Posted on 02/08/2005 8:02:13 AM PST by DBeers
Vatican updates rules on marriage annulment
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican today issued the first revised guidebook on marriage annulments in nearly 70 years, but a senior cardinal could not say whether it would stem the soaring number of annulments around the world.
The 111-page guidebook, called Dignitas Connubii (The Dignity of Marriage) is a complex legal code for use by Roman Catholic diocesan tribunals which decide on marriage annulments.
Catholic law bans divorce but allows believers to remarry in the Church if they get an annulment declaring a previous union void. More than 50,000 annulments are granted every year around the world, some two-thirds of them in the United States.
Many Church leaders believe the diocesan tribunals that make most of these decisions grant too many annulments. Critics deride the procedure as a "Catholic divorce" available to those able to pay the legal fees to attain it.
"This code aims to help make it easier for the tribunals to ascertain the truth," Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, told journalists.
Asked about its effect, he said it was too early to say whether the new code book would reduce the number of annulments.
In Church law, an annulment is a ruling that a true marriage never existed. It differs from civil divorce, which is a ruling that acknowledges that a legally registered marriage has failed.
It is usually granted on grounds that one or both of the parties did not have the prerequisites for marriage, such as the psychological capacity to understand the commitment it entails.
It can also be granted if one partner hid something from the other, such as a previous marriage, infertility or impotence.
The new code was produced to include changes in procedures since the Church issued its latest code of Canon Law in 1983.
Many divorced Catholics who remarry outside the Church seek annulments in order to remarry in the Church and continue to be able to receive communion.
The Church says divorced Catholics who remarry outside the Church cannot receive communion because their first marriage is still valid. This point sometimes leads Catholics who remarry without an annulment to drift away from the faith.
Herranz said the Church teaching on this was not changed by the new annulment guidebook.
There are an estimated 8 million divorced and re-married Catholics in the United States alone. Caring for their spiritual needs has long been a subject of debate within the Church.
You know, the first thing that came to my mind when I read this was the old argument that we can't have parental consent for any abortion because some parents might kill their teenage daughter when they learn she is pregnant.
I don't think anybody is denying that a marriage is invalid if the person you chose to marry turns out to be the Devil himself. But that is not the case in the vast majority of annulments. There needs to be an understanding that there are consequences for our actions. And sometimes that consequence is the cross of living a life of celibacy if you've chosen your life partner poorly and will live your life separately from the person you've married.
"The fact that many Catholics do not even attempt to maintain their vows within the bounds of Church teaching e.g. no 'remarriage' til death or decree of nullity is far more devastating to people and harmful to the Church -more harmful than the relatively minor tribunal crisis."
Amen!
I don't think the Pope would agree that psychology is necessarily an aetheistic psuedoscience. Check out the Institute for Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Va., affiliated with the Legion of Christ, a graduate school of psychology that attempts to inform science with the truths of Catholicism and the teachings of JPII. Or www.catholictherapists.com.
The psychological grounds for an anullment are not inherently bogus, although individuals may misuse or misinterpret any process involving human discretion. Ideally, Tribunals are seeking truth and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance. Since consent as self-giving is the essence of marriage, then a psychological impediment to true consent can exist, just like deceit can invalidate consent. Addiction at the time of marriage was mentioned, but there are other things that might be ignored by the engaged despite warning signs or simply undetected, such as a sociopathic personality that essentially wants to use the other person, not be a gift to them, or someone who lacks the psychological maturity to marry or doesn't properly understand what (sacramental) marriage is. The defect has to be there at the outset of the marriage to prevent consent; a spouse who becomes an alcoholic years later would be a cross for his wife or her husband to bear, and might require separation for the safety of the children or the spouse, but the alcoholism itself would not be a cause of nullity.
One thing missing in this discussion is the sense in which annulment is an act of both mercy and justice that the Church provides in Her wisdom to allow Her children to live in conformity with God's will. If one does not validly enter into sacramental marriage, and if the marriage does not later become validated, then someone seeking to be faithful to God's will in the wake of a civil divorce, if they sincerely doubt that the marriage was sacramental, almost has an obligation to find out. Certainly he or she should find out before dating anyone or engaging in any other activities incompatible with being presumptively still married. Also, if a civilly divorced Catholic sincerely asks God in prayer if he might have a vocation other than marriage, how can he discern that until he knows if he is free to give himself entirely to God? If one is already married, he cannot marry the Church.
Finally, please consider how truly painful divorce and this whole topic is for those who have experienced it and exercise more charity in your choice of words. The tenor of some of the comments posted in this discussion suggests that there is something per se wrong or suspect with seeking an annulment after a divorce is final. Consider that seeking a decree of nullity at least means that the person is seeking to live in conformity with the truth. There is nothing wrong with asking the Tribunal for a decree of nullity if one suspects their marriage was not sacramental, anymore than there is anything wrong with looking to the Catechism or to the advice of a trusted priest to seek to live one's life as God intends. The larger number of annulments in the U.S. relative to other countries may be as much a reflection of our having time and resources to devote to this lengthy and necessarily burdensome process, and even perhaps a greater religiousity in the U.S. in that divorced persons may care about whether they are acting in conformity with the truth. What seems to be a high rate of granting decrees of nullity also fails to reflect the number of potential cases that end before they start, based on the advice of the priest or the initial contact with the Tribunal indicating that the potential petitioner has no grounds.
Truth is not fair & balanced...
They're "Cafeteria Catholics"!
Psychological maturity can be attained as the parties grow, and, a marriage that was not truly sacramental when the partners exchanged vows, can become sacramental when both partners are able to fully give themselves to each other, physically and emotionally.
Each case is unique and, as you point out, there are a fair number that never make it beyond the initial consideration.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." - Mark 8:33
Pastoral moral relative business as usual (dissent) is slowly but surely getting eradicated from the Church...
Well, you're entitled to your opinion, but it is not the opinion of the Church. None of the grounds for annulment have changed as a result of this document.
You are correct -changes are only directed at correcting errant tribunals that have been employing incorrect interpretations and dissenting applications of norms leading to erroneus declarations... Have you had an opportunity to review it yet? I have a picture of the cover but have yet to get a copy of the instruction...
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