Grounds for Marriage Annulment in the Catholic Church

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rcwitness said:
I’ve been told “it’s not about you, it’s up to the Tribunal to decide”
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This is not what I said and if you would just stop and actually read what is written you may find some peace. I said the tribunal will make a ruling based on the information presented to them. Some of that information will come from you.

That part is what you can control. You’ll have the opportunity to present your side of issue, why you believe your marriage is and remains valid. What you can’t control is information others will submit. My advice, unsolicited, was to do the very best you can to present your side clearly.

With that said, I’m done here. I don’t believe you really want to hear from others, you would rather rant.
 
I didn’t say it was you. I’m not ranting. I actually have sound reasoning to show that the annulment situation is not always genuine.

Many have acknowledged this.

I think in 5-10 years the situation will either be much worse or the Church will have done something about it.
 
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In order to present my case, I’d have to file civil divorce, of which I could not do in good conscience. And even then, I’d only be doing to defend the Sacrament (which not many Catholics seem to appreciate).

Then, if the Tribunal happened to decide my marriage was never Christian based on unconvincing grounds, I’d have to appeal to Rome!
 
That’s what I want. Yet most couples probably want another marriage more than the truth. And the broadess of grounds can accommodate most cases.

How many of those cases would be overturned, if one spouse was fighting for validity and appealed to Rome?

That’s a question to ponder, my friend.

In fact, do we have any statistics on the cases appealed to Rome???
 
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Here is a claim @TheOldColonel:

“The Rota is an appellate court in Rome, and an Appeal to the Rota will more often result in preserving, or ‘saving’, the sacrament of marriage. It has been said that 90% of Appeals are successful (i.e. the Respondent has ‘saved’ her/ his sacrament).”

That’s very significant! Especially because that would only be cases where someone is actually fighting for the Sacrament and/Or those who have the money, means and awareness to do so.

Also, I am not trying to say that those overturned cases are all, or mostly, the fault of the Tribunal. It doesn’t really matter to me. The point is that a large number of cases may very likely be wrongly concluded, according to honest evidence.
 
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Or it could be that in the many decrees of nullity that are not appealed to Rome, both parties agree that the marriage was invalid. In my experience, it’s not that common for one party to be fighting the decree—although I have occasionally seen it done out of spite.
 
I’m sure in most cases both parties DO agree the marriage was invalid. I don’t think that necessarily reflect the truth, but the desire of the petitioners to Marry someone else.

Or maybe they’re under the impression that the Tribunal must be correct, cuz they know more than them. And don’t realize it can be appealed, if they have doubts.

Let’s face it, how many Catholics are going to fight for a life committed to being single?
 
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Reading threads about annulment always seem a little depressing to me, especially discussion of the grounds for nullity. Jesus’ words about marriage and divorce were much more concise.
 
JimG said:
Reading threads about annulment always seem a little depressing to me, especially discussion of the grounds for nullity. Jesus’ words about marriage and divorce were much more concise.
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Yes. They seem so skilled and knowledgeable at extrapolating grounds for annulments, yet when it comes to interpreting the exception clause in Matthew, they offer about 4 different possibilities, which cannot all be the same.
 
Here is another funny thing about the process:

The Tribunal requires all petitioning couples to file civil divorce, yet if the couple have civilly remarried before or during the process, it is not required to divorce that union, even though that union is undisputably unlawful!

This demonstrates that the Tribunal process already favors a decree of annulment over the validity of Sacrament.
 
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Cases may only be put forward for appeal if new, unheard evidence is produced and added to the Acta. The overwhelming majority of cases concluded are not elligeable for hearing by the Court of the Second Instance. So, your stats would be referring to a minuscule number of cases compared to the entirety of cases concluded by the Court of the First Instace. Indeed.
 
Formal Cases are not appealed to Rome, but to the appropriate juridical entity of the Court of the Second Instance. I believe you are confusing an “appeal” with cases which must be processed by Roman Rota, such as a case containing a Libellus for Petrine Privilege.

I find it noteable that you say most petitioner are not interested in truth. You seem to be calling most petitioners liars. Indeed, you have already called them “ingnorant” unless they study Canon Law. So, I must ask why you harbor such negativities towards those who would, as petitioners, avail themselves of the pastoral healing ministry of a Tribunal.

It has been my overwhelming experience, as Procurator and Advocate for a tribunal, that most petitioners are quite honest and deserving of the dignity and respect Christ would have us give any of the faithful.
 
MaryT777 said:
As I noted the Canon attorney I had in Iowa told me that he could annul every marriage.
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If every Catholic marriage can be annulled, doesn’t that mean that every Catholic marriage is invalid in reality, even though it has not been tested yet and the presumption is that it is valid. According to this canon lawyer, the presumption of validity can always be proven to be false by a Roman Catholic tribunal. Is this how God wants us to understand the Catholic Sacraments? That the Sacrament of Marriage can always be annulled? So in reality, if what the canon lawyer says is true, there are no Catholics who are living together in a marriage which can never be declared null and void?
 
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I don’t believe I said most petitioners are not interested in the truth. If that came across somehow, I’m sorry. And just to let you know, I am not anti-annulment or think the Tribunal is corrupt.

But I think, given all things considered, the Tribunal can err, and also that the grounds for annulments have increased over time.
 
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However, there is a short time frame to be able to appeal, if I’m not mistaken. So if a person or witness has remorse for being dishonest, it can be too late.
 
Hmmm… I wonder.

How often are petitioners already civilly remarried? How many petitioners who are not given a decree of nullity remain single?

And what do you think of post #138?
 
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