Question about Divorced Catholics?

[MaryT777]

I think what you mean is you think that. Not that you have done a survey, or that you have read surveys, but it is your opinion.

So the question is, on what do you base your opinion, if you have not worked with people who have gone through this?

It does, but it does that before the divorce, not after. Statistically how many people get a divorce and then get remarried to the same spouse? Almost none.

And of course, because you know one or two couples who have alleged to have done this, now out of the 45,000 to 50,000 decrees of nullity in a year, you knowthat many do.

No, you do not know that. You are surmising from one or two cases. And further, you have not even seen the files on the cases you allege were fraudulently obtained.

According to CARA, more people who start the [process of obtaining a decree of nullity do not get one, than those who start it and do get one (*% or divorced Catholics who start do not receive one, 7% do, out of all divorced Catholics).

Your knowledge of tribunal cases and process is sadly lacking; your opinions are not.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement.
Mary.
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[otjm]

Are annulments difficult? I don’t think so. America has 6% of the world’s Catholics and 83% of annulments. To me that means either annulments are almost given away there or Americans don’t try as hard as Catholics in other countries to make their marriages work.

Annulments should be made extremely difficult to obtain.

Ah yes, the old story about how many - as if that had any relevance to the issues.

Europe has become so de-Christianized that the issue of sacraments has become an issue of culture; it is “culturally appropriate” to marry in the Church; not that it any longer has sacramental meaning for most participants. Keep in mind that participation in Mass on a regular basis is hovering somewhere between 15% and 5% - 85% to 95% of Catholics are in name only.

So comparing numbers to America and Europe is comparing groups who have different agendas and attitudes. If someone doesn’t really believe in sacraments, a decree of nullity is irrelevant.

The Curia has addressed issues in other countries; many of them either have no tribunals, or almost none, so there is no place to have the first marriage examined. Furthermore, they do not have divorce laws similar to America, and the Church won’t touch a marriage in which the parties are not already divorced. So in countries in which it is difficult or almost impossible to obtain a divorce, it does not mean that people are working harder on marriage; they just get a lover and continue to bump along with a formal marriage and an affair.

People who quote statistic without understanding what the statistics say and why, are simply looking for whatever appears to support their hypothesis.

The largest amount of negativity about decrees of nullity tends to come from people who have received a decree of nullity and did not want it; and so we hear of tribunals “being bought off”, or being “sloppy”, or “ignoring Canon law”, or “having an agenda”, or the spouse “lied”, and the list goes on.

That is the substance of someone who believes they know more than the tribunal, they know more than their spouse; or someone who actually had the impediment but won’t or can’t acknowledge it. And it is pointless to discuss the matter, as they are emoting on the issue and not addressing it logically.

 

[otjm]

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement.
Mary.

It would help if I could type better, or proofread before hitting the submit button.

What I intended to say was: "According to CARA, more people who start the process of obtaining a decree of nullity do not get one, than those who start it and do get one (8% or divorced Catholics who start do not receive one, 7% do, out of all divorced Catholics).

And that leaves 85% of divorced Catholics who have never started the process. From that, one cannot legitimately draw a conclusion that a certain number would receive a decree but it should also be obvious that a significant number were in non-sacramental marriages.