Orthodox Annulment and Wedding Questions

[Starfrog]

I am a non-Catholic Evangelical Christian who loves the Lord Jesus.

I am considering marrying a Roman Catholic (RC) woman who is free to marry (she obtained a Catholic annulment of her previous marriage).

I am divorced. My wife left me. I understand I need an annulment of my marriage in order to marry my RC friend. I believe I have proper grounds - my exwife’s baptism was not done to Trinitarian form (in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).

I am loathe to go through the laborious RC annulment process with the tribunal. I have done a lot of research on it and it appears that currently it takes 1-2 years and is quite arduous - and I would not even know if I would be able to date and then marry the woman until after the annulment is approved. I am considering having an Orthodox bishop (Western Rite) go through the annulment process because it can be done much faster. He uses the same criteria as the RC church for annulment.

I have several questions.

1. If I have the Orthodox bishop investigate and (assuming an official impediment is found) approve an annulment of my marriage, is that recognized by the RC church so we can then have a lawful and valid marriage in the RC Church?
2. If I have the Orthodox bishop investigate and approve an annulment of my marriage, and we wish to have the Orthodox bishop perform the wedding for us, I understand that the marriage would be considered valid by the RC church.
   a. Is it required that my RC friend need to get a dispensation from her bishop to be married in an Orthodox ceremony?
   b. What are the implications if she does not obtain a dispensation for the Orthodox wedding?
   c. Would the marriage be considered lawful? (I’ve seen different opinions on whether it would be considered lawful)
   d. What are the implications of the marriage being valid but not lawful?
   e. We would want my friend’s Catholic priest or deacon to be involved in the wedding. The Orthodox bishop is entirely open to that. I’ve seen terms such as “bless the wedding/marriage” and “co-celebrate”. How can the RC priest or deacon be involved?

 

[1ke]

I am divorced. My wife left me. I understand I need an annulment of my marriage in order to marry my RC friend. I believe I have proper grounds - my exwife’s baptism was not done to Trinitarian form (in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).

Being unbaptized (or baptized in a sect that is not recognized as Trinitarian, and therefore not actually baptized) is not grounds for a decree of nullity.

It does open the door to the possible application of the Petrine Privilege, depending upon circumstances.

I am loathe to go through the laborious RC annulment process with the tribunal. I have done a lot of research on it and it appears that currently it takes 1-2 years and is quite arduous - and I would not even know if I would be able to date and then marry the woman until after the annulment is approved.

That depends entirely upon the circumstances of your case, and the diocese in which you live or petition. In my diocese decrees of nullity are typically complete within 5 months. In others, it is definitely 12 to 24 months due to the number of cases they hear.

I am considering having an Orthodox bishop (Western Rite) go through the annulment process because it can be done much faster. He uses the same criteria as the RC church for annulment.

That is pointless. And moreover, the Orthodox do not have annulments or tribunals that process decrees of nullity. I am afraid you have gotten bad information.

1. If I have the Orthodox bishop investigate and (assuming an official impediment is found) approve an annulment of my marriage, is that recognized by the RC church so we can then have a lawful and valid marriage in the RC Church?

Nope.

1. If I have the Orthodox bishop investigate and approve an annulment of my marriage, and we wish to have the Orthodox bishop perform the wedding for us, I understand that the marriage would be considered valid by the RC church.

That is not correct.

Just get the whole Orthodox-as-shortcut thing out of your head. Make an appointment with her Catholic pastor and go from there.

It is possible for her to receive permission for a mixed marriage and a dispensation from form (although since you are not actually Orthodox, and neither is she, I don’t believe the Orthodox Church will even allow such a wedding. Sounds like this particular priest has gone rogue). HOWEVER, to receive the dispensation you will have to be declared free to marry BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (not by the Orthodox Church) first.

And if she marries you anywhere, without dispensation, and without you being declared free to marry, it is an invalid marriage and she will have separated herself from the sacraments and will not be able to receive absolution or communion until the situation is rectified-- i.e. you are declared free to marry and the marriage is convalidated.

 

[phil19034]

as 1ke has mentioned, going to the Eastern Orthodox isn’t a option.

In regards to an Annulment, if you ex-wife was not validly Baptized, then you were not sacurmentally married.

You might be able to receive a Petrine Privilege via the Pope (see the below regarding how this takes place according to the Diocese of Arlington (VA).

arlingtondiocese.org/tribunal/documents/cases_dissolutionbond.pdf

Otherwise, it will need to be a formal annulment process. You can read the below for more info regarding the formal annulment process (according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore - each diocese is a little different).

