L
Lorrie
Guest
God bless the annulment process! This will definitely give your fiancee time to really realize what he’s getting into. 
- Status
J
Jaded27
Guest
You meant that jokingly right? Trust me, he’s no picnic either.God bless the annulment process! This will definitely give your fiancee time to really realize what he’s getting into.
lol.
C
CARose
Guest
Hey, I thought you liked the guy! 
CARose
CARose
J
Jaded27
Guest
LOL. Yea, he’s a keeper.Hey, I thought you liked the guy!
CARose
J
Jaded27
Guest
Tiny update:
Have not heard anything more from the tribunal since receiving the initial “sign this to state your purpose” paperwork. My witnesses have not received anything either. Not sure about the ex. Haven’t had the guts to ask.
In the meantime I started shopping for wedding dresses. Really excited about it. And I THINK I’ve picked my bridal party. It’s really tough since I’m not going to have any of my JW friends in it, obviously. Instead I’ve got my ex jw best friend, a girl who said if she sets foot in a church it’ll burn down (she’s making an exception for me) and a girl who is Catholic. Yea. . .eclectic doesn’t begin to describe eh?
So that’s what’s going on. Not too much new. I’ll keep ya updated.
Have not heard anything more from the tribunal since receiving the initial “sign this to state your purpose” paperwork. My witnesses have not received anything either. Not sure about the ex. Haven’t had the guts to ask.
In the meantime I started shopping for wedding dresses. Really excited about it. And I THINK I’ve picked my bridal party. It’s really tough since I’m not going to have any of my JW friends in it, obviously. Instead I’ve got my ex jw best friend, a girl who said if she sets foot in a church it’ll burn down (she’s making an exception for me) and a girl who is Catholic. Yea. . .eclectic doesn’t begin to describe eh?
So that’s what’s going on. Not too much new. I’ll keep ya updated.
J
JP_Augustine
Guest
Jaded,
Thanks for the update…I met with my priest on Monday and got the glorious news that I need to do TWO annulments. How great is that???
His comment to me: “once we submit the paperwork, we just wait…and wait…and wait.” So, I guess you’re gonna be in the same boat! Ah, patience…what a virtue!
Glad you’re able to get the process rolling.
Talk to you later,
JPA
Thanks for the update…I met with my priest on Monday and got the glorious news that I need to do TWO annulments. How great is that???
His comment to me: “once we submit the paperwork, we just wait…and wait…and wait.” So, I guess you’re gonna be in the same boat! Ah, patience…what a virtue!
Glad you’re able to get the process rolling.
Talk to you later,
JPA
J
Jaded27
Guest
JP Augustine:
JP Augustine:
Augh, great fun.Jaded,
Thanks for the update…I met with my priest on Monday and got the glorious news that I need to do TWO annulments. How great is that???
JP Augustine:
yes, I was told our diocese is not that backed up so hopefully it’ll only take about six months. But of course the priest couldn’t promise anything. ::sigh:: Stressful, isn’t it?His comment to me: “once we submit the paperwork, we just wait…and wait…and wait.” So, I guess you’re gonna be in the same boat! Ah, patience…what a virtue!
J
JP_Augustine
Guest
Um, yeah, you could say that…it’s toughing having your life on hold like this. But, it’s important enough to deal with the inconvenience. One of the things I’m learning is how seriously the Church views marriage, and for me, that’s a really good thing to learn throughout this process.
Plus, this is so difficult, I don’t EVER want to have to go through this again!!!
JPA
C
catsrus
Guest
LOL!!
After waiting 2 years to get my DH’s and my “pasts” ironed out through the annullment procedure, we had our marrige convalidated by my parish priest.
Afterwards, we out to dinner and I told him, “You are so stuck bub! There will NEVER be any divorce so don’t ever even think it. I will never go through all that again.” (thank goodness he agreed.) Wheewww!
J
Jaded27
Guest
Just a little update for you all (I know you’re so anxious for one 
).
