Gospel, Marriage and Annulment

by Fr. Garrett O’Brien, JCL (Parochial Vicar at SCS 2018 - 2019)

     Ever since Fr. Tim and I finished our studies as canon lawyers, we have been looking for ways to share our new skills with our parish. One way to do that is to offer some clear teachings about the notion of annulments. To this end, I’ll be publishing a small article for the bulletin over the next three weeks hitting the highlights of why our Catholic faith makes such a fuss about the permanence of marriage and the process of annulments.
     It is true, we all know people who have suffered from a broken marriage, and our hearts go out to them; we want them to enjoy all that life has to offer while still living their faith. We feel compassion for them, but we fully embrace the light of God’s revelation. So, as Catholics we cling joyfully to God’s marvelous plan for marriage as an until-death-do-us-part covenant, while at the same time we reach out with loving concern to those who have endured divorce. How could we ever compromise on what God has revealed to us? And, at the same time, using the authority He gave to the Church, we have a very effective instrument of healing in the annulment process.    
     Today, I’d like to simply call your attention to a few places in scripture where the importance and dignity of marriage shine so brightly. Marriage is no mere afterthought in God’s saving plan. In fact, God designed marriage as a blessing for mankind even before the Fall (Gn 2:24). This means that marriage is older than sin! At the very beginning of creation God reveals that He created us for the unique union of one man and one woman. At various places in the Old Testament, we see the beauty of marriage and passionate love in the Song of Songs (ch 2) and in the book of Tobit (ch 8). Not only does the Old Testament begin with marriage, but so too does the New Testament have a wedding at its start. It is no accident that Jesus selects a wedding to perform His first miracle (Jn 2:1-11). By this miracle, He is telling us that the kind of love He has for His people is likened to the love of a husband for his bride. But still more, the New Testament also ends with a marriage. In the book of Revelation (19:7), the great rejoicing that occurs in heaven to celebrate the triumph of the lamb is compared with a wedding feast. 
     So, the Bible starts with a marriage, Jesus’ ministry starts with a marriage, the Bible ends with a marriage – I hope you get the picture – our God wants us to take very seriously the way we treat this beautiful covenant He created for us. The place where scripture fully reveals the value and the power of marriage is in the famous passage in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Right there in Ephesians 5:25, St. Paul gives us the full picture: God’s design is that the love of husbands and wives has the unique duty to mirror the fidelity that Jesus has toward His bride, the Church. Jesus demonstrated an absolute, no-holds-barred, no-strings-attached, until-I-die kind of fidelity. This is the supernatural kind of love that marriage equips spouses to live! 
     If scripture highlights the unbreakable nature of marriage and if Jesus Himself said, “What God has united, man must not divide,” (Mk 10:9) then next, we must understand just what an annulment is. God’s plan is a good one, and He has given us a good mother, the Church. The Church is eager to journey with those who have suffered a separated family. As we will see, the annulment process is not aimed at judging spouses, but rather at God’s beautiful design, and at healing! 

Christian Marriage and Law

by Fr. Garrett O’Brien, JCL (Parochial Vicar at SCS 2018 - 2019)

     Last time I addressed a few of the scriptural foundations of Christian marriage. Truly, the sacrament of marriage stands as a living sign of the unfailing love of God. It is inconceivable that God would end His love for His Church! And so, since Christian marriage is a sign of His unending love, how can the Church have the annulment process which appears to end marriages? Here’s the essential distinction between the annulment process and the process of civil divorce. A civil divorce is based on the will of the parties to end their union and it has no effect on the sacrament of marriage. In contrast, an annulment examines the very beginning of a marriage and seeks to determine whether a marriage ever existed in the first place. If no sacramental marriage existed, then the bond can be declared null and (in most cases) the parties are free to marry in the Church. To recap: a divorce is based on the will of the parties and has no spiritual impact; an annulment determines whether a sacramental marriage ever existed in the first place.
     How does the annulment process determine whether a marriage was invalid from the start? There are two steps: the theory of marriage (our system of law based on theology) and practice (the procedural method of judging invalidity). Below I’ll try to explain the theory and then I’ll discuss the practice next time. To summarize the theory of how marital consent can be invalid, we must return to scriptural roots. Christ established marriage as a spiritual good that brings supernatural grace. Yet this spiritual good is exchanged between human, material creatures. Therefore, in marriage the natural and the supernatural comingle. Marriage is a spiritual covenant, and just like other covenants from the Old Testament, is it underpinned with a system of laws. Said another way, the reason we can be sure that a spiritual covenant comes about is by determining whether the essential laws of that covenant have been met. As a result, over the centuries, our Catholic ancestors have slowly discerned and compiled the laws that are within God’s plan for sacramental marriage. When certain laws are unfulfilled, no marriage results. This means that when the couple exchanged their consent (or vows) no sacrament came about.
     Where did our marriage laws come from? Laws regarding marriage come from both divine and human sources. One example of a divine law is that God wills marriage to be an indissoluble bond until death. If a person approaches the wedding day thinking that he or she can end the sacrament at any time, then clearly, that person is not consenting to marriage, and no sacrament results. This is just one of many divine laws and the Church has no power to change these. At the same time, some questions through history have not been answered by God’s revelation. As a result, the Church needed to establish human laws in addition. For these, the Church has relied on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the “Power of the Keys” (Mt 16:19) to make decisions on unclear matters. 
     For example, one Church law about marriage is the “form” of marriage. For centuries, there was no requirement for Catholics to exchange vows before any witnesses at all. Imagine the headaches: some individuals claimed to be married while their alleged spouse denied ever having exchanged vows! To resolve this source of uncertainty, in 1563, the Church established that a Catholic must exchange consent before two witnesses in addition to an official witness who has jurisdiction from Church authority. Even though I’m glossing over some details, you can see how this human/Church law is necessary. If a Catholic does not follow this “form,” a sacramental marriage does not take place. 
      While I cannot summarize centuries worth of legal and theological development in a brief article, my hope is simply to give you a sense that the sacrament of marriage is something both natural and supernatural, meaning, it involves grace and it involves laws. When certain laws are ignored, the sacrament does not come about. Next time I’ll dive a little deeper into the process by which the Church uses her laws to judge a marriage for invalidity.
 

