T
TabbyLilac
Guest
Hi there. I will cut right to the chase. I was raised by atheist parents. In my 20s I was married and divorced twice, both times in civil ceremonies. The first one ended when my husband had a vasectomy without my consent right after discovering I was pregnant. He then forced me to have an abortion. It nearly ruined my life and pushed me into a deep depression. We divorced. I fell into drugs to escape the pain of having my child taken from me. I then married the first man who would go out with me who also wanted children (in a civil ceremony). A month into our marriage he became abusive and told me that he had changed his mind and absolutely did not want children. He became a heavy drug abuser and had severe mental health issues. Finally he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a few weeks and I used the opportunity to escape and file for divorce. I was at rock bottom and didn’t know how to fix my life, and then one night I broke down and prayed to God to save me and surrendered myself to Jesus. That was 5 years ago. I have been in a serious relationship with a kind, loving, hardworking, honest man for about 4 years. We have a 2-year old and a 5-month old. We both have good jobs and we were baptized together into the Christian faith along with our newborn daughter at the Methodist Church. We work hard to raise our children right and to be good Christians. I have felt the Catholic Church calling to my heart since I was a child and attended Mass occasionally with a Catholic friend of mine. I have always known that I wanted to be Catholic, that I was Catholic in my heart, but after the many terrible sins I committed earlier in my life (drugs, 2 pointless marriages, lying, cursing, etc) that the Catholic Church would never accept me. Recently though the calling to purse becoming Catholic has been almost a physical sensation and I have begun reading and studying and learning all I can about Catholicism.
I understand that a divorced person who wants to become Catholic and re-marry must obtain an annulment from the Church and that there are certain criteria which must be met. I feel that both of my former “marriages” would meet these criteria but I’m not certain.
For one thing, both marriages took place before I had ever been baptized and was not a Christian. I believe both of my ex-husband’s had been baptized as infants but both were atheists by the time I knew them. Also both were civil ceremonies, not religious ceremonies. And both men decided AFTER we were married that they did not want children, despite the fact that I did and that this had been discussed beforehand.
However, I could not find anything specifically addressing whether it was possible to have TWO marriages annulled or whether the church can only annul one previous marriage. I would greatly appreciate any insight into this… there is SO much riding on it for me. My fiance and I have a family together and wish to become Catholics, be married in the Catholic church, and raise our children as Catholics. My fiance has never been married, but I am so afraid that my 2 awful mistakes of marriages will prevent me from being able to receive sacrament and that our marriage would not be recognized by the Catholic Church.
Can anyone answer this for me? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.
I understand that a divorced person who wants to become Catholic and re-marry must obtain an annulment from the Church and that there are certain criteria which must be met. I feel that both of my former “marriages” would meet these criteria but I’m not certain.
For one thing, both marriages took place before I had ever been baptized and was not a Christian. I believe both of my ex-husband’s had been baptized as infants but both were atheists by the time I knew them. Also both were civil ceremonies, not religious ceremonies. And both men decided AFTER we were married that they did not want children, despite the fact that I did and that this had been discussed beforehand.
However, I could not find anything specifically addressing whether it was possible to have TWO marriages annulled or whether the church can only annul one previous marriage. I would greatly appreciate any insight into this… there is SO much riding on it for me. My fiance and I have a family together and wish to become Catholics, be married in the Catholic church, and raise our children as Catholics. My fiance has never been married, but I am so afraid that my 2 awful mistakes of marriages will prevent me from being able to receive sacrament and that our marriage would not be recognized by the Catholic Church.
Can anyone answer this for me? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.
