Pre-Marriage Tribunal?

[Spirithound]

I just read a recent AAA question about decrees of nullity, and there was a part that said someone receiving the decree can be required to petition to marry in the Church, if the decree was found due to immaturity or such.
So, I got to thinking, there are so many annulments being declared now, would there be any benefit/would it be possible/practical/a good idea to subject all proposed marriages to the marriage tribunal before they’re contracted?

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I just read a recent AAA question about decrees of nullity, and there was a part that said someone receiving the decree can be required to petition to marry in the Church, if the decree was found due to immaturity or such.
So, I got to thinking, there are so many annulments being declared now, would there be any benefit/would it be possible/practical/a good idea to subject all proposed marriages to the marriage tribunal before they’re contracted?

We just need to do better pre-Marriage preparation. Except for those special cases, I don’t think so.

 

[tee_eff_em]

So, I got to thinking, there are so many annulments being declared now, would there be any benefit/would it be possible/practical/a good idea to subject all proposed marriages to the marriage tribunal before they’re contracted?

I think it would be neither possible nor practical (which together, I suppose, would make it not a good idea).

Do you have any idea how *so many *annulments compares to the number of marriages celebrated every year? I confess, I do not, but I suspect the percentage is smaller than you think. And if you think tribunals take a long time now, just wait til their workload goes up by an order of magnitude or more. Nor do I suspect that “volume” would do anything to bring down the costs associated with their work.

:twocents:
tee

 

[dans0622]

I just read a recent AAA question about decrees of nullity, and there was a part that said someone receiving the decree can be required to petition to marry in the Church, if the decree was found due to immaturity or such.
So, I got to thinking, there are so many annulments being declared now, would there be any benefit/would it be possible/practical/a good idea to subject all proposed marriages to the marriage tribunal before they’re contracted?

Hello Spirithound,

I am guessing that what the apologist was talking about is what is called a *monitum *and/or a vetitum, meaning a “warning” or a “prohibition.” When someone is granted a decree of nullity, the judge(s) can also decide, if it is warranted, to add one of these to the person’s file so that, if he wants to get married again, the pastor knows that this person either can’t get married again until he takes certain steps (treatment for addiction, or some such thing) or until he has received some special catechesis or formation. The pastor or whoever is in charge of preparing the couple should handle this, not the tribunal. So, no, I also don’t think it would be a good idea to go down the road of pre-marriage tribunals.

Dan