RCIA and annulment issues

[jmcrae]

Good morning,

I’m finishing the initial part of RCIA and it’s been great. Quick background: Divorced (civil marriage). Married to current spouse for 10 years. I have no issues going through the annulment process and understand its purpose but my wife (also divorced from a prior civil marriage) has no interest in going through the annulment process on her end.

Initially annulment was explained to me as filling out paperwork and providing documentation. Now I’ve found out that they need four witnesses to ask about my first marriage (which ended 16 years ago)? Again, I’m okay with that. My current spouse wants no part of this. She has no contact with her ex (doesn’t even have an address or phone number) and isn’t becoming Catholic (she’s not anti-Catholic, but has no interest in converting) and doesn’t want to go through the annulment process.

If it was just a matter of sending the Church her old marriage and divorce records that would be fine, but filling out a huge questionnaire, giving contact info for her friends to receive phone calls, mail, regarding a marriage she’s all but forgotten about? No thanks.

So that puts me in a position where, of course, I can’t continue with RCIA because the Church can annul my first marriage but not recognize my current one. I personally don’t understand why this is a big deal (we had a non-religious marriage) but I know the Church does.

This is upsetting to me because it looks like I’ll have to quit RCIA. I suppose I could go to some other church but they just don’t hold an attraction for me the way the Catholic Church does.

As an aside, as many others have said, this seems like a strange request (accepting my current marriage) since it wasn’t a Catholic one and my wife isn’t doing RCIA.

Am I out of luck, I guess, is what I’m asking.

For the time being you’re in a holding pattern, but with prayer and persistence God will make a way for you. Keep coming to Sunday Mass, pray with the community, and raise your children to love Jesus in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist- God will do the rest.

I’m working with someone in RCIA who has been waiting ten years for her husband to take action - for her privacy I won’t give any identifying details; suffice it that her prayers have been answered- her marriage will be solemnized in the Church this summer and she will be received into the Church in the fall.

 

[His_helpmeet]

Yes. I think it would be phenomenally easier for many to either go sit down with someone and tell the story, turn in documentation, etc. Would you feel better about making a confession by writing it down and sending it in under the promise that whoever ends up reading it will keep it confidential and will get back to you at some point in the future - or do you feel better about going in and having a personal interaction with the priest and getting either an answer (absolution) or an explanation of why it cannot be given at this time but how to reach that point?

CJ

My husband went through the nullity process for his first marriage. (I am his second wife and we are sacramentally married.) In our area, you fill out an initial investigation form and submit it to your parish. Hubby then received a letter from the tribunal directing him to book an interview with our local parish priest. Our priest interviewed him and submitted his testimony. I believe the same priest also interviewed the witnesses. (Hubby’s ex declined to participate.)

We don’t live that far out from the archdiocesan offices so I suspect that this is probably standard practice in our archdiocese. Hubby also had a case instructor who kept in contact with him throughout the process.

 

[7_Sorrows]

My husband went through the nullity process for his first marriage. (I am his second wife and we are sacramentally married.) In our area, you fill out an initial investigation form and submit it to your parish. Hubby then received a letter from the tribunal directing him to book an interview with our local parish priest. Our priest interviewed him and submitted his testimony. I believe the same priest also interviewed the witnesses. (Hubby’s ex declined to participate.)

We don’t live that far out from the archdiocesan offices so I suspect that this is probably standard practice in our archdiocese. Hubby also had a case instructor who kept in contact with him throughout the process.

I thought it would be uniformly done in each diocese. it seems like that is not the case. it appears more difficult where I live.

 

[Horton]

I thought it would be uniformly done in each diocese. it seems like that is not the case. it appears more difficult where I live.

It is the same process through out the US. Various diocese and/or parishes may use a different modality for marriage cases. This doesn’t mean the process is different. Fr. Buc-fan laid all the steps needed for a lack of consent case. Those are the steps no matter where you live.

I would guess if so many folks are dissatisfied with how the tribunal handles things there the Bishop needs to get involved. Have you contacted your Bishop with your concerns of how the tribunal handles cases?

 

[7_Sorrows]

It is the same process through out the US. Various diocese and/or parishes may use a different modality for marriage cases. This doesn’t mean the process is different. Fr. Buc-fan laid all the steps needed for a lack of consent case. Those are the steps no matter where you live.

