Yeah, in many dioceses you have to pay for the considerable time and work that go into an annulment. I don't like it, but I think it's not fair to characterize it as paying for the annulment. You want something that's involved, SOMEBODY's paying for the people doing the work.
(2) If I go to Christ and ask for forgiveness for being an adulterer, ...
But, strictly speaking, you are saying that you are not going to stop committing the sin. It's hard to reconcile that with your saying it's a sin.
Yeah, we all know when we go to confession, that we're probably going to do whatever we confessed again, and distressingly soon too.
But here's a case where you have a choice. It's not like swearing or eating too much. You have to do the work and pay the expense to get an annulment. YEAH, that's a burden, but you can do it, and compared to quitting smoking or something, it's not so very hard.
But if you don't mean to do it, then your act of contrition in confession is patently insincere. And that's not good for you.
And as to your earlier question, for quite some time now the Church has left questions of the legitimacy of offspring to the state. In the state's eyes you and your current wife were married before. The children are "legitimate". There's no problem.
But in the Church's eyes, either you were not married before or you are not married now.
This is all pretty straightforward. The basis for it is biblical. Either there was fornication before or there is adultery now. So that's the problem.
This isn't personal. It's just an effort to explain what's going on.
From what my local parish has told me, in the eyes of the church, I am not married now.
And again, I do not disagree with the Catholic Church or the positions they hold, but their positions I can not abide by or that I find too restrictive, Granted, it is a state by state position, but isn't that in and of itself a contradiction? I mean, it's right or wrong, right? So I am left with a choice.
Many may not agree with my choice, but I will leave it to God to decide. So, if the Catholic Church considers me to be an adulterer because I have divorced and remarried, so be it,I'll let God decide that. After all, Maryland may but Pennsylvania may not? Again, God knows me better than all and I'll let him decide before any one human or board of them (with or without fees) does. So be it (Amen)