My four witnesses already received their paperwork last week. My best friend filled hers out and sent it back. Her boyfriend and my two male friends from my star wars group are taking longer. A lot of the questions have to do with my mindset before I was married. . .stuff like that. . .
Problem is, I only have one friend who knew me before I was married. Who can answer the questionaire anyway. So the diocese will just have to take what it can get I guess.
Anyway, I guess it’s good that they did send out the paperwork already. I really want to get this all settled asap.
I have been out of work for two weeks (just went back this past monday) due to back surgery so I haven’t been online much or doing much of anything at all for a while.
I called FI’s priest the other day to ask him about my friends not being able to answer some of the questions. We chatted for a minute and I asked him when the next mass was that he was officiating. He told me and he also said to tell my FI that all soul’s day was a holy day of obligation. I told him I was going to just remind FI and not say that I had talked to the priest at all and really freak him out. He laughed and said go for it. I like people like that. Normal down to earth ones.
So, here’s hoping my friends get on the ball and send those back quickly. We’ve been overnighting everything we get to get the point across that we NEED this done. Wedding plans have gone ahead and we’re looking at a reception site this week. I"m also doing some follow-up dress shopping on Saturday. So exciting.
So, how is everyone else?
).My four witnesses already received their paperwork last week. My best friend filled hers out and sent it back. Her boyfriend and my two male friends from my star wars group are taking longer. A lot of the questions have to do with my mindset before I was married. . .stuff like that. . .
Problem is, I only have one friend who knew me before I was married. Who can answer the questionaire anyway. So the diocese will just have to take what it can get I guess.
Anyway, I guess it’s good that they did send out the paperwork already. I really want to get this all settled asap.
I have been out of work for two weeks (just went back this past monday) due to back surgery so I haven’t been online much or doing much of anything at all for a while.
I called FI’s priest the other day to ask him about my friends not being able to answer some of the questions. We chatted for a minute and I asked him when the next mass was that he was officiating. He told me and he also said to tell my FI that all soul’s day was a holy day of obligation. I told him I was going to just remind FI and not say that I had talked to the priest at all and really freak him out. He laughed and said go for it. I like people like that. Normal down to earth ones.
So, here’s hoping my friends get on the ball and send those back quickly. We’ve been overnighting everything we get to get the point across that we NEED this done. Wedding plans have gone ahead and we’re looking at a reception site this week. I"m also doing some follow-up dress shopping on Saturday. So exciting.
So, how is everyone else?
C
carol_marie
Guest
Hi Jaded,
Glad your paperwork is in motion. Hopefully your friends will come though & get it all done & sent back?
Sorry about your back surgery… I hope you’re healing.
Take Care,
CM
Glad your paperwork is in motion. Hopefully your friends will come though & get it all done & sent back?
Sorry about your back surgery… I hope you’re healing.
Take Care,
CM
J
Jaded27
Guest
carol marie:
I’m healing. Slowly but surely. I wish I could have taken one more week off of work, but money is sort of necessary to life.
I just found out that another friend did send it out so I’m just waiting on two. I wrote to one guy and asked him about it among a couple other things. He was having a really bad day - fight with the wife, speeding ticket this morning. . . .so I think it got lost in the shuffle. I hope he does it soon.
I’m healing. Slowly but surely. I wish I could have taken one more week off of work, but money is sort of necessary to life.
K
kaysette
Guest
My case is a bit different than yours. My husband and I have been in several different protestant churches all of our lives. Our last one we were a part of was a non-denominiational church. We recently became convinced that the Catholic Church is the first & true church that Christ instituted on earth. Once we realized that none of the churches we attended believed that taking communion was actually eating the real body and blood of Christ and that Catholics actually believed in the miracle of Christ changing the wine and bread into HIM, we wanted this so badly we could hardly get to a Catholic Church fast enough.
