Engagement

[tlreyes]

I am a 45 year old woman who has been divorced for six and a half years. Last summer I met a wonderful man, who like myself, is Catholic. We started dating and fell in love. This past Spring he received confirmation that his previous marriage had been annuled. In January of this year I presented my case for annulment of my previous marriage to the local tribunal and they have accepted the case. I am now at the stage where they are accepting statements from the witnesses. We have know each other for a year now and would like to attend marriage preparation classes and get married in the church next year if my annulment is granted. Meantime, we would like to get engaged. My question is, does the Catholic church allow for us to get engaged prior to the annulment?

 

[space_ghost]

tlreyes:

I am a 45 year old woman who has been divorced for six and a half years. Last summer I met a wonderful man, who like myself, is Catholic. We started dating and fell in love. This past Spring he received confirmation that his previous marriage had been annuled. In January of this year I presented my case for annulment of my previous marriage to the local tribunal and they have accepted the case. I am now at the stage where they are accepting statements from the witnesses. We have know each other for a year now and would like to attend marriage preparation classes and get married in the church next year if my annulment is granted. Meantime, we would like to get engaged. My question is, does the Catholic church allow for us to get engaged prior to the annulment?

…i suggest you speak to the tribunal rep… you might want to speak to your priest… Peace and good luck:thumbsup:

http://my.core.com/~oldgrendel/ghost1.gif

 

[Fashina86]

I know that you cannot get married until after the annulment, but I am not sure about engagement. As SG said, check with the priests in charge. They should know. Good luck and congratulations!

 

[Saint_Andrew]

Hello

That is an interesting point, I will ask my parish priest next time I see him.

God Bless.
Saint Andrew.

 

[patientone]

I believe if one is divorced he/she is to act as if he/she is married
until an anullment is granted. Fr. Serpa recently responded to a
similar question on the Ask an Apologist forum

 

[Siena]

I don’t think you are allowed to “set a date” on the Church calendar until there is an anullment. If you have a church with a backlog of weddings, you can get in earlier (after confirmation of anullment) if you pick a day/time other than Sat. night (Sat afternoon works just as well!) That way, you don’t have to wait for the annulment, and THEN, 6 mos (or more) for the ceremony.


(Just talk to your priest, he might be able to help you go through accellerated marriage prep class after the annulment if you want to get married quickly)

 

[BlestOne]

tlreyes,
I was just in a similiar situation. I was waiting for my annulment to go through so I could set a date. I was told that I couldn’t even set a date until I talked to priest after the annulment was done. As for the engagement, when I went to talk to priest about annulment he asked if I was engaged and sort of got quiet when I said yes. I think I did that in the wrong order and as someone else said, we should not have until the annulments were done but, I didn’t know at the time either. I am in an almost identical situ as you…I am 42 and divorced for many years. I never persued annulment because I had no intention of getting married ever again, until I met a really wonderful guy that joined the church. I was very honest with my pastor and we discussed that we would like to get married as soon as possible, parially because of my kids and his kid. We do not believe in pre or extra marital relations and we do believe in setting a good example for our kids, showing them the “right” way to do things is that important to us. THe kids are very happy for us and can’t wait until we get married. BTW…kids are : boy, 18, boy, 15, girl, 13, girl, 10.