Divorce, Annulment, & Remarriage - My Final Comments on the Matter

Finally today, I want to clarify my own personal beliefs regarding the Church's definitive teachings on divorce, annulment, and remarriage:

(1) Divorce is abhorrent. God hates divorce.

(2) Divorce and remarriage = adultery.

(3) The Church recognizes that some marriages are void ab initio.

(4) The Church has authority conferred by Christ to determine which marriages are void and which are valid. Unfortunately, it seems that the Church (at least in the U.S.) has been somewhat permissive in granting annulments as a form of "Catholic divorce".

(5) Marriages entered into within the Church (or convalidated by the Church) should be damn near impossible to have annuled.

(6) Converts seeking to enter the Church should have a lower bar (but still have a bar) for proving a prior marriage bond to be invalid.

(7) Once a Church tribunal has declared a marriage null and void, and all appeals have been exhausted, no Catholic should question the validity of that decision.

(8) No one should ASSUME that just because someone is divorced and seeking remarriage that that person has an intention to commit adultery. Charity demands that you assume that person has done what the Church requires to normalize their situation. If there is some doubt, the proper thing to do is admonish that person privately, NOT publicly accuse that person of being "still married" with the implication that the person is going to commit adultery.

As noted earlier, I have myself been a "beneficiary" of the Church's annulment process. Sarah and I, who were married prior to our decision to convert, would not be Catholics today had that option not been available to us. I believe strongly that my previous marriage was invalid in the eyes of the Church. The tribunal that heard my case agreed. So did the appellant tribunal. I am confident enough that my first marriage was invalid that had my first wife even cared to contest the annulment (which she didn't), that I believe had it gone all the way to the Rota it would have nevertheless been declared void ab initio.

One thing this discussion today has caused me to do is to think twice before I condemn someone of violating the Church's teachings without at least considering what that person's individual circumstances might be. An individual's unique situation does not validate whatever sin he may be engaging in, but it certainly helps to give some perspective on how a person got where he is and how he might be helped out of those circumstances.

Finally, several times today, I have stopped to ask myself whether my pontificating about "orthodoxy this" and "the teachings of the Catholic Church that" may come across as self-righteously to others as some of the comments directed toward Carolina Cannonball did to me. If so, then I seriously need to reconsider whether my blogging is doing anything to further the Kingdom, or whether I'm just a resounding gong or clanging cymbal.