I’m Catholic, but not practicing. I am also divorced and would likely be granted an annulment, but I refuse to go though that. God knows the reasons my marriage failed and should I ever get married again, I know God would not consider me an adulterer. I can live without the blessings of the church. I answer to God.
Question, would you be a practicing Catholic if your new marriage included the blessing of the church?
I’m glad for your closeness to God, I feel the same way, but I’m beginning to worry that so many are leaving the church. Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, whatever. I fear for a world that has wandered from God. Those of us who are older were raised with God in every part of our lives. Young people now are rare and extremely lucky if they are raised with a relationship with God.
“I answer to God” won’t do.
God authorized the power of forgiveness to Peter and His Church. Marriage is a sacrament. If you have good grounds for an annulment, then you seek and obtain it. If you think you can live without the “blessings of the Church,” it would be hard to accept how you can still call yourself a “Catholic.” Perhaps without realizing it, you have admitted that you are a Protestant. The only question is what of the 30,000 sects do you belong to?