I just got engaged. We both are Catholic and I am divorced (5 years ago) I was married for 1 year. I have met with a priest and have started the annulment process. He thinks I have a good case. He also has said it will probably take 2 years. If my fiance and I were married outside the church this fall, would the church then refuse to continue with the annulment process? We do want to eventually get married in the church, but do not want to wait 2-3 years. Thanks for your response.

-- Rick (ricksch@nb.net), January 08, 2002

Answers

> "If my fiance and I were married outside the church this fall, would the church then refuse to continue with the annulment process?"

The problem with your question, is that civil marriage is not a true marriage in the eyes of God, as it takes a priest to join two people to become one, so any intimate relationship you have before marriage by a priest would be a case of living in sin.

If you have to wait for the results of an annulment process before getting married in the Church, then I strongly recommend that you do wait. Maybe you can look into speeding up the annulment process, if at all possible.

Patience before marriage is a great sacrifice, and a good test to see if your marriage will last in my opinion.

-- G Vink (gordonvink@bigfoot.com), January 08, 2002.

I agree with you completely, Gordon.
Not only would Rick and his friend be "living in sin" (because they would not be married), but it would be, objectively speaking, "living in adultery."
Although it may be hard for Rick to imagine this, he is still presumed to be sacramentally and validly married to his wife right now -- and he has a duty to be faithful to her until such time as a tribunal may declare that their union was actually null on their wedding day. (If it would declare that their was valid, he would have a duty to be faithful to her until one of them dies.) It would surprise me greatly if it would take much more than a year for the nullity process to come to its conclusion, unless his diocesan tribunal is terribly swamped with work right now.
Rick said that he "just got engaged," and he refers to his "fiance." This is a very perilous thing to do. A Catholic in his position (no Decree of Nullity) is not even permitted to date, much less get engaged -- because of that requirement to remain faithful to the spouse. The Church does not recognize Rick's civil divorce as having any effect on their marriage, except as a sort of physical separation.

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 08, 2002.