FIGHT THE ANNULMENT

I just got engaged on New Year's eve and we had about one week of complete happiness before facing serious issues. I need some advice. I'll give you our situation...and maybe you can offer some guidance.

First of all, I'm a devout catholic...am 43 years old and have never been married. I have followed all the rules of the church. My fiance is non-catholic, baptized methodist and divorced. He has been divorced for over 17 years and never remarried. He was married in Las Vegas in a methodist chapel. His wife was mormon, but neither practiced their religion. From talking to people, it sounds like he needs a full annulment.

My fiance has been wonderful about abiding by those rules that are important to me. We have not consummated our relationship...like I said I've always wanted to do the right thing and he's been wonderful about it. He's 52 years old and I'm sure that can't be easy. He was willing to at least start the process for me... but now his ex-wife has become involved. She will fight the annulment and she's presented the annulment to their 3 children as a terrible thing.. In fact saying that an annulment states that the marriage never should have happened and therefore they should never have happened. Of course that has made it very difficult for my fiance to go through with the process. He feels that will hurt them tremendously. How can I ask him to do something like that. I have tried to do things the right way... and he has too.

We love each other so much. We are extremely compatible and I know this marriage would be forever. Is there any other way to go about this?

PREVIOUS MARRIAGE

First of all, I would like to thank you for putting up a wonderful website that is very informative and truly helpful.

I just finished reading the section about annulments and the facts surrounding it. I was recently involved in a relationship with a man who has been separated with his wife for almost 5 years now. They were married in the Philippines and have 3 children. Kitchie, the wife, resides in Manila with their 3rd child while Rey, lives here in California now with their two children. Currently, they are neither divorced (there is no divorce in the Philippines) nor legally separated.

In as much as I want to consider being his second wife, I also hold my Catholic values very dearly. I am aware that we can never be married in a Catholic church unless he nullifies his previous marriage. We decided to part ways while he thinks about getting an annulment with his wife.

My question is, how does he handle his situation? He lives here while his wife lives back in the Philippines. Can he initiate and file his annulment in his present parish or does he have to file it in the parish where they were married? How will the proceedings work in this case?

I hope you can give me some advice as to what he must do if he has indeed decided to nullify his previous marriage.

Thank you very much and God Bless you always.

CIVIL WEDDING

i would like to know if its a sin or its against the Catholic Faith if you accept to be one of the principal sponsors of a Civil Wedding. Please explain.

3 QUICK QUESTIONS

Can a Catholic validly marry a non-Christian?

Is a marraige valid if the couple does not consumate (sexually) the marraige?

If they have not consumated the marraige, can the marraige be annulled because it is not yet fully valid?

DIVORCED FOUR TIMES

I have been divorced four times.(Never married in the Catholic Church and all divorces were for incompatibility) My fiance has been divorced once.(Not in the Catholic Church the divorce was for incompatibility) We are both going through R.C.I.A. classes. We are meeting with Fr. on Tuesday 2/08/2005. One question we have is will I have too get an annulment for all my marriages or just the last one? I was young and was marrying for the wrong reasons.

NEEDED PAPERS

i was wondering what kind of papers do i need
to get married in bacolod philipphines im planing
to get married there but i need help on what kind of papers
i need i can only stay 1 month there to get married
i leave in california and i belong to a church singing group
can u help on this matter to see what king of papers i need and
to see if 1 month is planty of tme to do this
i really apriciated your help on this matter
ones again thank you

COMPATIBILITY TEST

I am planning to marry my fiance, i would like to know where i can get an online marriage compatibilty test , so we can assess our long term relatrionship.

DEGREE OF CONSANGUINITY

I am confused on calculating the degree of consanguinity under canon law. I have found conflicting information. Some say that the degree of consanguinity for first cousins once removed is three degrees. Others say that this would be five degrees. Which one is correct?

SHED LIGHT

I enjoyed your web page. In the section titled "Marriage Dispensations" you mention a requirement for a : "Mixed Marriage/Disparity of Worship Dispensation". Could you shed a little more light on what this is? What do the catholic and non catholic have to do in this process?

Also what is a: "Permission/Dispensation Form, for "Permission For Mixed Religion"? Who completes this? Catholic, non catholic, Deacon?

I am a catholic married to a non catholic. The details of my situation are attached.

I'm trying to do my homework before I approach my parish priest for the details of what I and my wife need to do. The attached information was recently sent to my parish priest.

PARISH RULE

Hello, I chanced upon this site while I was looking for information.
I am getting married soon and wanted to have my wedding at a pretty church like Calaruega in Tagaytay.