I am very familiar with your religion, as my daughter married a JW and they loved each other so much. She was so convinced that she would be able to keep her Christian beliefs and he was so sure he would convince her that JW beliefs were the truth. This became such a horrible situation, you cannot believe. They are now divorced. Bottom line, *their beliefs weren’t even close to the same once they got down to defining what they each meant by their similar religous terms. * But that’s not why I am posting to you…
My husband and I have been happily married for 23 years. We have gone to the same church and believed the same things. We raised many children together. Our divorces are in the LONG past. Right now, we can’t even think of anyone who knows a thing about the conditions of my first marriage–nor anyone of his friends and family who WILL agree to fill out forms which will enable my husband to be a Catholic. (That’s how strong the anti-Catholic feelings run in his religious background). We are very worried that the Tribunal will not grant our annulments because we simply may not have any living or willing witnesses who will fill out forms.
I am anxious to have this process finished, but was told to be prepared for as long as 2 years. I am anxious because my heart so desires to partake of the REAL BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST, as Christ told about in the Bible. My husband and I wonder if we will ever have the passion of our hearts fulfilled–and that is to be part of the original church Christ instituted on the earth. The desire burns in our hearts.
This string has been a bit troubling to me, because we are going through this most painful process of bringing up a time our lives which was so very long ago and something we thought Christ had forgiven us for doing. The fact that a Priest, (which I had come to believe were Christ’s ministers on the earth), seems to think it is alright for your husband to marry someone who is a JW…in the Catholic Church…is a bit confusing to me.
Am I to understand this right? It is “ok” for your fiancee to partake of the Holy Mass, live with you prior to marriage and marry you? And it is not “ok” for my husband and I who have served the Lord (in the capacity we have known to be the truth) and been married for 23 years, cannot have Holy Communion for 2 years? Neither of us knew a thing about the Catholic Church except negative things for all our lives and didn’t know any better until now–and our entire motive to go through this Tribunal is to simply partake of the Holy Eucharist and OBEY JESUS —and yours is to get married and remain a Jehovah’s Witness. And, It sounds like you will be getting yours through on a “rush” basis only for the purpose of having an *unequally yoked * marriage.
This is nothing against you, Jaded. I am really starting to question this whole process and why this is going to be so difficult and so long for my husband and I, who have motives to simply belong to the Church and obey Jesus.
Please, if anyone else is reading this – is something wrong with this picture? Do Catholic Priests and/or the Church think it is alright for their members to marry someone who believe doctrines so violently opposed to the Catholic Church and still allow her fiancess to partake of the Eurcharist? When he is living with her?
I am really getting disillusioned here. My “X” son in law didn’t even believe there is a hell that burns forever and ever with an unquenchable fire. He practically drove my daughter insane insisting that Jesus was NOT God.
Sorry…I only stepped into my first Catholic Mass a month ago. It was truly like coming home and I felt I finally found a shepherd in a church whom I could fully trust to teach me truth.
And Jaded, I just have one question for you: If you love your fiancee so much and you trust and respect him enough to marry him – then why don’t you love and trust him enough to be part of the church which he apparently trusts and loves?
I am very familiar with your religion, as my daughter married a JW and they loved each other so much. She was so convinced that she would be able to keep her Christian beliefs and he was so sure he would convince her that JW beliefs were the truth. This became such a horrible situation, you cannot believe. They are now divorced. Bottom line, *their beliefs weren’t even close to the same once they got down to defining what they each meant by their similar religous terms. * But that’s not why I am posting to you…
My husband and I have been happily married for 23 years. We have gone to the same church and believed the same things. We raised many children together. Our divorces are in the LONG past. Right now, we can’t even think of anyone who knows a thing about the conditions of my first marriage–nor anyone of his friends and family who WILL agree to fill out forms which will enable my husband to be a Catholic. (That’s how strong the anti-Catholic feelings run in his religious background). We are very worried that the Tribunal will not grant our annulments because we simply may not have any living or willing witnesses who will fill out forms.
