulment declarations because there is no way to do a thorough investigation in that short a time. Our goal should be fewer annulments, not getting them done faster. We need better catechisis to avoid annulments rather than more lawyers to process them.
I truly understand that this is difficult for people, but we can’t let the over abundance of sin in the world compromise the teaching of the Church. The Church can try doing a better job explaining why it does things, but if people stick their fingers in their ears and say “I’m right and I refuse to change” what is the Church to do?
Why do I take such a hardline approach? Because the pastoral approach has not lead to fewer divorces and annulments. If anything it has gone from a trickle to a flood. We shouldn’t plan for accommodating an increasing deluge, but rather stemming the issue at its source (approval of divorce on demand, dissociation of children form sex and marriage, marriage as an open ended legal contract). If we want to fix the problem then talk to your Catholic and Protestant neighbors and pastors to convince them that divorce is wrong, that contraception is wrong, that marriage is a divine rather than a legal and social institution. Treating the symptoms rather than the cause does nothing put prolong death.
