Divorce or Annulment?

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kohotali

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My husband absolutely refuses to work. In the three years we’ve been married he’s had 7 jobs, left or got fired. Also, he has absolutely no interest in intimacy and has told me yesterday that he does not ever plan to have intimacy ever again with me, in all seriousness. We live overseas, and we were thinking of moving back to the US, but i see that there’s no marriage, so I want to leave him. My husband said that he absolutely will not look for work until he gets his green card (which can take between 6 months to a year). So the entire financial burden has been on me since we have gotten married.

Thoughts?
 
My thought is that the two of you should seek marriage counseling with a holy priest. If he will not go, go by yourself. Get some counseling and perspective.
 
First off, I would definitely suggest talking with a priest so that you can discuss the possibility of either separating or examining whether or not there were impediments at the time of getting married. Assuming you were married in the Catholic church, a Catholic annulment can only take place if there were serious impediments at the time of getting married that rendered the union invalid. In order to be married in the Catholic church, 3 criteria have to be met for the marriage to be valid in the Church’s eyes:

-The spouses are free to marry (no bigamy)
-They freely exchange their consent
-In consenting to marry, they have the intention to marry for life, to be faithful to one another and be open to children

If there was a problem with any one of these 3 things at the time of marriage, then an annulment may be a possibility. Again, I would talk to a priest. Sorry for your situation. Best of luck to you.
 
My husband absolutely refuses to work. In the three years we’ve been married he’s had 7 jobs, left or got fired. Also, he has absolutely no interest in intimacy and has told me yesterday that he does not ever plan to have intimacy ever again with me, in all seriousness. We live overseas, and we were thinking of moving back to the US, but i see that there’s no marriage, so I want to leave him. My husband said that he absolutely will not look for work until he gets his green card (which can take between 6 months to a year). So the entire financial burden has been on me since we have gotten married.

Thoughts?
If you enter the U.S. and he doesn’t have a work visa or green card, he could actually run into more legal problems if he tries to work. Before you go, approach the U.S. consulate wherever you are and get him a work visa (it doesn’t have to be a green card) before entering the country.

Also, Ke has excellent advice that you go to counseling.
 
thanks so much for your advice! no, he won’t go to counseling…and yes, we were married in the Catholic church.

in order for a spouse to move to the US, it’s best for him to apply for a green card. this automatically gets him permission to work. even still, he says he is too old to work (he’s 40). meanwhile, ALL the burden of finances has been left to me from the very beginning.

we have son together. and he says that he won’t have any intimacy with me ever again, because of the financial destruction it would bring. i’m already very low in draining my financial resources. because of the super tight budget, i can’t go to counseling…it’s too expensive.
 
Some counselors can offer low cost or free services for those in need. The priest should also be able to counsel you, himself (though many priests are busy, they will usually do everything they can to help a parishioner in need - too many are afraid to ask, however).
 
Please see a priest. But I have to wonder what was your pre-maritial counseling like?
 
our pre-marital counseling was (now as i see it) was big sham. he just went along with everything and shook his head with agreement with everything, with understanding nothing nor taking anything to heart.
 
Hello kohotali,

What you have been doing is performance rating your husband, which results in you isolating yourself from him. That is not your husbands fault, so you do not have grounds for a divorse. Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor her hudbsnd’s leadership.

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the a Church.”(Ephesians 5:22-23)

Submission is a complementary, not competitive, way if relating to your husband. Make Jesus the center of your marriage by both of you keeping your eyes on Jesus. Resist the temptation of being critical of your husband.

Do you have children?
 
Hello kohotali,

What you have been doing is performance rating your husband, which results in you isolating yourself from him. That is not your husbands fault, so you do not have grounds for a divorse. Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor her hudbsnd’s leadership.

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the a Church.”(Ephesians 5:22-23)

Submission is a complementary, not competitive, way if relating to your husband. Make Jesus the center of your marriage by both of you keeping your eyes on Jesus. Resist the temptation of being critical of your husband.

Do you have children?
What you are doing is reading the Bible with a Fundamentalist Interpretation. May I suggest a reading of Dei Verbum so that you may correctly learn to discern the Word of God from Sacred Scripture.
 
What you are doing is reading the Bible with a Fundamentalist Interpretation. May I suggest a reading of Dei Verbum so that you may correctly learn to discern the Word of God from Sacred Scripture.
Not necessarily. Johndoe appears to have been trying to balance the verse with the following comment:
Submission is a complementary, not competitive, way if relating to your husband. Make Jesus the center of your marriage by both of you keeping your eyes on Jesus. Resist the temptation of being critical of your husband.
Johndoe, could you explain this statement further for our benefit?
 
