Posted on 09/21/2014 1:29:09 PM PDT by marshmallow
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis has ordered a review aimed at simplifying the Church's procedures for annulments, the Vatican said on Saturday, a move that could make it easier for Catholics to end marriages.
A statement said Francis had appointed an 11-member commission of canon lawyers and theologians to propose reform of the process, "seeking to simplify and streamline it while safeguarding the principle of the indissolubility of marriage".
An annulment, formally known as a "decree of nullity," is a ruling that a marriage was not valid in the first place according to Church law because certain pre-requisites, such as free will, psychological maturity and openness to having children, were lacking.
In the past decades many within the 1.2 billion-member Church have complained that the procedure is too complicated and archaic.
Most annulments take place at the local diocesan level. Each decision must be reviewed by a second tribunal, a step reformers say is superfluous and should be eliminated.
The Church does not recognize divorce. Catholics who divorce and re-marry outside the Church are considered to be still married to their first spouse and living in a state of sin, which bars them from receiving sacraments such as communion.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I concede the principle. How do you reconcile the actual in light of John 4 ? How do you know what Jesus did with her ? Was the husband Jesus told her to call intended to be blessed in marriage by the Lord, a Josephite marriage, did he intend to return her to the first or one of the other five, or did he intend her to live out her life as a widow ?
I would lean toward the case that showed the most mercy to all concerned.
Many people will say what you said about the children. An annulment just says there was not a VALID marriage. There still may have been a ‘civil’ marriage — so children are not fatherless.
Perhaps we Catholics shouldn’t say valid “marriage”, but valid “sacramental marriage”? Maybe this is what is confusing to non-Catholics.
Children born by parents who were never married = bastards
People who get an annulment = never married
Children from an annuled marriage = bastards
Where is logical fallacy here....?
Again, civil marriage is not the same as sacramental marriage.
Good point. I thought about saying a VALID marriage in the eyes of the Church. But I like the words “sacramental marriage” much better.
Children born by parents who were never married = bastards
People who get an annulment = never married
Children from an annuled marriage = bastards
Where is logical fallacy here....
” An annulment just says there was not a VALID marriage. “
If the marriage was never valid then the children were born out of wedlock. Period. No dancing around that one.
When a couple marries in the Church their sincerity is assumed. They may have sexual relations, and any children resulting from those relations are legitimate because their sexual relations are legitimate. If it is later discovered that there was no true marriage, that does not mean they committed any sin.
My friend had this happen in 1982, and has moved on with the infilling of the Holy Spirit. He is now married and has been for years to a woman who appreciates him. Although I haven’t seen him for years we still keep in touch.
He isn’t grieving now as GOD, through the Holy Spirit taught him the deception of the anullment process by the Church is simply overcome by God’s Grace in forgiveness. Others, maybe millions live in guilt and condemnation for such deceptive acts, that will never give peace like a forgiving God. I used his experience as an example of things I hear from Catholics on a regular basis living with a guilt God never intended.
Absolutely...you got it right.
What is certain is that he was calling her to repentance and to life a life in conformity with God’s law, which includes sexual purity.
“Failure to succeed in one’s intention is not the same thing as being insincere in it.”
I would submit that if you make a promise (resolve) not to do something that you predictably will do, then it’s not your intention.
It will be only with the Lord’s help that I will ever conquer sin. All I can do is believe in Him and sincerely ask for his help. He knows I’m not going to make it on my own... And He knows the way and I don’t.
My friend was very involved in Catholicim, no longer. He was a teacher in a Jesuit school for years. He probably knows more about than any of us....
However he learned that God has inner healing for those things, and the ‘religious rules and requirements’ of organized religion are just Mans attempt at playing God.
Wait just a tick.
If the marriage wasn’t legitimate how could the sex that took place possibly be legitimate? Isn’t sex outside of a true marriage a sin?
I know you are writing in English, but the way you strung the words together makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
‘religious rules and requirements’ of organized religion are just Mans attempt at playing God.
Legitimacy is a civil definition, not a church one. The Catholic Church does not confer legitimacy in any case. If the civil marriage took place, the children are legitimate. A Catholic annulment does not annul the civil marriage, that is why you must get a civil divorce separately.
I don’t know what the children are considered when a civil marriage is annulled, but that is not what is being discussed here.
The Catholic church does not believe purely civil marriages between Catholics are valid, but it does not consider children of those marriages illegitimate. You may wish to consider them bastards, but the Catholic Church does not.
O2
“An annulment just says there was not a VALID marriage. There still may have been a ‘civil’ marriage — so children are not fatherless.”
Is that something like a valid driver’s license? Correct me if I’m wrong, but can your kids even be Baptized without the parents marriage being blessed by the Church?
My son was married in a Protestant church, though he is Catholic. If I remember right, and I’m sure that I do, they had to have their marriage blessed by the Church before their first born was Baptized.
You proved my point, however, in my faith a priest or board is not necessary to get an annulment if your sinful (acting like an unbeliever) spouse leaves....God himself can forgive a mistake and allow the person to move forward and that includes a re marriage. I Cor 7:15....even Paul, who was anti Marriage, noted it
says a person is not in bondage (marriage bond) in such cases of abandonment.
Of course most Catholics will jump up and down denying that, until it happens to them...Man will always find a way to do what he wants, even getting the church to make a way to absolve their worries though annulment.
Yes, your story is encouraging for Catholics. My faith says we go to God directly with our problems, and our Pastors/elders do not forgive but pray for members. Gods presence is so strong a real Christian understands what he is impressing them to do. Thanks for the story.
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