Annulments

"We [bishops] understand the pain of those for whom divorce seemed the only recourse...We urge them to make frequent use of the sacraments, especially the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation…We encourage divorced persons who wish to marry in the Catholic Church to seek counsel about the options that exist to remedy their situation, including the suitability of a declaration of nullity
when there is no longer any hope of reconciliation of the spouses."
- USCCB, Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

The Catholic Church assumes that every couple, whether Catholic or not (unless neither party is baptized) , enters into marriage with the intention to be faithful to the vows they profess to each other and to God's vision for marriage to last "until death do us part".  But sometimes that doesn't happen, for a variety of reasons.  So the Church offers a pastoral process to assess whether the marriage was truly sacramental at the time of consent, or were there factors that were present that prevented it to be permanent.  That process is call an "annulment". 

The primary purposes of the annulment is to determine what those factors were that contributed to the marriage ending in divorce and to ensure that if either person remarries, those factors are addressed beforehand so that the new marriage will be long-lasting and fulfilling.  The second purpose is to provide pastoral care to either or both parties so as to bring greater healing and peace to the experience of divorce (which the divorce process itself often doesn't provide). 

There are many misunderstandings about the annulment process.  It does not affect the civil status of the marriage, which remains.  Rather it addresses the spiritual and sacramental status of the marriage.  Thus, it has no impact on the legal status of children.  In addition, if you are a Catholic and did not marry in the Church according to her teachings, then it is understood by your actions that you did not intend to have a sacramental marriage.  A Catholic must contract marriage in the presense of a priest or deacon and two adult witness (sometimes there can be dispensations from this form for valid reasons).  If this is not observed, the marriage is not considered valild in the mind of the Church. Thus, if the marriage ends in divorce, there is a different process called Lack of Form that is followed.  You can find out more information and answers to your questions from the Archdiocese of Seattle's FAQ's.

Our parish offers pastoral resources to assist persons with the annulment process--from beginning to end.  For more information, contact Helen Oesterle, [email protected]