If an annulment is granted, can the person be assured that they are free to marry?

[Ben_Sinner]

If an annulment was granted to someone, but the ones granting it were in error, would that person still be free to marry? If they find out the annulment was done in error, are they obligated to stop dating/marrying someone else?

For example.

Bonnie is divorced and starts dating a new man named Billy

The couple ask for an annulment and one is granted to them, but the people who granted it were in error.

Bonnie and Billy take a further look into Canon Law and realize their annulment was granted in error.

Would Bonnie and Billy have to break up?

 

[PaulfromIowa]

Don’t you think that Diocesan Marriage Tribunals are aware of Canon Law?

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

If an annulment was granted to someone, but the ones granting it were in error, would that person still be free to marry? If they find out the annulment was done in error, are they obligated to stop dating/marrying someone else?

For example.

Bonnie is divorced and starts dating a new man named Billy

The couple ask for an annulment and one is granted to them, but the people who granted it were in error.

Bonnie and Billy take a further look into Canon Law and realize their annulment was granted in error.

Would Bonnie and Billy have to break up?

It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Bonnie and Billy are able to correctly interpret a point of Canon Law that was someow missed by the Canon lawyers on the diocesan tribunal, especially by the Canon lawyer on the Tribunal who acts as the Defender of the Bond. And of course “the couple” aren’t asking for a Decree of Nullity; the previously-married party is. Or if each of them were previously married, they would then be asking for two Decrees of Nullity. Unless the parties are aware of knowingly false testimony, they are free to act accordingly based on the Decree.

 

[mdgspencer]

I got an annulment myself. My acceptance of it, to me, is part of my faith in the Church.
Canon law is difficult to understand. Often one part of it can only be properly understood in terms of another. I wouldn’t try myself to rule on any matter in terms of canon law; what you decide could easily be based on a misinterpretation. Furthermore, the Church often rules on matters not covered by canon law, which affect a decision the Church may make.
If someone has such serious doubts, all the same, perhaps they should go to their local diocesan chancery office and ask to speak with someone on the marriage tribunal about it.

 

[RPRPsych]

If an annulment was granted to someone, but the ones granting it were in error, would that person still be free to marry? If they find out the annulment was done in error, are they obligated to stop dating/marrying someone else?

For example.

Bonnie is divorced and starts dating a new man named Billy

The couple ask for an annulment and one is granted to them, but the people who granted it were in error.

Bonnie and Billy take a further look into Canon Law and realize their annulment was granted in error.

Would Bonnie and Billy have to break up?

No, I don’t think so. Annulments take time to be granted. While there can always be legitimate debate about the grounds for them, I don’t think tribunals make careless mistakes that easily.

The only exception would be if the marriage was declared null due to a problem on Bonnie’s side (say, psychological incapacity) which still held good (say, she remained severely mentally ill and could not provide valid consent for a second marriage).

As a general rule: Private interpretations of Canon Law, like private interpretations of Scripture, are generally faulty. (I assume Bonnie and Billy are not canon lawyers.) Look at how the Sedevacantists use it, for example.

 

[fbl9]

If an annulment was granted to someone, but the ones granting it were in error, would that person still be free to marry? If they find out the annulment was done in error, are they obligated to stop dating/marrying someone else?

For example.

Bonnie is divorced and starts dating a new man named Billy

The couple ask for an annulment and one is granted to them, but the people who granted it were in error.

Bonnie and Billy take a further look into Canon Law and realize their annulment was granted in error.

Would Bonnie and Billy have to break up?

Since you have received sound replies may i ask why you ask such a question.

 

[MaryT777]

The tribunal is not and does not claim to be infallible. The second instance court does and can disagree with the first court. It’s a flawed process but the only one we have.

Ultimately it is a matter of authority. If you believe that the Catholic Church has the authority to engage in such a process then we are obliged to go by the rulings they issue.

That said, many Catholics leave the Catholic Church for this very reason. It’s a long and arduous process to go through this process and I have done so.

We look to the year of Mercy.

Mary.

 

[powerofk]

The tribunal is not and does not claim to be infallible. The second instance court does and can disagree with the first court. It’s a flawed process but the only one we have.

Ultimately it is a matter of authority. If you believe that the Catholic Church has the authority to engage in such a process then we are obliged to go by the rulings they issue.

That said, many Catholics leave the Catholic Church for this very reason. It’s a long and arduous process to go through this process and I have done so.

We look to the year of Mercy.

Mary.

Also, even when granting an annulment, the tribunal can place restrictions on future marriages for either the petitioner, the respondent, or both. If either try to marry again, it is up to the pastor to make sure that whatever has been required has been completed.

 

[Ben_Sinner]

Since you have received sound replies may i ask why you ask such a question.

Scruples.

 

[fbl9]

The tribunal is not and does not claim to be infallible. The second instance court does and can disagree with the first court. It’s a flawed process but the only one we have.

Ultimately it is a matter of authority. If you believe that the Catholic Church has the authority to engage in such a process then we are obliged to go by the rulings they issue.

That said, many Catholics leave the Catholic Church for this very reason. It’s a long and arduous process to go through this process and I have done so.

We look to the year of Mercy.

Mary.

Scruples.

Been there i can honestly say and the solution has already been given by MaryT777

 

[Don_Ruggero]

If an annulment was granted to someone, but the ones granting it were in error, would that person still be free to marry? If they find out the annulment was done in error, are they obligated to stop dating/marrying someone else?

For example.

Bonnie is divorced and starts dating a new man named Billy

The couple ask for an annulment and one is granted to them, but the people who granted it were in error.

Bonnie and Billy take a further look into Canon Law and realize their annulment was granted in error.

Would Bonnie and Billy have to break up?

It is interesting…to come to this question as my pilgrimage moves towards it conclusion and after so many years as a priest who held a variety of offices and responsibilities in that span of time.

I think back to the people I worked with. An ever growing number of whom are no longer with us. (Declarations of nullity are not decided by one person, you know, working in a broom closet in the diocesan curia.)

I think of all the studies we had to accomplish to attain the education required to hold certain positions of trust.

Then, after the education, the real apprenticeships a young priest goes through. (Of course, then, there is the mentoring that the old priests give on the other end of the equation, as we in turn try to give the next generation the same benefit we had in decades past from those who were before us.)

And then…no offense is meant to the original poster, please…I read that a couple picked up the Code of Canon Law and made the decision by their own insight that we all got it wrong. The court of first instance. The court of second instance. The whole lot of us.

If the original poster is suffering from scruples, then that condition should be addressed with a good confessor/spiritual director. Because that is the issue. Not going back to the tribunal for reassurances.

A tribunal is a court of law…it operates on canon law rather than civil law but it is a court of law. Its decisions are not protected by the charism of infallibility. They are prudential judgements arrived at according to the norm of law and due process.

That said, I can’t think of a case personally where I could not affirm before God that the judgement was, to the fullest extent I could establish, correct and just. Because, in point of fact, I will have to answer before God one day. And I never lost sight of that with the things I was doing and the decisions I was making. I was never blithe.