I had heard that there was a non-parish rule and that marriages can only be celebrated in parish churches and not chapels like Calaruega. Is this current and strictly enforced or would I have to get a special permit? Thank you!

EMOTIONALLY ABUSIVE

hello...i am seeing a catholic man...i am not a catholic but am baptised as a baptist...i am currently seperated from my husband and will soon be divorced...i left because he was emotionally abusive, raped me and was not committed to our marriage as he had been married before and seen it as a way of someone to look after him rather than love..

if i wanted to marry a catholic man what do i need to do...would i have to be converted to the catholic faith....and if so what is the process and can it be done in private since my family are not catholic,, can we still marry without me converting..
my daughter is baptised but not catholic...please i would appreciate simple answers as i am unfamiliar with catholic proceedures etc...thank you

BOTH NON-CATHOLIC

I was writing in hopes that you might be able to
answer a question I have regarding annulments in the
Catholic Church. Let me give you a brief summary of
what happened and then I'll end with my question to
you.

I was married for the first time back in November
1999, in a Protestant church, both of us non-Catholic.
Yet at the time I can honestly say that I was not in
love, but rather felt it was what I was supposed to do
having dated the girl for nearly two years (I was 24
years old at the time.) After 1 1/2 years of marriage,
she finally admitted to me that she was having an
affair with someone that she worked with and did not
want to be married to me anymore. At this point she
stated that she wanted a divorce from me. I had
attempted to work out the marriage as I felt this is
what God would want, but nonetheless she wanted me to
file for divorce (why she didn't file I still do not
understand.) Now I received my civil divorce in August
of 2002 (we were separated since summer of 2001.) I
had been dating a woman while the divorce process was
going on (which now I think perhaps I should have
waited until the first marriage was dissolved.)
Anyways, after the divorce was granted, I knew that
this woman I was truly in love with and we got married
in a non-denominational chapel in September of 2002.
Neither of us were Catholic at the time either.

Now it is three years later and my second wife and I
are wanting to join the Catholic church and I am of
the understanding that I need to file for annulment
before the Church will recognize my current marriage.
Also, I have had my first child from my current
marriage, so I know that this marriage is one that
both my wife and I want to build upon God and the
Church.

My question is: Does my situation with my first
marriage sound like I could file for an annulment due
to adultery committed by the first wife and the fact
that she wanted to leave when I was attempting to work
this thing out if possible? Any insight to this
question would be greatly appreciated.

MAIDEN NAME CHANGE

I am having my previous wedding annulled. Will I have to change my married name back to my maiden name? Thank you for your time.

MARRIED FOR 5 YEARS

My son has been married for 5 yrs. His wife had a baby with another. She wants to marry the other. Can he get an annulment?

RECEPTION OF THE SACRAMENTS

Can you please answer a question for me. I am a Catholic and I was divorced a couple of years ago and have since remarried. My first marriage has just been annulled. My question is...am I now able to receive the sacraments?

MARRYING A NON-CATHOLIC

I have a friend who is a catholic and she is planning on marrying a non-catholic. He has agreed to convert so that the wedding may take place in the church. However, he has two previous non-catholic marriages. As a matter of fact he is still married to his second wife at the moment. When his divorce is final can they still be married in the church? Or will he have to have his marriages anulled? And can he do this when his first marriage produced children? Any input you may have to offer would be greatly appreciated.

NON-DENOMINATIONAL MARRIAGE

My son who is 27 is engaged to be married to a wonderful girl next year. He was married in 2001 and right after the marriage she basically turned on him and it came out she was bipolar and a very sick young woman. He is now going thru an annullment (its been about 7 months). The girl he is marrying now is not catholic and it started out that they would marry in the catholic church. Now they have decided to marry in a non-denominational church even though they would still like our Pastor to be involved along with the minister. Being from a very catholic family I am just sick about this. Then I read your website and about the dispensation. Once the annulment is approved then this would be something for them to look into. They both already have said that they do want to raise their children in the catholic church and schools.

I have not passed this information on to them yet until I am sure I am understanding it correctly. If I am, then they can bring this up in a meeting with our pastor.

Now if they get a dispensation, does this mean its a valid catholic marriage? (I got this from where it said what if a cathoic marries a non catholic without a dispensation - invalid catholic marriage. So I took that to mean, that if they have a dispensation to marry in a non-catholic church that it is a valid catholic marriage?

Also, if they got a dispensation can our priest take part in the ceremony also if he agrees?

Once I know I have the right info I will pass this on to my son and fiance.

I have prayed extra hard for an answer to all of this.