Annulment Reform Needed, Vatican Official Says Friday, September 17, 2004 12:00:00 AM GMT

Vatican, Sep. 17 (CWNews.com) - Marriage tribunals in some countries are abusing Church laws regarding annulments, a leading Vatican authority has charged.

Tribunals in some countries (notably the United States) are quick to provide annulments on uncertain grounds, while in other countries the faithful find it difficult to pursue even clear-cut cases of nullity. That was the testimony of Joaquin Llobel, a canon-law instructor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and a member of the tribunal for the Apostolic Signatura.

Speaking on Vatican Radio on September 17, Llobel decried in inconsistency of treatment of marriage issues in different Catholic countries. The Vatican should insist on uniform application of Church law, he said.

"Some poor countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, do not even have ecclesiastical courts," Llobel observed. In these countries, Catholics "do not have the opportunity to obtain a declaration of nullity-- which is their right," he pointed out. The first step toward reform, therefore, would be to ensure that every diocese gives the faithful a chance to present their cases before a tribunal.

"In other countries, on the other hand, the situation is quite the contrary," Llobel continued. The Vatican tribunal judge cited the "tribunals whose mode of operation has often been criticized by John Paul II, which equate the failure of a marriage with its nullity." Whenever a marriage breaks down, he said, these tribunals take that failure as evidence that a true Christian marriage never existed.

Although Llobel did not point to any particular country as he made this criticism, tribunal officials confirm that the Vatican is particularly concerned about American marriage courts, which frequently provide a finding of nullity on questionable grounds, such as evidence of "immaturity" of one or both partners in the union.

Further; background informative exposition of dissent (opinion & research):

As a Catholic, Is there any obligation to judge, to follow specific teachers and reject others?

Canon law Society of America (CLSA) dissents from Authoritative Church teaching regarding Separation, Divorce and Remarriage.

Daniel////

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), October 10, 2004

hmmm... bold off

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), October 10, 2004.

Good cites. What is happening with Mr. and Mrs. Bud Macfarlane? I would think that a solid Catholic family like that would not be open to even considering divorce. Is Randall Terry Catholic? What happened in his marriage?

-- Pat Delaney (pat@patdelaney.net), October 11, 2004.

-for those unaware, the last two links cited above are to a web site inspired through Mrs. Bud Macfarlane (Marie).

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Pat,

Here is a link to chronology of the Macfarlane case thus far:

Defending Families against Forced no-fault Divorce

-further, a link to her legal motion:

Ohio Defendant argues Antenuptial Agreement makes forced Divorce Illegal

I would think that the "Antenuptial Agreement" argument would apply to ALL Catholics validly married that sought and underwent marriage preparation within the Roman Catholic Church...

WOW - I wish I had thought of this approach during the travesty of my forced divorce.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- As to Randall Terry -I am pretty sure he was not Catholic and is protestant episcopalian now, changing churches due to 'censure' -- he is divorced and 'remarried':

Randall Terry - Impacting a Nation, Speaking to a World -- and other various things :) excuse my humor if offensive

Daniel////

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), October 11, 2004.