MERGED: Annulments: the Catholic divorce/Requirements & Reasons?

[Bearsong]

A bit late coming to the table on this one, but Tantum Ergo’s response was very helpful and concise. Thanks. It actually gives me hope that maybe I can receive an annulment and will be able to move on in a positive and right relationship with my church. Really, thanks!

 

[Emerite]

What is your opinion? If two persons were truly in love with each other (chaste soul mates that lasted for many decades, the latter decades via telephone), and for several reasons (i.e., coming from different cultures, nationalities, lack of peer approval, not emotionally or financially ready for marriage, too young, etc.) didn’t become engaged nor married, and one person married another because, at the time, it seemed to be the proper thing to do (with a consenting mind, but non-consenting heart), would that young person who married have cause for an annulment? Could this constitute not freely consenting to this marriage? Just wanted to know – the answer would be moot because one party has since died.

 

[Vico]

What is your opinion? If two persons were truly in love with each other (chaste soul mates that lasted for many decades, the latter decades via telephone), and for several reasons (i.e., coming from different cultures, nationalities, lack of peer approval, not emotionally or financially ready for marriage, too young, etc.) didn’t become engaged nor married, and one person married another because, at the time, it seemed to be the proper thing to do (with a consenting mind, but non-consenting heart), would that young person who married have cause for an annulment? Could this constitute not freely consenting to this marriage? Just wanted to know – the answer would be moot because one party has since died.

No. You qualified it “with a consenting mind”.

Force (Canon 1103)
You or your spouse married because of an external physical or moral force that you could not resist.

Fear (1103)
You or your spouse chose to marry because of fear that was grave and inescapable and was caused by an outside source.

 

[copperblade]

What is your opinion? If two persons were truly in love with each other (chaste soul mates that lasted for many decades, the latter decades via telephone), and for several reasons (i.e., coming from different cultures, nationalities, lack of peer approval, not emotionally or financially ready for marriage, too young, etc.) didn’t become engaged nor married, and one person married another because, at the time, it seemed to be the proper thing to do (with a consenting mind, but non-consenting heart), would that young person who married have cause for an annulment? Could this constitute not freely consenting to this marriage? Just wanted to know – the answer would be moot because one party has since died.

If you’re asking for a personal opinion, I would say no.

 

[PJM]

=copperblade;8069845]By the book, annulments make sense: a marriage was invalid, therefore you aren’t married. But I’ve heard people requesting annulments that seemed like it was just a way of getting out of a marriage they didn’t like anymore. Without getting too personal, I knew a couple that had a child that were getting an annulment although they were married in the Church, and they were separated.

I hear people say that it’s just the Catholic loophole for divorce. Are annulments often rejected? For what reasons? I get the impression that almost anyone can get an annulment if they just wait long enough for approval.

But this is what I really have a problem with: how do any of us know if our marriages are really valid? I mean people can go for years thinking they’re in a perfectly valid marriage, then maybe they don’t want to be married anymore, and what a relief it must be for them to realize they weren’t really ever married to begin with. But what does that mean for the rest of us who never try to get an annulment?

NO

Divorce voids a marrige and sets it asside.

Annulment states FACTUALLY, after a THOROUGH investication that “NO VALID MARRIAGE” existed and therefore a sepration is possible.

God Bless,
Pat

 

[otjm]

In the US there is something in the claim of the original poster:

canonlaw.info/a_annulments.htm

The main point is that

In the early 1960s, about 300 declarations of nullity came from the United States each year; today that annual figure has grown to over 60,000.{/QUOTE]And that is due to a number of circumstances, among them changes in the law between the 1917 Code (in which there were extremely limited grounds for a decree) and the 1983 code, which acknowledged the vast increase in information concerning psychological issues, among other things, and the vastly increased understanding of what the term “intent” actually meant and consisted of.
laszlo;8090733:

and also that over 80% of the cases the nullity is approved.

This, with no explanation is a patently false statistic. The only records of approval or disapproval are those in which the case actually gets to a decision. That is, it is not a record of how many approvals are given for the number of cases filed; it is only for cases completed. and even that statistic - % of decrees granted of all cases filed would not tell the full story, because it would not cover the cases that are started (and by this, I mean at the minimum an inquiry with a priest or other person in a position to move a case forward and the number of decrees granted.

