thank you so much for responding so quickly! its kinda complicated.... i am working with a priest on the conversion process (the rcia was about halfway through i when i got the "call")he is currently helping me through the annulment process. i am currently married. (he's catholic)actually, it is even more complicated than this, but i am trygin to be brief. i know the annulment process will take a year or more. and i wont be able to receive communion until then. but was hoping i could be baptised (never having been baptised before.)or must i wait?

-- marion (marion1098@email.com), May 15, 2001

Answers

Have you looked at scripture to see if it supports annulment? Jesus said unless its for adultery then a divorce is not of God its of man. Where does Gods word say you need the rcia, are you just trusting blindly in what men say, then follow them? Why did Jesus say call no one your father? In Jesus name are you baptized and that not of water. If you dont look into these things your salvation, is being neglected according to scripture. If you believe the lie that I am not trying to lead aright, then its because you truly do not care about knowing Jesus Christ!! You dont need an annulment to commune with God, if you ask Jesus for forgiveness you can commune with God right now. What happens if you die before the year is up? If you want to be right in Gods eyes then talk to him, and confess your sins to him, you dont need an annulment for this, thats a man made tradition, that takes your money. Think about it? Look in the scriptures!! Do you want to be saved? Then today is the day of salvation, where you never have to worry about purgatory, if you truly open your heart to Jesus Christ. Have a blessed day.

-- Alex saved by Jesus (Jesusislife@Christianemail.com), May 15, 2001.

Marion,
All replies from "Alex Ruiz, Jr./Alex is saved/Alex saved by Jesus" and variations thereof (Jesusislife e-mail) should be ignored, as they come from an anti-Catholic/ex-Catholic who is banned from this site.


-- (_@_._), May 15, 2001.

Hi Marion, I would think that if you have not remarried then there would be no problem with you being baptized OR receiving communion. Of course I don't know all the particulars. Surely the priest you are seeing might help. No? Or do you want to wait and do the whole shebang together, at easter, as so many do? That might be really wonderful too. What did you have in mind?

Jane

-- jane (janeulrich@hotmail.com), May 15, 2001.

Jmj

Hi again, Marion.
I agree almost fully with Jane, but I believe that she overlooked one important thing.

The Church's highest form of rules, known as the Code of Canon Law, has this to say about adults and the Sacrament of Baptism:
"Canon 865 ... To be admitted to Baptism, an adult must have manifested the intention to receive Baptism, must be adequately instructed in the truths of the faith and in the duties of a Christian, and tested in the Christian life over the course of the catechumenate. The person must moreover be urged to have sorrow for personal sins.
"Canon 866 Unless there is a grave reason to the contrary, immediately after receiving baptism an adult is to be confirmed, to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist [Mass] and to receive Holy Communion."

So, Marion, the priest who is helping you now will be able to make a judgment as to when you are ready for Baptism. He must urge you "to have sorrow for personal sins." And as soon as you have been baptized, you will be 100% pure and sinless, ready to receive Jesus in Communion, and even ready to enter heaven without a moment's delay!

However ... It is not easy for me to have to say this, but I have no choice except to be truthful to you. The priest, if he has not already done so, should explain to you that, until you receive a Decree of Nullity, there is a presumption that your first marriage was valid. Therefore, until Nullity has been declared by the tribunal, there is only one man (your first husband) with whom you can licitly have marital relations. To have relations with another man would (objectively speaking) be a mortal sin of adultery. [When you are baptized all your past sins of adultery with your present husband (if there were any, in God's eyes) will be forgiven.]

This means that you would have to decide (on the day of your Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion) which of two courses to take:
(1) to continue relations with your present husband and stop receiving Holy Communion (because of the possible sins of adultery); or
(2) to make an agreement with your husband to suspend marital relations, living chastely as brother and sister, until you receive word from the tribunal. This would allow you to continue receiving Communion even every day. And after your husband has had a chance to return to the Sacrament of Penance, he could return also to the reception of Holy Communion.

Please ask more questions if I have confused you.
God bless you.
John

-- (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), May 16, 2001.

Ask yourself, why would they ban somebody, for simply wanting to encourage yu read Gods word? Did Jesus have money? If your not looking at these things, I fear for you as Jesus not the church is truth. As Gods word is against the Catholic church being a believer in truth I am against false truth. Jesus saves!

-- Alex is saved (Jesusislife@Christianemail.com), May 19, 2001.