I am anxious to have this process finished, but was told to be prepared for as long as 2 years. I am anxious because my heart so desires to partake of the REAL BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST, as Christ told about in the Bible. My husband and I wonder if we will ever have the passion of our hearts fulfilled–and that is to be part of the original church Christ instituted on the earth. The desire burns in our hearts.
This string has been a bit troubling to me, because we are going through this most painful process of bringing up a time our lives which was so very long ago and something we thought Christ had forgiven us for doing. The fact that a Priest, (which I had come to believe were Christ’s ministers on the earth), seems to think it is alright for your husband to marry someone who is a JW…in the Catholic Church…is a bit confusing to me.
Am I to understand this right? It is “ok” for your fiancee to partake of the Holy Mass, live with you prior to marriage and marry you? And it is not “ok” for my husband and I who have served the Lord (in the capacity we have known to be the truth) and been married for 23 years, cannot have Holy Communion for 2 years? Neither of us knew a thing about the Catholic Church except negative things for all our lives and didn’t know any better until now–and our entire motive to go through this Tribunal is to simply partake of the Holy Eucharist and OBEY JESUS —and yours is to get married and remain a Jehovah’s Witness. And, It sounds like you will be getting yours through on a “rush” basis only for the purpose of having an *unequally yoked * marriage.
This is nothing against you, Jaded. I am really starting to question this whole process and why this is going to be so difficult and so long for my husband and I, who have motives to simply belong to the Church and obey Jesus.
Please, if anyone else is reading this – is something wrong with this picture? Do Catholic Priests and/or the Church think it is alright for their members to marry someone who believe doctrines so violently opposed to the Catholic Church and still allow her fiancess to partake of the Eurcharist? When he is living with her?
I am really getting disillusioned here. My “X” son in law didn’t even believe there is a hell that burns forever and ever with an unquenchable fire. He practically drove my daughter insane insisting that Jesus was NOT God.
Sorry…I only stepped into my first Catholic Mass a month ago. It was truly like coming home and I felt I finally found a shepherd in a church whom I could fully trust to teach me truth.
And Jaded, I just have one question for you: If you love your fiancee so much and you trust and respect him enough to marry him – then why don’t you love and trust him enough to be part of the church which he apparently trusts and loves?
C
Chris_LaRock
Guest
Jaded27,
Aren’t you risking being disfellowshipped by the Watchtower Organization for marrying a non-Jehovah’s Witness? I thought they had strict rules against their members marrying outside the faith. I know of JWs who were forbidden to associate with people they know who weren’t members.
Aren’t you risking being disfellowshipped by the Watchtower Organization for marrying a non-Jehovah’s Witness? I thought they had strict rules against their members marrying outside the faith. I know of JWs who were forbidden to associate with people they know who weren’t members.
J
Jaded27
Guest
Chris LaRock:
And to kaysette - you said, “Please, if anyone else is reading this – is something wrong with this picture? Do Catholic Priests and/or the Church think it is alright for their members to marry someone who believe doctrines so violently opposed to the Catholic Church and still allow her fiancess to partake of the Eurcharist? When he is living with her?”
Since we are only living together for financial purposes and my FI already went to confession about it, that is why he is not in trouble.
And yes, I do love and respect my FI and I trust him, but I don’t agree with all the beliefs of the church. You could turn it around on him and say the same - why doesn’t he just become a JW? But that’s the way everyone ELSE thinks, not the way he and I think. We are happy with our lives together and are very respectful of one another’s beliefs. It’s just not a problem for us. Lots of people have trouble understanding that, but when you love someone you can work through a lot of stuff.
I wish you well with your annullment. I can’t be of much help in encouraging you since this process has been extremely frustrating for me and especially because I am legally divorced, which is good enough for other religions. But I"m doing it for my FI so. . . That’s all I need to know.
You don’t get DF’d for it as long as you have an honorable courtship (no sex before marriage). It’s not encouraged, true, but they can’t tell you not to marry someone and then get you in trouble for it.
