The heart of the ministry of Jesus was “reconciliation”.  Jesus came to reconcile.  As his disciples, we are to reconcile people with God and with each other.  Catholics who have been divorced and remarried often feel that they have been separated from the Church and that nothing can be done for them.  In most cases, that is not rue.  Divorced Catholics are not excommunicated.  Divorced Catholics who have remarried without seeking an annulment for their first marriage are asked to refrain from reception of the sacraments and to seek such annulment.

The Church wants to bring about reconciliation with such persons and to minister with justice, compassion, and forgiveness, yet respect the permanence and indissolubility of valid marriages.  But not all marriages are valid from the beginning.  For example, some persons are not capable of contracting marriage because they lack sufficient use of reason; others may not be capable of carrying out the responsibilities of marriage.  Some couples marry only because the woman is pregnant.  Sometimes people enter into marriage deliberately intending not to be faithful, not be open to children or not to remain in the marriage permanently.  There are many grounds for declaring a marriage invalid from the beginning.

The Church established the annulment process as a means of evaluating marriages to determine their validity.  An annulment is a declaration by the Church that a specific marriage was not binding for life according to the Church’s understanding of marriage.  Even though a wedding ceremony took place, something essential was missing from the beginning that prevented the union from becoming a valid, lifelong marriage.

An annulment does not affect the legitimate status of any children born of the marriage.  An annulment brings about reconciliation.  The process can be a healing step toward resolving past hurts or bitterness.  It helps a person forgive themselves and their former spouse and seek God’s forgiveness.

If you are a divorced Catholic and have remarried, you may be in need of filing for an annulment of your first marriage.

If you intend to marry in the Catholic Church, and if you or your spouse-to-be have been married before, you may be in need of filing for an annulment of that first marriage.

To learn more about marriage annulments, please call Deacon Dick at 276-5954 X-2109 or 836-1665.

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