The Annulment Process 

by Fr. Garrett O’Brien, JCL (Parochial Vicar at SCS 2018 - 2019)

      My previous two articles gave a glimpse of the scriptural foundations of Christian marriage and our development of laws which govern that sacramental covenant. Today I would like to give an overview of the process that is used by the Church to assess whether a marriage is invalid. The first point that needs to be made is that the Church presumes that an exchange of consent between two baptized people creates a valid sacramental bond. Because of this, it is important to address one of the most common concerns for those who approach the annulment process. Some have thought that when an annulment is granted, it will in effect render the children of that bond illegitimate in the eyes of the Church. I can say definitively, this is not so. Since the Church presumes marriages are valid, this means that any child born of such a marriage is considered legitimate even if that marriage is later proven invalid. The annulment process has no effect on how the Church (or anyone else) should regard the children. 
      Now, about the process for determining invalidity: it involves a judge (sometimes three), a defender, advocates, witnesses, the right of defense, and there is an appeal process. It sounds like a court procedure because it is! Since it is a juridical process, we can avoid arbitrariness and preserve justice toward God’s sacraments as well as toward all parties involved. It would be an offense against the sacred for a mere man to judge for nullity when, in reality, a sacrament exists. At the same time, it would not be just for two individuals to live as if bound by a marriage that, in fact, never came about. 
      In pursuing justice, the Church outlines a process in four phases: the submission of the cause, the collection of evidence, the discussion, and the decision. For the person who seeks an annulment, his or her experience of the process begins with the preparation of his or her case for submission. This is usually the most labor-intensive part. The person who submits the case (the petitioner) will write a narrative aided by a questionnaire. It is so important to meet with a priest, deacon, or specialist for guidance before the narrative is started. The narrative is the story of personal history and the story of the marriage. In all honesty, writing the narrative can be one of the most challenging, but grace-filled, parts of the process. Yes, it does require that the person revisit some painful parts of the past, but this is necessary in order for the Church, who is a loving mother, to listen and to understand the struggle. At the end, a great healing can result: the petitioner is no longer alone with these past memories. The Church helps the petitioner to sort out that relationship and determine the real truth of the matter. 
      After the petitioner collects the needed forms and documentation, the case is ready for submission. The other party to the marriage (the respondent) will be contacted by the officials in the tribunal. There is no requirement for the two parties to be in touch with one another directly. In fact, even though the annulment process is a legal trial, the goal of the process is not to determine “guilt” in one party or another. Instead, both parties and the canon lawyers involved are examining the marriage for invalidity. The respondent has the option whether to participate, and it is not necessarily an obstacle if the respondent chooses to not participate. 
      After this, the judge determines what “ground” will be used as the basis for nullity. Then the witnesses are given a few weeks to contribute their testimony. Testimony of an expert witness often is needed for the examination of psychological factors which may have been in place at the time of the consent. Before the case goes to the judge, the parties have the option to review the testimony and make additional comments. Next, a canonist writes a brief defending the validity of the bond, then the judge examines the case to determine whether it is morally certain that the marriage is invalid based on the selected ground. There is no way to know how long the process will take, but if all the documents are submitted in a timely fashion, the whole process can unfold in roughly 8–12 months. 
      In sum, the annulment process is a time-tested way by which the Church shows her willingness to enter deeply into the lives of her children. The Church is willing to accompany all people, no matter the burdens they carry, so that they can fully enjoy the blessings of new life that Jesus has won for us.