Posted: 2/21/2007 8:31:56 PM EDT
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I have a friend that was "made illegitimate" due to a marriage annulment by the Catholic Church. Her parents were married for 26 years. My friend was born in the second year of her parents marriage. It seems to me that because she was born the daughter of her parents, that is proof enough that the marriage was consumated. The annulment was granted without any kind of proof that the marriage was forced or any of the other rules (too young, drunk, whatever). My friend's mother needed an annulment in order to marry another catholic man after her divorce was final. She paid a substantial fee to do so. My question: How can this happen? |
Annulment in the Catholic Church is not the same as a secular legal annulment (like what good 'ol Britney got). Your friend was not "made illegitimate" by any declaration of nullity (which is the correct term) by the Church. Illegitimacy/legitimacy is a civil issue dealing with inheritance. A declaration of nullity is granted if the Catholic Church determines that the marriage in question was not a sacrament. It doesn't even look at the issue of illegitimacy, as that is for the secular courts to figure out. There are sacramental marriages, and then there are marriages that are not sacraments, in the eyes of the Church. A person can only be in one sacramental marriage at any given time. If a person gets divorced and wishes to remarry, but have the second marriage blessed in the Church, the person must seek a declaration of nullity. The first marriage is assumed to be a sacrament unless proven otherwise (hence the person would be committing adultery by getting married again, regardless of what the justice of the peace or some other minister says). A panel of people look at evidence of what took place prior to the wedding to determine if there was anything that may have prevented the marriage from being a sacrament (Catholic married outside the Church, one of the parties was not baptized and one was, a deliberate intention to never have kids, etc.). This may take a few months, or it could take a couple years, depending on the complexity of the case. The more complex it is, the more paperwork and administrative work there is, hence a higher fee to cover time and paperwork. There will be one of two determinations: the first marriage was a sacrament, or the first marriage was not a sacrament. The Church doesn't make it one way or the other. It tries to determine which it already is. If the marriage is determined to not have been a sacrament, then the parties are free to marry in the Church. If the marriage is determined to have been a sacrament, then in the eyes of God and the Church those people are still married to each other and any other marriage they attempt to enter into would be considered adultery. So relax. Your friend is still legitimate (unless the courts have said something else). The annulment simply means that while your friend's mother was in a natural marriage the first time, her marriage was not a sacrament. Clear as mud? 
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First, thank you very much for the detailed response. Second, the part in red is what I don't understand. Both of my friends parents were lifelong members of this church. They were baptised and married in this church. There could not have been a more traditional catholic marriage. There was no evidence given regarding the rules reguired to gain an annulment. Just a big check. As far as my friend being illegitimate, it is more of a spiritual thing. She is viewed as illegitimate by the congregation because of the annulment. It's like the first marriage wasn't a "real" marriage because it was just annuled. If it were the "real" marriage, it would not have been allowed to be annuled. |
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Quoted: Second, the part in red is what I don't understand. Both of my friends parents were lifelong members of this church. They were baptised and married in this church. These facts have no bearing on annulments. There could not have been a more traditional catholic marriage. There was no evidence given regarding the rules reguired to gain an annulment. All annulments require an investigation. Here is some information on the subject. www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Sep1998/feature1.asp Just a big check. From the link: "How Much Does an Annulment Cost? If you are really poor, it costs nothing. If you have limited means, you pay as much of the fee as you can. If you have means, you pay the full tribunal fee which ranges from $500 to $1,000 depending on the locality. There is a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to annulment fees. Some people say that you can buy an annulment in the Church. If that were true, which it is not, why do we have such an elaborate scheme to thwart any form of corruption? You would have to bribe six different judges in two different dioceses and any one of them could throw the case out in a second. Daring to tamper with the justice system is a crime in the Church as well as the state. The American tribunal system ended up $14,000,000 in the red last year. It is not now and never was a money-making proposition, but many times I have heard people spreading the rumor that they did not get their annulment because they were not willing to pay the huge fees involved. More likely than not, their case was rejected because they did not have any credible evidence to support it. Tribunal fees are minimal compared to civil divorce fees."
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