And to kaysette - you said, “Please, if anyone else is reading this – is something wrong with this picture? Do Catholic Priests and/or the Church think it is alright for their members to marry someone who believe doctrines so violently opposed to the Catholic Church and still allow her fiancess to partake of the Eurcharist? When he is living with her?”
Since we are only living together for financial purposes and my FI already went to confession about it, that is why he is not in trouble.
And yes, I do love and respect my FI and I trust him, but I don’t agree with all the beliefs of the church. You could turn it around on him and say the same - why doesn’t he just become a JW? But that’s the way everyone ELSE thinks, not the way he and I think. We are happy with our lives together and are very respectful of one another’s beliefs. It’s just not a problem for us. Lots of people have trouble understanding that, but when you love someone you can work through a lot of stuff.
I wish you well with your annullment. I can’t be of much help in encouraging you since this process has been extremely frustrating for me and especially because I am legally divorced, which is good enough for other religions. But I"m doing it for my FI so. . . That’s all I need to know.
K
kaysette
Guest
Well, most Christian churches will not agree to marry 2 people from 2 opposing religions, nor one believer to another unbeliever. I know, because in my first marriage, my “X” faked “being saved” (by his own admission) so the minister would agree to marry us. He actually went through all the motions in premarital counseling. He was, in fact, agnostic. Because no ministers would even agree to join us in matrimony, he played the game with this particular pastor.
As a new convert, I will tell you that I had more than a few problems with the beliefs of the Catholic Church. It took me 5 secretive years of research to even have the courage to tell my husband that I was studying it with an open mind! I had been taught much like you have been taught: that the Catholic Church has desecrated the Holy Bible and it was not accurate, that they have murdered millions of “true” believers over the century, that they did NOT teach nor preach what the Apostles taught, that the Pope was the THE SPIRIT of Anti-Christ and would one day be THE ANTICHRIST, that the RCC and all denominations were the Mother Whore of Babylon and her children, that they used relics to use and abuse, deceive and extort money from their parisheners, that they did NOT allow their people to read or have the Bible, that they lied about the Godhead, about Mary and probably just about every other doctrine. No one could have started studying Catholicism as closed minded as I was!
Not only that, but I had also studied and considered Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower doctrines, as well as actually became a part of yet another “cult”. The cult I was part of was very anti-denominational, believing that all organized religions were false and anti-christ.
The baggage I carried, even without fully realizing it, was unbelievable. I was even DF’d from 2 different churches – one which DF’d for taking communion with another denomination, and one which DF’d for speaking in tongues or simply believing that it can happen “today”.
Take it from me, Jaded, you owe it to yourself and to your precious fiancee, to REALLY STUDY his church. You will be quite surrpised to open up a whole new wonderful facet of his life. Maybe even HE needs to dig deep into his roots and find out WHY and WHAT he believes. You stand at the threshold of the most wonderful thing which has ever occurred in your life. Don’t throw it away…
If you are blessed enough to get your annulment and get married in the Catholic Church, then LEARN IT, EMBRACE IT, and thank God in Heaven that He gave YOU the grace to FIND HER. You have a chance that few get and this is too great a pearl to take lightly. If you love your husband, and you want the best for your lives and marriage and have something NOW, then realize this: Anything you have NOW is NOTHING like the total miracle of the Holy Catholic Church. No church has ever been fought like this church. No church as as misrepresented as this Church. No church fulfills the prophecy that “all generations will call” Mary “Blessed” except this church, no church offers you the REAL flesh and blood of Jesus Christ like this church. If you study it–TRULY STUDY IT, it will blow your socks off. If you are going to be dedicated to something like I know you are capable of – place your loyalty and enthusiam into something which is truly the church “that the gates of hell will not prevail against.”
I am NOT against you, Jaded, I am FOR YOU. You seem like someone who is not used to taking the path of least resistance. You are a fighter, passionate, a lover of TRUTH, and one who can stand up to criticism and pressure. For you to convert to Catholicicm may be the scariest thing you have ever done – but I want to suggest to you that you FULLY TRUST your husband AND HIS BELIEFS and enter into what may truly be the best thing you have ever done. If you don’t…you will be missing the “pearl of great price” buried in your “own back yard.”
