| Author | |
Barbara C.
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 11 2007
Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 882
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2008 at 9:49am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I was recently talking to someone about the Catholic positions on marriage and annulment. And we had a real-life hypothetical that we were curious about. So bear with me.
1. Suzy and John are baptized non-Catholic Christians who marry and then divorce.
2. Suzy goes onto marry Billy, another baptized non-Catholic Christian, and they get divorced.
3. Billy meets and falls in love with Mary, a practicing Catholic. Would Billy need to get an annulment before they could get married in the Church?
My understanding is that they shouldn't need one because his first marriage would have been invalid in the eyes of the Church because his first "legal" wife would still be married to her first husband in the eyes of the Church.
Do you think this is correct understanding?
__________________
Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
Box of Chocolates
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
insegnante
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 07 2006
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1143
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2008 at 10:54am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I think they would need some kind of investigation to establish that Billy is free to marry, beyond taking his word for it, since he has a prior legal marriage on record. Maybe I am wrong and priests are allowed to be that trusting, but if not I suppose Billy would need to provide proof that Suzy was married to someone else before his attempted marriage to her. If you're asking can they just arrange a ceremony because Billy reports to Mary's parish priest that Suzy was married before and thus he was not validly married to her, I doubt it.
Check this out before advising anyone of course, but I'm under the impression that if a prior marriage is truly invalid and whether through intentional disobedience or through a misunderstanding a marriage ceremony is conducted with proper form, the new marriage (if all else is in place) will be valid in truth, and once the invalidity of the prior marriage is established by the Church, the marriage resulting from the new ceremony is now automatically presumed valid.
So if all of my above understanding is accurate, if Billy and Mary and the priest did not realize they needed Billy's marriage to Suzy more formally established as null before they could proceed, their Church wedding would still effect a marriage that was valid in truth but not presumed valid by the Church, if all else necessary was in place.
Some relevant canon law from http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Y.HTM:
Quote:
Can. 1085 §1. A person bound by the bond of a prior marriage, even if it was not consummated, invalidly attempts marriage.
§2. Even if the prior marriage is invalid or dissolved for any reason, it is not on that account permitted to contract another before the nullity or dissolution of the prior marriage is established legitimately and certainly. |
|
|
In my understanding, part 2 is not an invalidating law, but one that makes a new marriage attempt illicit, and if the nullity or dissolution of the prior marriage is not established, it's still presumed valid, and of course only one marriage can be presumed valid at a time, the first one.
__________________
Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mattie
Forum Rookie
Joined: July 14 2008
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 83
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2008 at 11:12am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Here is the nitty-gritty... From www.CatholicMarriagePrep.com.
I hope this helps!
"The Catholic Church always presumes that a marriage is valid in the eyes of God, whether civil or religious and celebrated in any confession. The Church presumes that all marriages are binding and life long.
In the Gospel Jesus declares: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and the woman who divorces her husband and marries another commits adultery.”(Mark 10:11-12)
The complicated process of annulment is a response to the strength of this teaching.
When someone who is divorced seeks to re-marry in the Catholic Church, the Church will determine if a defect in the consent existed at the time of the previous marriage. The Church will investigate the previous marriage to find out if one or both parties did not, or could not, give a full, free-willed consent, and therefore if no indissoluble bond had been established.
This is what we call an annulment, or declaration of nullity. God did not completely unite the couple because there was a defect in the consent and therefore, the marriage was not valid to begin with.
Examples:
- Christine’s brother felt he had to marry his girlfriend because she was pregnant even though he didn't really want to marry her. The marriage was invalid and he could ask for an annulment because he wasn't totally free.
- Another example is the one we gave above of Prince Charles!
- A friend of mine got married when she was 18, right out of high school (lack of maturity?) and her fiancé was under drugs when they celebrated the wedding. He didn't know what he was doing! The marriage couldn't be valid.
Annulments can be filed years and years after the wedding originally took place. If the Church determines that a defect in the consent existed at the time of marriage, then a marriage annulment is granted.
Marriage is a union, not a contract, made with God. Therefore, no civil institution has the power to dissolve what God has joined. In the case of an invalid marriage, God did not ever completely join the couple.
A couple cannot re-marry in the Catholic Church if the previous marriage, whether civil or in another confession, hasn’t been proven invalid.
A divorced protestant, or atheist, or Jewish seeking to marry in the Catholic Church must go through the process of annulment.
Civil divorce = Marriage that has failed
Annulment = Invalid marriage that never actually occurred in the eyes of God.
For more information, click the following link: Ten Questions About Annulment.
It is important to add, therefore, that one must not plan any future marriage until the judges have rendered an affirmative decision and that decision has been ratified by the court of Second Instance (also known as the appellate court). There is, however, never a guarantee of an affirmative decision. Therefore, one should not be contemplating a future marriage unless they are truly free to marry. If someone were contemplating a future marriage while petitioning for an annulment, then that would clearly indicate that he/she does not understand or believe the Church’s understanding of marriage as an indissoluble bond until death. Only when a declaration of nullity has been given can one consider himself/herself free to marry. Fr. Moreno Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese of Denver (emphasis added)"
Mattie
Maman to 4 wonderful Mountain kids in CO
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Marriage/Annulment Question
