The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 Page: 5 of 16
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April 20, 2005 The University News 5
News
for better, for worse
„M(l death do us part
annulments
Vatican seeks
to remedy rise
in annulments
by Dan Wilson
Contributing Writer
The Holy See issued revised
annulment procedures in Febru-
ary and urged tribunal boards to
apply rules more stringently
Titled Dignity of Marriage, the
111-page guide is the work of
Vatican courts and departments
concerned with defending au-
thentic teaching on marriage.
The guidelines took nearly 10
years to compile and are based
on the Church's 1983 code of
canon law
Vatican officials said the rules
are designed to make it easier to
determine whether an annulment
should be granted. Annulment
procedures must not, even in
appearance, contribute to matri-
mony's decline.
"In the context of a divorce
mentality, even canon annulment
cases can be easily misunderstood,
as if they were nothing more than
ways to obtain a divorce with the
blessing of the Church," Cardinal
Julian Herranz, head of the Pon-
tifical Council for the Interpreta-
tion of Legislative Texts, said.
The document has received a
variety of responses.
Senior Chris Cooper, theology
major, was disappointed because
he had hoped it would clarify the
grounds for an annulment.
"I wish it [Dignity of Marriage\
would have been much more clear
on what constitutes...sufficient
evidence for nullity, especially in
cases related to psychological and
subjective factors.
"It seems the Church gives very
little guidance in these areas, and,
consequently, [there is] lots of
room for uncertainty and confu-
sion," he said.
The Catholic Church prohibits
divorce but permits annulment if
special conditions are met.
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Grounds include evidence that
one or both of the partners lacked
the mental capacity to marry; hid
information on infertility, impo-
tence, or a previous marriage; or
married under threat.
Pope John Paul II had repeat-
edly warned that distortion or
collusion on the diocesan level
threatens the sacrament of mar-
riage.
In a speech to the Roman Rota,
the Vatican's appeals court, John
Paul said marital problems are not
enough to declare that a marriage
never happened.
"In the name of alleged pastoral
needs, voices have been raised to
propose that unions that have
totally failed be declared invalid.
Individual or collective interests
can induce the parties to take re-
course to forms of falsehood and
even corruption," he said.
Dr. Christopher Malloy, as-
sistant theology professor, agreed.
Any attempt to lie about one's
intentions or past convictions
unravels the entire annulment
process.
"It is important to remember
that the judgment of a tribunal is
one aspect of the whole truth of
the annulment process as a whole.
Another very important aspect is
the 'internal forum' of the person
seeking an annulment...In the
absence of this criterion of sincer-
ity, one might think that one can
pressure the tribunal to declare
nullity," he said.
The U.S. Church generates
the largest share; of annulment
requests. Vatican officials estimate
that in 2002, the most recent year
for which statistics are available,
about 70 percent of all annul-
ment requests were granted in the
United States. Worldwide, more
than 56,000 Catholics requested
annulments.
Dr. John Nor-
ris, associate the-
ology professor,
suggested the an-
nulment explo-
sion is the result
of poor marriage
preparation, not
the annulment
process itself.
"I don't think
the number of an-
nulments is shock-
ing for the same
reason others do. I
think some people
consider annul-
ments illegitimate,
and so lots of them [annulments]
means that lots of people are
escaping marriages when they
shouldn't be able to," he said.
Dominican Rev. Juan-Diego
Brunetta, marriage tribunal judge
at the Archdiocese of Hartford,
Conn., described one way couples
are not prepared for marriage.
"Personally, I think that some-
body who enters into a marriage,
having studied and appreciated
the teachings, might suffer from
something else when they find
themselves knocking at the tribu-
nal door. They expected marriage
to be exalted...
"And when they find out that
theirs is not as they imagined,
and they are not prepared to grow
together and work through nor-
mal difficulties in their marriage,
they start looking for a way out,"
he said.
Many couples tend to, "self-
diagnose," looking for a way
out of the marriage. But normal
aches and pains "indicate life, not
death," Brunetta said.
"There are tensions and strug-
gles and difficulties that are nor-
mal in the marriage—these are
signs of health, not invalidity
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People playing all these head
games about why their marriages
are invalid don't understand the
Church's teachings," he said.
Ironically enough, faithful
Catholics' emphasis on doctrinal
study can actually leave them
vulnerable to high-minded doubts
about their marriages,, Brunetta
said.
For many couples, "an overly
intellectual approach dimin-
ishes the mystery that marriage
is supposed to be. Before I was
ordained, I had a certain sense of
what it was to be a priest.
"I thought I knew what it
would be like, but I had no idea. A
lot of it is experiential. It's learned
in the very living of it. If we've got
it all figured out ahead of time,
we might end up fighting against
what our married life is teaching
us," he said.
Almost every U.S. diocese has
established tribunals with canon
lawyers to consider annulments.
The U.S. waiting period is typi-
cally 10 to 14 months. In Europe,
where relatively few dioceses have
such tribunals, waits of several
years are common.
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Dickens, Jodi. The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 20, 2005, newspaper, April 20, 2005; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201407/m1/5/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Dallas.