 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
MARRIAGE “ANNULMENT”
While The Catholic Church teaches and believes in the permanence of the marriage bond and strive to promote stable and faithful marriage, she also recognized that some unions do not survive because they were lacking from the very beginning some essential ingredients without which there could not be a valid marriage. When such lack of an essential element can be proven through demonstrate evidence in a Church court, the nullity of that marriage can be declared. - Jaime Cardinal L. Sin, D.D. Why is Nullity Necessary? The Church believes, as Christ taught, that marriage is meant to be a permanent and indissoluble union, a sacred bond which, if validly contracted, cannot be broken by any human power. Thus, a married and separated person (and this includes those who have obtained a divorce in places where it is recognized) seeking a new marriage in the Catholic Church, cannot be allowed to marry in the Church until the Tribunal has investigated the circumstances of the previous union to determine whether a valid bond ever existed. If invalid, then and only then, will the parties of that union be considered free to marry in the Church. When doubt about the validity of marriage arises, the spouses (or one of them) have to present their petition to the Tribunal of the diocese where they live, or where the marriage took place. The local parish priest can help in making contact with the appropriate Tribunal. If a person needs help to identify grounds for the nullity of his/her marriage, the Tribunal can assign an advocate to help. There are priests/canon lawyers who are trained to perform this task. About 30% of the cases presented to the Tribunal never ever reach the trail stage because of either insufficient ground, or lack of evidence, or lack of witnesses. This pre-screening process explains in part the high percentage of affirmative decisions. Tribunals accept only cases that have a good chance of getting affirmative decisions.
The whole process of investigating a marriage is designed to find the truth, not to prove that one party is right and the other wrong or guilty. In order to determine whether or not there is a ground acceptable in Church law that would have caused the invalidity of the marital union, the Tribunal must investigate the pre-marital history of the parties involved, as well as the history of the marriage itself and what led to the breakdown of the marital relationship. It must be proven "beyond reasonable doubt" that this particular ground for nullity actually existed at the same time of the wedding, and that this ground either juridically or actually interfered with the giving of the valid matrimonial consent and the accepting of the obligations of marriage. The Church's juridical system is not a trial by jury, but a trial by Tribunal. Usually, three priest-judges form the Tribunal and they decide the case by majority decision. If a declaration of nullity is granted by the first instance Tribunal, it must be upheld by the Appellate Tribunal (the Court of Second Instance). Two concurring affirmative decisions are needed before the declaration of nullity is final. If there is a split decision between the two courts, the case must go to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota (in Rome) for final resolution. What are the Most Commonly Presented Grounds for Nullity § GRAVE LACK OF DUE DISCRETION This refers to a situation where one or both partners gravely lacked sufficient maturity or good judgments to consent to the marriage and to assume freely (and discharge) all the accompanying obligations of married life. For example; suppose a woman has married her husband because she was pregnant. They just thought of marriage as a solution to her pregnancy. Once the marriage was contracted, he simply refused to work, sitting around the house drinking beer all day while the wife supported the family with an outside job. She did all the shipping, cooking and child care. He never lifted a finger to help her. After a few years, she decided she had enough and she separated from him. § PSYCHOLOGICAL INCAPACITY If a person is incapable of fulfilling the rights and obligations of marriage because of some psychological causes, the marriage can be declared null. Spouses must be psychologically capable of assuming and carrying out the essential obligations of marriage. One cannot validly exchange consent of marriage if it is beyond one's capacity. One cannot promise to do something which he/she is incapable of doing. A person may be capable of understanding the nature of marriage and of making a deliberate act of the will, while at the same time being radically incapable of assuming its essential obligations. For instance: a paranoid schizophrenic may have behaved normally at the time of the wedding, but later, when the illness becomes full blown, the marriage fall apart irreparably. The incapacity to assume the essential obligations of marriage differs from an unwillingness to do so, in that one or both parties suffer a debilitating psychological condition to such an extent that it is impossible to begin and sustain a marital relationship. The psychic factor itself is not the cause of invalidity; rather the gravity of the affliction is the root of the incapacity. § INTENTION CASES These involve an actual intention against one of the ends or purposes of the (sacrament of) marriage. Intention Against Permanence - entering marriage with a divorce mentality or with the intention to abandon marriage, or the reservation that "I will decide after the wedding and see what is like before committing myself permanently." Intention Against Fidelity - a deliberate intention to have an "open marriage," whereby relations with others is intended and there is no commitment to an exclusive relationship. Take the case of a man who got married to her girlfriend, but kept a lover before, during and after the marriage. Intention Against Children - when one parent actually refuses to grant the right of having children to the other partner who has clearly expressed the desire for children, and made it clear prior to the wedding that this was his/her intention from the beginning. This denial of intention against children is evidenced by constant use of contraceptives or other forms of birth prevention or the habitual refusal to have sexual relations. § FORCE AND FEAR A marriage is invalid when entered into by reason of force or of grave fear imposed from outside, and from which a person has no escape other than by choosing marriage. § CONDITIONAL CONSENT This refers to a marriage where the consent to marry is given only on the basis that certain conditions will follow, i.e., the gaining of a large inheritance after the wedding. § ERROR AND FRAUD This deals with a serious mistake or error concerning the partner in marriage. The error must be so serious that without it, there would have been no marriage. In order for error to exist as ground for nullity, there must have been deception or the actual concealment of the truth; i.e…"I would have not married this person if I had known that…" § ADMINISTRATIVE CASES Declaration of nullity is given in other less complicated cases where it is not necessary to go to trial. For instance: if it is discovered that a man was validly and canonically married to someone else before he married the petitioner. The second marriage will be declared null and void on the ground of impediment of prior bond. This case is settled rather quickly in an administrative process which involves little more than documentary evidence. The same type of administrative process is used when Catholics marry outside the Church. This is called a declaration of nullity based on "non-observance of canonical form". The couple did not exchange vows before a priest and two witnesses in a Catholic Church is stipulated by Canon Law (c. 1108). When Catholics fail to observe this so-called "canonical form," their marriage is invalid.
Next Month…… What are the Steps of a Nullity Process?
|