What you have been doing is performance rating your husband, which results in you isolating yourself from him. That is not your husbands fault, so you do not have grounds for a divorse.
It’s difficult for anonymous Internet users to really make such a diagnosis. While it may be true, we should probably leave that to a qualified marriage counselor who has actually met with the couple.
 
Not necessarily. Johndoe appears to have been trying to balance the verse with the following comment:

Johndoe, could you explain this statement further for our benefit?
Hello SonCatcher, I try to save as many Catholic marriages as possible, because divorse is forbidden in the Roman Catholic Church. People are ruining their whole life when all married couples have to do is be one with God.

Every marriage is either moving toward oneness or drifting toward isolation. Oneness in marriage involves complete unity with each other. It’s more than mere mingling of the humans. It’s a tender merger of the body, soul, and spirit. Oneness with God begins as we establish a relationship with Him and continues as we experience an on going relationship with Him. Oneness was at the center of God’s original design for marriage.

But of course, the husband doesn’t get a free pass either.

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”(1 Timothy 5:8)
 
Hello SonCatcher, I try to save as many Catholic marriages as possible, because divorse is forbidden in the Roman Catholic Church. People are ruining their whole life when all married couples have to do is be one with God.

Every marriage is either moving toward oneness or drifting toward isolation. Oneness in marriage involves complete unity with each other. It’s more than mere mingling of the humans. It’s a tender merger of the body, soul, and spirit. Oneness with God begins as we establish a relationship with Him and continues as we experience an on going relationship with Him. Oneness was at the center of God’s original design for marriage.

But of course, the husband doesn’t get a free pass either.

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”(1 Timothy 5:8)
I am glad that you note that the husband does not get a free pass either however, I think even going further in Ephesians 5 would shed some light on this very topic. There are also some very explanations done by the Bishops on this very subject as it pertains to marriage.

Also divorce is not forbidden in the Church. It is not encouraged. It is discouraged but there are some situations where it is the only option. This is found in the Catechism which is also derived from Scripture and Tradition. It is divorce and remarriage without the benefit of decree of nullity that becomes the issue.
 
Hello Joan,

Here it is, if the OP thinks she can live without sex for the rest of her life:

Jesus replied: “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.” (Mark 10:6-12 NIV84)
 
Catholic Church holds that a married couple cannot divorce for any reason whatsoever, a divorce is not recognized by the Catholic Church as a valid end to a marriage.
 
Catholic Church holds that a married couple cannot divorce for any reason whatsoever,
This isn’t factually correct.

From the Catechism:

2382 The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble.173 He abrogates the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law.174 Between the baptized, "a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death."175

2383 The separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage bond can be legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law.176 If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.

2384 Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery:

If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches another woman, he is an adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery, and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another’s husband to herself.177

2385 Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society.

2386 It can happen that one of the spouses is the innocent victim of a divorce decreed by civil law; this spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law. There is a considerable difference between a spouse who has sincerely tried to be faithful to the sacrament of marriage and is unjustly abandoned, and one who through his own grave fault destroys a canonically valid marriage.178
a divorce is not recognized by the Catholic Church as a valid end to a marriage.
Correct. Even if the couple separates, divorce does not dissolve the bond. This is called separation while the bond remains:

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P45.HTM
 
Hello 1ke,

Read the OP’s messages again, they can’t afford to get divorced. 🙂 My free advice will be very useful for them to finish raising their son. The very first thing that the OP has to do is stop performance rating her husband, and place Jesus first in her life.
 
Read the OP’s messages again, they can’t afford to get divorced.
Which in no way changes the fact that what you stated is not true.
My free advice will be very useful for them to finish raising their son. The very first thing that the OP has to do is stop performance rating her husband, and place Jesus first in her life.
We really have no facts to base such allegations on. I encourage her to seek counseling with her priest-- together if he will go but alone if he will not.
 
Hello 1ke,

I have bumped into you before, and you seem to be looking for a victory? I would appreciate you replying to the OP in these threads without trying to make me look bad. I operate in real world figures, and you out of your Canon Law. There is always room for the human element in Church Law, or we would all be condemned.

Both the Protestant and Catholic weekend marriage workshop costs $600 for a single weekend. Anger Counceling is only for those who can afford it. Our Catholic priests and deacons are far to busy to repair every marriage problem in the Parish, and theyvrefer married couples to these expensive marriage workshops that I have mentioned.

God bless
 
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