Finally, please look at this list of Myths about annulments (also from Baltimore’s website): archbalt.org/about-us/marriage-tribunal/upload/Doc_12_myths_about_marriage_annulments_in_the_Catholic_Church.pdf

Talk to the priest about the Petrine Privilege first.

Good luck and God Bless.

 

[His_helpmeet]

I am a non-Catholic Evangelical Christian who loves the Lord Jesus.

I am considering marrying a Roman Catholic (RC) woman who is free to marry (she obtained a Catholic annulment of her previous marriage).

I am divorced. My wife left me. I understand I need an annulment of my marriage in order to marry my RC friend. I believe I have proper grounds - my exwife’s baptism was not done to Trinitarian form (in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).

I am loathe to go through the laborious RC annulment process with the tribunal. I have done a lot of research on it and it appears that currently it takes 1-2 years and is quite arduous - and I would not even know if I would be able to date and then marry the woman until after the annulment is approved. I am considering having an Orthodox bishop (Western Rite) go through the annulment process because it can be done much faster. He uses the same criteria as the RC church for annulment.

I have several questions.

1. If I have the Orthodox bishop investigate and (assuming an official impediment is found) approve an annulment of my marriage, is that recognized by the RC church so we can then have a lawful and valid marriage in the RC Church?
2. If I have the Orthodox bishop investigate and approve an annulment of my marriage, and we wish to have the Orthodox bishop perform the wedding for us, I understand that the marriage would be considered valid by the RC church.
   a. Is it required that my RC friend need to get a dispensation from her bishop to be married in an Orthodox ceremony?
   b. What are the implications if she does not obtain a dispensation for the Orthodox wedding?
   c. Would the marriage be considered lawful? (I’ve seen different opinions on whether it would be considered lawful)
   d. What are the implications of the marriage being valid but not lawful?
   e. We would want my friend’s Catholic priest or deacon to be involved in the wedding. The Orthodox bishop is entirely open to that. I’ve seen terms such as “bless the wedding/marriage” and “co-celebrate”. How can the RC priest or deacon be involved?

A declaration of nullity (proper term for an “annulment”) is a Church matter only, and therefore you cannot go through the Orthodox Church for this process.

My husband received a declaration of nullity from his first wife so that we could be married in the Church. I’m not sure what you read, but the process is not terribly laborious for the petitioner. It’s the waiting that’s more difficult. My husband’s case took about 16 months to process from the time he filed the initial paperwork to the time he received the formal decree of nullity. The only things he had to do were file the initial paperwork, attend an interview, send in some money (more about that in a bit), and respond to a couple of requests by written letter. That was it. There’s no “trial” - it’s all done through paperwork. Your ex-wife has the right to be notified, but she does not have to be involved if she doesn’t want to, and the process can go ahead without her. (My husband’s ex chose not to be involved, and it didn’t affect the outcome.)

In terms of the cost - in our area it cost $900 Canadian. To give you some perspective, the tribunal hears about 220 cases a year and grants about 180 declarations of nullity. A person is required to pay $150 up front, and $250 each at the time of the publication of the acts (i.e. once all of the evidence is in), upon an initial affirmative (i.e. marriage not valid) decision, and upon a second affirmative decision (every affirmative decision is automatically appealed to another tribunal; this process is typically shorter and doesn’t usually require the petitioner to do anything extra unless the tribunal asks). So, let’s say they probably make about $15,000 a year from nullity fees. In the case of the Petrine and Pauline privileges (where the Pope dissolves the marriage of one baptized and one non-baptized person, or the bishop dissolves the marriage of two non-baptized persons, respectively) the costs are less, but those aren’t common requests because there are specific criteria to be met. Let’s figure, for a nice round number, that they maybe make $25,000 a year - and that’s probably stretching it a bit. There are 7 people working in that office: a defender of the bond (like a defense attorney for the marriage), two case instructors (they act as the liaison between petitioner and tribunal), an office assistant, and three priest-judges. They’re not even making $4,000 per year per person, without setting aside any money for the running of the office. Not only that, but NO ONE is ever turned away simply because he/she can’t afford to pay.

The Church cannot give a dispensation for a person to marry if a declaration of nullity has not been given. Unless you have an impediment that can be proven “on paper” (e.g. being too young, too closely related, or already married; these declarations of nullity take only a few weeks to process and they’re very cheap to obtain, as the evidence is right there) the marriage is considered valid until proven otherwise. To allow you to marry again is not possible unless your previous spouse has died, as Jesus said that those in the next life become as the angels and do not marry.