I would guess if so many folks are dissatisfied with how the tribunal handles things there the Bishop needs to get involved. Have you contacted your Bishop with your concerns of how the tribunal handles cases?

No. I am just waiting. I don’t understand how some diocese take from Advent to
Easter and others take 2-4 years.

 

[Horton]

No. I am just waiting. I don’t understand how some diocese take from Advent to
Easter and others take 2-4 years.

First you have determine if that is for all cases or is it just yours. If it is just your case, then it may not be the norm. If it truly takes that long once all evidence is submitted and the file complete, then you must either live in huge diocese with a lack of resources or a very small one with a lack of resources.

The last case I did was a full case for a person in RCIA. It was completed by Easter but the person was very motivated to get it done. It had been a long ago marriage & divorce and the person had trouble finding witnesses but this person did locate them and had them complete the questionnaire. The case was submitted in late fall and a decision reached before Easter, several weeks before.

Once the tribunal has received all the evidence and the file is complete, it should only take a few months to get a final decision. It is the gathering of evidence that takes so long, not the actual process of making a decision.

 

[7_Sorrows]

First you have determine if that is for all cases or is it just yours. If it is just your case, then it may not be the norm. If it truly takes that long once all evidence is submitted and the file complete, then you must either live in huge diocese with a lack of resources or a very small one with a lack of resources.

The last case I did was a full case for a person in RCIA. It was completed by Easter but the person was very motivated to get it done. It had been a long ago marriage & divorce and the person had trouble finding witnesses but this person did locate them and had them complete the questionnaire. The case was submitted in late fall and a decision reached before Easter, several weeks before.

Once the tribunal has received all the evidence and the file is complete, it should only take a few months to get a final decision. It is the gathering of evidence that takes so long, not the actual process of making a decision.

They had my witness statements before Christmas.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

First you have determine if that is for all cases or is it just yours. If it is just your case, then it may not be the norm. If it truly takes that long once all evidence is submitted and the file complete, then you must either live in huge diocese with a lack of resources or a very small one with a lack of resources.

The last case I did was a full case for a person in RCIA. It was completed by Easter but the person was very motivated to get it done. It had been a long ago marriage & divorce and the person had trouble finding witnesses but this person did locate them and had them complete the questionnaire. The case was submitted in late fall and a decision reached before Easter, several weeks before.

Once the tribunal has received all the evidence and the file is complete, it should only take a few months to get a final decision. It is the gathering of evidence that takes so long, not the actual process of making a decision.

I am astonished by your last paragraph…and indeed your other remarks about the person being motivated and the rapidity of action.

It is completely inappropriate to tell a person of another jurisdiction what you have written, doing so in such a way that their expectations should be based upon what happens in your diocese or as if the experience you relate translates beyond your own diocese. I have been doing this for many many years, with a familiarity that not only crosses dioceses, but also crosses international borders…caseloads, resources, and variety of other elements and practicalities can result in a vast difference in adjudication.

In contrast to what you write is what Deacon Jeff wrote in a parallel thread:

 

[Gorgias]

I am astonished by your … remarks about … the rapidity of action.

caseloads, resources, and variety of other elements and practicalities can result in a vast difference in adjudication.

Precisely.

In contrast to what you write is what Deacon Jeff wrote in a parallel thread:

I can’t speak for other dioceses, but here the time from last submission of paperwork to decision is roughly 12 to 18 months. It was less than a year until the fees were waived, which caused a wave of filings, further backing up the case log.

Note that this isn’t even the kind of statement that says “it typically takes 12 to 18 months here”, but rather, “the time increased by a factor of 3 to 9 months simply as a result of the administrative decision to waive all fees for nullity cases.” Time will tell what the real backlog will be. Some have told me that they’d chosen not to start a case, based on the fees assessed, but decided to move forward after a decade or more of inaction (!), simply because the fee structure was eliminated.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Precisely.

Note that this isn’t even the kind of statement that says “it typically takes 12 to 18 months here”, but rather, “the time increased by a factor of 3 to 9 months simply as a result of the administrative decision to waive all fees for nullity cases.” Time will tell what the real backlog will be. Some have told me that they’d chosen not to start a case, based on the fees assessed, but decided to move forward after a decade or more of inaction (!), simply because the fee structure was eliminated.

that is why I started it because the fees were eliminated.
2018 will be the 10 year anniversary of when I joined the Church.
I should have an answer in early 2018.