I’m puzzled by your saying that a decision of the Catholic Church is a state by state decision.
Did you mean case by individual case decision?
All countries, all states abide by the same Catholic Church laws.
Another thought — Don’t God’s laws come before any human’s laws?
No, I was making a point someone else threw at me about the children of annulled marriages.
Anyway, I appreciate all the feedback and I am not Anti-Catholic by any means. My Mother grew up Catholic (she died when I was 8)which prompted my journey to the Catholic Church in the first place. She was not allowed to partake in the sacrements by marrying my Father, who was not (think it’s tough now? Try this in the 1940’s). She ended up at a non-denominational church before she died.
After she died, my Father married a Catholic woman, which also put them in the same predicament I find myself in (she was divorced).
I just found the annulment stumbling block to be too difficult to overcome.
My current wife, no. 2, who has been a christian a lot longer than I, has extreme reservations about having her 1st marriage annulled, due to having 2 children (now grown) during that marriage. Wife no. 1, with whom I had 1 grown child, ain’t too keen on it either.
So they won’t comply, and I have to admet, they raise a lot more questions than I can get answers for, so for now I’ll stay a Christian, who is not a member of the Catholic Church.
God Bless Y’all.