How the Church examines a Marriage.
Image provided by Amanda Mocci on Unsplash
WRITTEN BY:
Rev Richard Laurenson
READ TIME:
5 mins
The work of the Marriage Tribunal of the Catholic Church for New Zealand
The Church has always held marriage in high regard. She believes people when they profess their “I do.” She believes that people say what they mean and mean what they say. She believes that marriage is precious and is to be protected; however she understands that sometimes and often in spite of our best effort there are certain things that prevent the human effort to marry from achieving the level of marriage that God intended.
Some people are “discovering” the Tribunal process of a declaration of nullity or “annulment” when things change in a new relationship which has followed on from the breakdown of a previous marriage. Perhaps they or their spouse have become serious about becoming Catholic. Sometimes they want to marry a Catholic. Sometimes they married years ago and now they or the spouse wants to renew their practice of the Catholic faith.
For some people, it can be painful to see that the Catholic Church takes marriage very seriously and that we follow the clear teaching of Jesus in this matter.
With marriage failure and divorce a sad common fact of our present age, what are we to do? We can't ignore our Lord and master, we can't contradict him, and at the same time we cannot simply look the other way.
The Catholic Church has a long and deep understanding of what marriage properly is, how it comes about, and how we are to keep it healthy. It has long experience of marriages that have gone awry. The Tribunal is one aspect of our care for those whose marriages have failed, and where people wish to try again with the blessing of God. (You can read a summary of what we believe about marriage in Catechism of the Catholic Church. Google “CCC marriage” to read it online.)
The reason we need the Tribunal is because of what Jesus says in the Gospels (Mark 10, Matthew 5 and 19, Luke 16) that to divorce and remarry is to commit adultery. Jesus went on to say “What God has joined no one is to tear apart.” Because Jesus taught us very clearly what marriage is and is not, we need to take a careful look at the previous marriage and see if it was brought together in the way Jesus intends marriage to be constructed.
The investigation may finish with a finding that the marriage was properly constructed, the two spouses are bound to each other until death, and so are not free to marry again. In other words the separation they are now living falls into the “worse” part of their vows.
On the other hand if the investigation says this marriage was not joined by God the tribunal can issue what we call a declaration of nullity, an annulment.
What is the Investigation about?
Simply put the investigation is a careful look at the way the first marriage was put together, established, and what factors led to the breakdown of the marriage.
Building a marriage is like building a new house. The wedding is the day the keys to the house are handed over. A lot goes into the lead-up to that day. When we build a house we need expertise, planning permission, good design, proper materials, and great construction.
In establishing marriage we need the right things also. “Expertise” is where the spouses need a certain level of maturity. For “planning permission” they need at the very least Government permissions, but also (if a Catholic) the Church’s participation. For a “good design” they need a proper understanding of what marriage really is. For “materials” they have the “correct intention,” for construction methods, a time of evaluation, good marriage preparation (which is not the same as planning the wedding day) and a deliberate decision: “Yes, I can marry that particular man/woman, especially the bits that annoy me.” There are other things as well but an analogy can only take us so far.
What are the steps in the investigation?
Step One: Fill out a detailed application form. There are a lot of pages but the more we can do here the easier it is for us later. This can be done with the help of your priest or deacon.
Step Two: We organise an interview with you. This is a detailed interview, covering all sorts of areas of your relationship with family and your former spouse. It needs to be detailed, as most situations are not legally obvious and we have to follow a legal process. A judge will read the interview and other information and decide if there is sufficient evidence to accept the case.
Step Three: If the case is accepted the former spouse is invited to take part in the investigation. Sometimes they are happy to take part, sometimes they are unhappy and tell us so, sometimes they never respond at all. If they do not respond or tell us to “go away” we continue without them.
Step Four: Other witnesses are interviewed and when ready the whole case is sent to an expert called the Defender of the Bond. The task is to ensure that the former spouse has had his/her rights respected, and secondly to propose to the tribunal the reasons why the marriage might be valid.
Step Five: Three judges read the case carefully and decide together what decision is made. Three judges are normal because marriage is important. The decision is then communicated to both former spouses.
Step Six: If one of the spouses objects to the decision they have a right to appeal to a higher tribunal. If there is an appeal then we have to wait for the Appeal Tribunal to hear the case. If no one appeals then after a month the decision made in Step Five comes into effect, and if there is a declaration of nullity - that is, that what appeared to be a real marriage was in fact null - each spouse from that relationship is then free to go on to enter into a marriage with someone else in the Catholic Church, if they so desire.
It is important to remember that a declaration of nullity does not affect any civil status in New Zealand. It is unrelated to civil concerns such as illegitimacy, child custody, alimony, visitation rights, or division of property.
Do you have any questions? Contact your parish priest, or the marriage tribunal at marriages@cdh.org.nz
