Amy Welborn has a good post that starts with the Pope’s speech to the Roman Rota (which serves as an "appeals court" in marriage cases) and winds up with a quote from a man whose Tribunal experience led him to the same conclusion I have come to re: the high annulment rates in North America:

…my Tribunal experience has been a real eye-opener, especially in light of the contraceptive and divorce mentality I encounter in most people, including Catholics. In fact, these mentalities are so pervasive within North American society that after four days on the Tribunal I found myself declaring as many marriages invalid as the next judge … and wondering to myself whether any marriage attempted today in North America is valid.

In short, as a Traditional Catholic canonist, I can safely say that since the sexual devolution of the sixties, the rise in marriage annulments has not been because of the Second Vatican Council and a more liberal application of canon law, but because of a selfish and unrealistic understanding of what marriage entails by your average person entering into it.

That’s what I think.  We have too damned many annulments granted in the U.S.  It’s not because annulments are too easy; it’s because weddings are too easy.  As Amy says:  "stop witnessing the marriage of every baptized Catholic who walks into the rectory and asks for one."


Comments

Leave a comment