deacon canon law iii

Deacon Canon Law III

Types of Annulment Cases

Case Studies

Case Studies Type #1

Patrick and Maria

And Deborah

Patrick & Maria

A gentleman by the name of Patrick, age 49, comes into the Rectory along with his wife, Maria, age 35, to make arrangements to get married in the Catholic Church. They have been civilly married for ten years and Maria just gave birth to their second child.

Patrick & Maria

When they wanted to have the new baby baptized, one of the priests or deacons at the parish told them that they could not baptize this child because Patrick was previously married. Their marriage is a first for Maria, the couple and their families say it is good union.

Patrick & Maria

In listening to their “story,” the following history emerges. Patrick was born to a Catholic mother and a Protestant Father. He was baptized as a baby at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, but he never made his First Communion nor Confirmation. Unfortunately, his parents did not raise their children with any religious practice, and Patrick grew up basically “un-churched.”.

Patrick & Maria

Patrick enlisted at 18 in the Marine Corps and wanted to marry his high school sweet heart, Deborah, a Protestant girl before he went off to boot camp. Patrick and Deborah married so that they could get the married housing allowance, and they decided to “elope” to Jellico, Tennessee where they could get married without any waiting period.

Patrick & Maria

Patrick remembers the ceremony taking place at a little white church wedding chapel before a Reverend who witnessed their vows and blessed them. Five years and two children later, Deborah divorced him for another man. He has had no contact with Deborah in 25 years; her whereabouts are unknown.

Patrick & Maria

Patrick also tells you that Maria has been a good influence on him. Being Catholic, she got him interested in practicing the Catholic faith, and the couple are educating their first child in the faith. That child, Pat Jr, is ready to make his first communion, and he has been asking mom and dad why they are not going to Holy Communion when the family goes to Mass.

Patrick & Maria In the world of life and the world of canon law, you

have a number of tasks to provide proper pastoral care. [A] Can you identify and separate these tasks? [B] Specific to the world of canon law, what do you need to do to resolve Patrick’s first marriage situation? [C] Is the first marriage a valid and sacramental marriage bond? [D] What documents will answer this last question? [E] Can you estimate for them the time and the costs?

Patrick & Maria

Hint: Focus on Patrick to solve the case; case is one that is common in the Catholic Church. One items of documentation is essential.


Joseph and Jeannie

Joseph & Jeannie

Joe and Jeannie, both Catholics, married at age 25. This is a first marriage for both. They married at Atlantic City, NJ. When they moved from New Jersey to they went to St. Arthur’s Catholic Church to become parishioners. Jeannie talked on and on about the wonderful ceremony they had on the beach and how wonderful and pastoral the Catholic priest was who married them.

Joseph & Jeannie

They found their priest through the wedding planner in New Jersey, and the planner and their priest assured them that this was a “Catholic Wedding” despite the fact that there was not mass and it did not take place in a Church. At the time, Joe and Jeannie had no parish of their own in New Jersey so they were content, especially because Jeannie always wanted a beach wedding!

Joseph & Jeannie

Do you consider Joe & Jeannie’s marriage to be a valid sacramental marriage recognized by the Catholic Church?

If you do not, what steps need to be taken to rectify their situation?

Joseph & Jeannie

Hint: The “key” to solving this marriage case does not rest upon either Joseph or Jeannie. The case is simpler than you think!


Frank and Claire

Frank & Claire

Claire is middle age woman who became interested in the Catholic Church and wishes to become a member of the parish’s RCIA program. She was originally baptized as a Methodist, and was raised in that denomination, but she switched over to the Evangelical Church when she married her husband Frank.

Frank & Claire

While this is a first (1) marriage for Claire, Frank had been married two (2) times previously to marrying Claire, but this marriage seems stable. The couple have children and are very much “in love.” Claire wants to make a Profession of Faith and enter the Catholic Church at Easter.

Frank & Claire

Realizing that you must resolve Frank’s marital status in order to “straighten out” Claire and Frank’s martial status so she can enter the Catholic Church, you ask Frank if he is willing to do this. He was raised as a sort of non denominational Protestant, and while he is not interested in becoming Catholic, he loves Claire and is willing to help her out. So he tells you his marital history!

Frank & Claire

In outlining the facts of Frank’s marital history, Frank was 19 years old when he married his first wife, Nancy, age 17. The couple married because they were pregnant, and his dad did not want an illegitimate grandchild in the family. The marriage lasted for five years, but they had problems and both were unfaithful before Nancy divorced him.

Frank & Claire

Frank met Tania, his second wife, at a bar after his divorce, and the two of them became friends, as she herself was recently divorced from her husband, Art. Tania was Protestant and Art Jewish. Frank married her in Las Vegas. Frank left Tania because he became unfaithful with Jeanette, and Frank lived with Jeanette for a year or so before she threw him out. Now Frank is married to Claire.