CARA keesp statistics on various Church issues. According to CARA, 7% of cases started (not filed - started, which is before a case is filed) are ulitmately granted a decree of nullity, 8% of those started do not receive a decree of nullity (the greater majority either not being filed, of being filed and withdrawn), and 85% of marriages ending in divorce never even seek a decree.

As far as I remember the popes (either Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI) questioned the prudence of the American diocesan courts

John Paul twice took Canon lawyers to task (along with the tribunals) because there was fairly clear evidence that some cases were being improperly decided. Undoubtedly some of those cases would not ultimately have ended in a decree; but that is not evidence that all cases decided on the grounds he was objecting to would not have been granted on other grounds, had the case been more carefully prepared and tried.

The extremely disturbing is the huge difference between the American cases and the other parts of the world. I know in details only the Hungarian practice, but over there the annulment is extremely rare, over here the denial is rare.

This issue has been vetted elsewhere, and in fact Rome has addressed the rest of the world in that they - the rest of the world - are not adequately addressing the issues. If you have a chancery that doesn’t even own an operating fax machine, if you don’t even have a tribunal, if you don’t have adequately trained Canon lawyers to handle matters, if you don’t have a properly trained clergy to address the issues, if you have divorce laws that make it anywhere from very difficult to almost impossible to get a divorce, then the issues of nullity of a marriage are simply not going to be addressed. That does not mean that the rest of the world has fewer invalid marriages; it only means that the issues are not being addressed.

In addition there are cultural issues; in some areas of Europe where only maybe 5% of Catholics attend Mass on a regular basis, the statistics are probably significantly higher of people not even seeking a decree - they don’t care. People have to care a minimum amount to even ask the question, let alone go through the process.

 

[otjm]

I would like opinions re: my situation. It’s a bit convoluted but here it is…

My husband and I were married in the Catholic Church in a Catholic Ceremony. I was not Catholic at this time but converted many years later, nor was he a truely committed Catholic. We both were agreeable to using birth control for the first two years of our marriage, after which no further birth control was used because both of us proved to be infertile, not because we consciously wanted to be open to life. There was no conscious effort or true understanding on my part until my conversion to be “open to life” as defined by the Church.

Here it is 20+ years later and we are permanently separated. After less than 6 months my husband (who professes to be a near perfect Catholic) has a steady girlfriend and I am anticipating his attempt to acquire an annulment. I am currious to know if he has grounds based on the above information.

Any opinion would be appreciated.

Thanks

Gracie

There is danger in asking for opinions from people who are not Canon lawyers, or at least who are not actively involved in the process of case preparation and presentation to a tribunal. Without a lot more information it is not possible to determine if there are grounds for a decree of nullity; and further, the actual grounds may be something else other than what you have postulated.

Be aware also that there are a tremendous amount of emotions attached to issues of marriage, divorce, decrees of nullity, remarriage, etc. and that emotions are not rational in an of themselves - they are emotions, and they can cloud issues thoroughly. There are people who have been on what they feel is the wrong end of a divorce (they did not institute the legal proceedings); the other party then institutes proceedings with a tribunal, the tribunal grants a decree, and the first party, because of the emotions, cannot and will not accept the decision of the Church. Their pain is too near, too intense, and their understanding of the process and results of the tribunal is too clouded by personal opinion (as opposed to fact) and the short of it is that they will never accept the results. I have come across these situations more than a handful of times and the best I can say is that the situations are tremendously sad. Without meaning to be derogatory, I refer to them as professional victims -they bleed on anyone who comes within hearing distance.

That is not to say that you fit this category - I do not mean that. It is, however, to say that most lay people have a very limited understanding of sacraments, and in particular the sacrament of marriage, and coupled with that, if they are on what they consider the wrong end of the stick, they often take the issue out on the Church by withdrawing participation.

It is possible that either of you, or both of you could apply to the tribunal for a decision. However, it will ultimately be up to the people involved to determine if there may be ground, and if so, what they are.