And people ask me why the Church grants so many annulments?
As some of you know, I work full-time for a diocesan tribunal. Like most lay canonists, I also work part-time for several (about a half-dozen) Catholic tribunals on the side. A package arrived from one of these today that contained about a dozen cases. Of course I cannot name the tribunal or share any detailed information, but here’s a quick breakdown based upon the length of the marriage in question:
Over 15 yrs: 1
10 to 15 yrs: 2
7 to 9 yrs: 1
4 to 6 yrs: 2
1 to 3 yrs: 4
Under a year: 2
Exactly half these cases concern marriages between two individuals who were
not Catholic at the time of marriage. Four of the cases concern mixed marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics. Only two concerned a marriage between two Catholics.
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I’ve heard it claimed that there are fewer requests for a decree of nullity than there otherwise might be for two reasons — 1) some applications that are lacking grounds are filtered out before an application is filed, and 2) many Catholics don’t care about being married in the Church any more, they just get married civilly and receive Communion etc. anyway.
One important question is: how many of these couples actually got taught the Catholic theology of marriage, as well as the natural moral law? In mixed marriages it is *all the more important* that the couple get rigorous, intelligent, simple-language explanation of these things *from someone who believes in them.*
And if they didn’t get it–as is likely in most dioceses–it is important that they get such teaching before an annulment is considered. Has this diocese sat any of these people down and explained *what marriage is*?
I understand that the cases “filtered out” are those that do not go forward with the process and simply drop out.
I have been reading the Vasoli book on Catholic annulment and I am deeply troubled by the way, the reasons and the numbers granted. I know the book was written ten years ago so I am interested to know if something has changed in that time that I could have hope in.
Dear Alison,
There is no good news as far as I know. I read Vasoli’s book a few years back too, in the midst
of my own nightmare in the catholic church.
I found that the catholic church is corrupt from top to bottom and that the marriage is not important to the catholic church. What is important to the catholic church is keeping the pews filled with money donors.
If Pete Vere reads this and would be interested in
speaking with a man who can testify to a canonist
such as Mr. Vere regarding the corruption he has personally seen, I would be quite interested if Mr. Vere knew a way to hold various clerics and canonists accountable for their transgressions of canon law.
Vasoli is an honorable man who cares deeply about the catholic church and is not the knee jerk reactionary that his misguided critics would make him out to be.
Good bishops, priests and canonists are darn few and far between. And I have not met a one willing to face off against the church in their own courts or in the public forum regarding what really goes on in most tribunals, especially regarding the complete lack of ministry to agrieved spouses whose marriages are violated by the catholic church’s support of their adulterous spouses, in public!
I speak from personal knowledge and experience.