[scouter]

I get where you are coming from. I do not however think the Bishops will give up the power to annul. The Tribunals do the leg work, and recommend, the Bishop does not have to grant it. I actually think Parish Priests will not want the added burden.

But if the "burden" consists of the priest hearing the person's confession and telling him in the privacy of the confessional that his first marriage is annuled, then I believe a LOT of priests today would be happy to do so. Such a truncated annulment process would provide the fig leaf they could hide behind, and allow them to issue "annulments" with even more wild abandon than they already do.

The irony is, though, as another poster has already pointed out, that many, if not most of the "marriages" contracted by Catholics today may in fact not be sacramental marriages at all because of the lack of understanding of the requirements of the relationship into which they are entering.

[defconw]

It will never happen. Canon law is very clear on the procedure and we all know what happens when you get a bunch of lawyers in a room. Second part is true to a point. I think some pastors are pressured into allowing marriages. It really depends on the Pre-Cana. I know my Parish in Indiana, assigned mentoring couples to people seeking to marry and they stayed in touch with them during the early years if they could.

If you are a Catholic, you understand that in such a large organization, not everyone can be counted on to cross ever T and dot every I. But they try.