...Sometimes mocked as “Catholic divorce,” an annulment is a declaration by a church court that a marriage never existed in the first place because one of the conditions for validity wasn’t satisfied, such as free consent by both parties.Read the rest here.
Facing that tension, a compromise may be coming into focus: No change on the sacraments ban, but an easier and broader process for granting annulments.
O’Malley floated that idea during a recent Globe interview, saying that perhaps annulments could be sped up by eliminating the possibility of appeal to Rome, a provision that often means a case can drag on for years if one of the parties wants to contest the result.
A Feb. 15 conference of church lawyers in the Italian region of Liguria seemed to point in the same direction, arguing that the grounds upon which an annulment can be granted ought to be expanded.
In particular, these church lawyers proposed adding “mamma-ism” to the list, meaning a situation in which spouses are so completely under the thumb of one of their parents – usually, according to the jurists, the mom – that they don’t have free will.
Whatever one makes of “mamma-ism” as a legal or psychological concept, it illustrates how eager many Catholic officials are to make annulments more user-friendly.
Disclaimer: The Boston Globe is not a Catholic friendly news source. That said they are offering direct quotes with attribution.
4 comments:
So, their lawyers are changing the definition so as to circumvent actually changing the doctrine, which this does? ONly in Catholicism.
You know, this is interesting, to be charitable. As a cradle RC, who loves my Church, I've struggled with the concept of annulment, and not a few divorced persons have, too.
To me (and I speak only for myself here)it makes much more sense to say to a couple, "Folks, you were married. You were REALLY married. You were SACRAMENTALLY married. And you got divorced for (name the reason.) For this reason, you can no longer live out your vows in a sacramental, life-giving, Godly way. So, the Church dispenses you from these vows and so you are free to marry again, as God wills, or be single, as God wills. We (the Church) love you and are here for you either way."
The Church, in her language, at least, of annulments, is wanting it both ways. It is a bloody insult to the Sacrament of Matrimony to tell a couple they were never really married. It's also an insult to everything they've endured and suffered, and enjoyed, as married people. Effectively, the RC Church is saying, "Oh, never mind, that was all bunk, so forget it."
That's like telling someone who just witnessed their spouse of 70 years die "Oh, he's dead, get over it."
Only in Catholicism, indeed.
It's also, primarily and fundamentally, a slap in the Face of Christ Who instituted the Sacrament of Marriage.
Trying to look at it another way...
By removing the appeal to Rome (leaving aside all other possible revisions to the rules), might we not see a restoration of discipline and economia properly exercised by the diocesan bishop?
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