As a new convert, I will tell you that I had more than a few problems with the beliefs of the Catholic Church. It took me 5 secretive years of research to even have the courage to tell my husband that I was studying it with an open mind! I had been taught much like you have been taught: that the Catholic Church has desecrated the Holy Bible and it was not accurate, that they have murdered millions of “true” believers over the century, that they did NOT teach nor preach what the Apostles taught, that the Pope was the THE SPIRIT of Anti-Christ and would one day be THE ANTICHRIST, that the RCC and all denominations were the Mother Whore of Babylon and her children, that they used relics to use and abuse, deceive and extort money from their parisheners, that they did NOT allow their people to read or have the Bible, that they lied about the Godhead, about Mary and probably just about every other doctrine. No one could have started studying Catholicism as closed minded as I was!
Not only that, but I had also studied and considered Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower doctrines, as well as actually became a part of yet another “cult”. The cult I was part of was very anti-denominational, believing that all organized religions were false and anti-christ.
The baggage I carried, even without fully realizing it, was unbelievable. I was even DF’d from 2 different churches – one which DF’d for taking communion with another denomination, and one which DF’d for speaking in tongues or simply believing that it can happen “today”.
Take it from me, Jaded, you owe it to yourself and to your precious fiancee, to REALLY STUDY his church. You will be quite surrpised to open up a whole new wonderful facet of his life. Maybe even HE needs to dig deep into his roots and find out WHY and WHAT he believes. You stand at the threshold of the most wonderful thing which has ever occurred in your life. Don’t throw it away…
If you are blessed enough to get your annulment and get married in the Catholic Church, then LEARN IT, EMBRACE IT, and thank God in Heaven that He gave YOU the grace to FIND HER. You have a chance that few get and this is too great a pearl to take lightly. If you love your husband, and you want the best for your lives and marriage and have something NOW, then realize this: Anything you have NOW is NOTHING like the total miracle of the Holy Catholic Church. No church has ever been fought like this church. No church as as misrepresented as this Church. No church fulfills the prophecy that “all generations will call” Mary “Blessed” except this church, no church offers you the REAL flesh and blood of Jesus Christ like this church. If you study it–TRULY STUDY IT, it will blow your socks off. If you are going to be dedicated to something like I know you are capable of – place your loyalty and enthusiam into something which is truly the church “that the gates of hell will not prevail against.”
I am NOT against you, Jaded, I am FOR YOU. You seem like someone who is not used to taking the path of least resistance. You are a fighter, passionate, a lover of TRUTH, and one who can stand up to criticism and pressure. For you to convert to Catholicicm may be the scariest thing you have ever done – but I want to suggest to you that you FULLY TRUST your husband AND HIS BELIEFS and enter into what may truly be the best thing you have ever done. If you don’t…you will be missing the “pearl of great price” buried in your “own back yard.”
C
catsrus
Guest
Please take a deep breath and regroup!
When I finally realized the Truth of Holy Mother Church, I too had MANY obstacles to overcome. I was married to (and still am) an agnostic, who is STILL an agnostic. Both of us had led a hedonistic lifestyle for years and going through the annulment process was a two year long nightmare. No family support at all.
But I did hang in there for love of Christ.
And, eventually, it all worked out.
Pray! pray! pray!
Look not at the lives and situations of others. Only look to yourselves and your own stiving for Christ.
You are already one up on quite a few folks because you have the support of a spouse that believes as you do and wants the same relationship with Christ.
What seems like a wearisomely protracted period of time to you now is but a drop in the ocean of eternal life you will eventually share with Christ.
Hang in there!
K
kaysette
Guest
Thanks for the encouragement! We actually beginning to believe that the very obstacles we are facing are yet more proof that we are on the right track. Satan doesn’t like the Catholic church…AT ALL.
- Status