There were no witnesses to the wedding.

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I was married in 1994 (I was 19 years old young and stupid). It was not a Catholic wedding nor were there any witnesses. We never told anyone in our families or any of our friends. We kept it a secret. Till this day no one knows of our marriage. I understood that eventuall we would have a real marriage in the Catholic Church. But in 1998, we seperated (basically he cheated on me). We have not been together since. I am a practicing Catholic and would eventually like to remmary and be married in the Catholic Church. I have just started the divorce proceedings and I wanted to know if I have grounds for an annulment and if I can start that at the same time as the divorce proceedings. It's been really difficult since no one knew of the marriage and I don't really want anyone to know of my BIG mistake and just want to put it behind me. I know that a part of the annulment process is to gather info from witnesses for the tribunal, is that necessary since no one knew of the marriage.

-- Sheryl (tans@cgu.edu), February 21, 2002

Answers

Sheryl,

Peace be with you. I'm a youngin', so I can't say I'm qualified at this point to give you perfect advice. I would imagine that the first concern always is to pull straight any wrinkles that may lie in your relationship with God. Reconciliation, penance, and constant prayer.

I'll allow those on the board with more background in Canon Law to help you with the details of what will likely happen. I just want to express my support, sympathies, and prayers.

-- Jeffrey Zimmerman (jeffreyz@seminarianthoughts.com), February 21, 2002.


Jmj

Hello, Sheryl.
My impression, from what you wrote, is that, even though you considered yourself a Catholic, you went through a non-Church ceremony and without permission.
If I have made the correct assumption, then you made a serious violation of Canon Law concerning the legal form of marriage, and that was enough to render your "union" null. Though it seems a clear-cut case, it will still be necessary for the diocesan tribunal to issue a Decree of Nullity stating that you are free to be married.

For legal reasons, the Church does not begin work on a nullity case until a civil divorce case has ended.

Sheryl, you are very concerned about remaining anonymous. If you have just posted your actual e-mail address above, I suggest that you ask the Moderator of this forum to delete it, because there is an Internet search engine that can find your e-mail address on these forum pages.

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@desc.dla.mil), February 22, 2002.


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