I am very seriously working on entering the Catholic Faith. I am now on my third marriage (civil). This is absolutely the last- this is marriage as it is supposed to be!

I was first married at age 21 in an Anglican service in England. Some years later (6) I explored entering the Catholic Faith. My then wife was aghast and angry at my deigning to consider such a move. She took it as a pesonal affront and I backed off in deference to her feelings. However, our differences led to our divorcing in 1975. I remarried, realized that the rebound was not good judgement and divorced. I remarried again. Neither of the second and third marriages were in chuch.

On what grounds could my previous marriages be considered to be annulled?

-- David Short (dshort@dccnet.com), May 31, 2003

Answers

Hi David,

The grounds for annulment come from the canon law requirements for having a valid marriage. Depending on the specific grounds, the annulment process involves either a lengthy formal case, or a quick documentary process if the grounds are simply proven. In your case, an "easy" case would be if your second wife had a previous marriage that was not annulled. (Or if your second wife was baptised as a Catholic.) Formal case grounds can be found here.

Note that if your current wife has any previous marriages, they will need to be annulled as well.

You don't really need to worry about grounds at this point. Talk to the priest where you are thinking about going to RCIA. He will give you a long questionaire to fill out, and depending on that the grounds will be selected.

Good luck in your faith journey!

-- Mark (aujus_1066@yahoo.com), May 31, 2003.

"On what grounds could my previous marriages be considered to be annulled?"

-on the grounds of consent on your part as you apparently did not and or do not know what marriage is or entails yet.

Are you sure that this time is the 'real' one?

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), May 31, 2003.

Thank you all for your responses!! You are helping me so much, just by being there for me. I am not sure that I want to "bear my soul" to all, but having now come to Christ I am looking back at my past experiences and wishing they were not so. However I am here now, and have to deal with the present. My only wish is to come close to the Lord and expiate the sins of my past. Knowing what I know now, life would have been so different! But I have to live with the errors I made. I need a rebirth in Christ in a loving relationship with God and my confreres that can accept me and wash away the sins of the past and glory in my present and future.

My attendance at church in he past weeks has brought a huge wash of empathy and succour. My pastor and mentor are leading me gently and I anxiiulsy await each day and the opportunity to expose myself to God in the ceremony of the church.

May God bless each and everyone of you and guideo those who offer to help.

:-) David (-:

-- David Short (dshort@dccnet.com), June 01, 2003.