Frank and Claire

Frank is ambivalent about talking to you about his marital history. He believes the Catholic Church should just be happy to have Claire as a member. How would you begin to unravel this case?

Frank & Claire

Hint: Sometimes solutions are not simple! Diagram Frank’s marital history to resolve how to “straighten out” Claire and Frank’s marital status using dates of marriage and divorce as well as baptismal status of all parties, i.e.: AC, ACB, NB or C. Are there more issues here than canonical?


Patrick and Liz

Patrick and Liz

Patrick, a Catholic age 60 recently located to Southwest Florida with his fiancé, Liz, a Catholic lady age 54 who is a widow. Patrick was a member of the Order of Friars Minor and worked in the missions as a deacon for fifteen years before becoming “burnt out.” Angry at his Provincial, he “hung his habit on the hook” and walked away from his Order with no contact over the last five years.

Patrick and Liz

Patrick then met Liz at the nursing home where he worked as an Orderly while her husband when her husband was terminally ill. The two became good friends as she helped him get over his anger and he helped her with her grief. Liz’s kids think “Uncle Pat” is a great guy and are favorable to their mom getting married again.

Patrick and Liz

Both Patrick and Liz are religious people and come to you to get married in the Church. They have their original baptismal certificates and already attended the diocese’s marriage preparation course. They want to be married next month in Santa Fe, NM at San Arturo’s where Liz was baptized. They hope you will do the “paper work” and send it to the Church. Do you see any difficulties?

Patrick and Liz

Hint: : Preparation of this couple requires a number of different considerations.


Joseph and Mary

Joseph & Mary

Joseph comes to you to talk over what recently has transpired in his life. Mary, his wife, recently divorced Joseph because she is in love with another man. Joseph pours out his story. Joseph and Mary met while attending College at Florida University. Both come from Catholic families where nobody has ever divorced before; in fact, Mary has an uncle that is a priest and two aunts who are sisters.

Joseph & Mary

Joseph and Mary courted throughout their college years, with several “breakups” caused by disagreements and the desire to date others. Both were sexually active during their courtship, and Joseph said he had “sins of lust” with others while in college. He does not know if Mary “hooked up” with others but concedes both were into the “party scene” with alcohol and recreational drugs during college.

Joseph & Mary

After college Joseph got a good job in Miami, and he and Mary continued to date “long distance.” Marriage seemed like the next thing to do so they got engaged, and moved in together in order to save for their wedding. Mary got caught up in the wedding preparations, and Joseph let her go ahead with the plans. They approached one of the priests in the parish and worked with him about the ceremony.

Joseph & Mary

Joseph and Mary filled out the Pre-nuptial papers at the parish and got people to give Affidavits on their freedom to marry. Both attended the marriage preparation program of the diocese, but Joseph says today that they really did not pay much attention. “Religion was not a high priority for us in those days.” Neither attended Mass except on Christmas and Easter.

Joseph & Mary Once married, the couple settled into a pattern.

They conceived four children in the first eight years of marriage. Joseph spent more and more time away from home and the family in order to work and support them while Mary confined her activities to taking care of the kids. Life became routine, and the couple seldom had time for just the two of them. Irritations in the marriage developed into major arguments and each called the other immature and insensitive.

Joseph & Mary

As marital life deteriorated, there was some verbal and emotional abuse by both and “mild” physical abuse by Frank. He drank too much at times and then wanted “love” but Claire began to sleep in a separate bedroom. The kids began to walk on “egg shells.”

Joseph & Mary

When Joseph heard rumors from friends and found “evidence” that Mary was unfaithful, he confronted her. They separated, and she moved out to live with her “lover” leaving Joseph with the kids. Joseph filed for divorce which was finalized by the Sarasota Count Court in Florida.

Joseph & Mary

Now Joseph is dating a lady who is free to marry and whom the children seem to like. He feels that he must “leave” the Catholic Church if he wishes to have a life with her. After all he was married to another Catholic for approximately ten years, and he knows he is excommunicated because he got the divorce.

Joseph & Mary

Hint: There are no problems with form or impediments, so what two (2) areas must be investigated in this type of case? What areas of information are missing and need more inquiry?


Henry and Anna

Henry and Anna

Henry, an ACB, married Anna, C, in the Catholic Church. At the time he was 24 and she was 23 years of age. They had courted for three years, two of which they lived together. They fulfilled all of the requirements of the Catholic Church to marry. Their common life lasted 7 years, the first 2 of which were good. Religious practice was not a part of their married life. They were “DINKS”.

Henry and Anna

Problems first seemed to arise between the two of them. She noticed he spent more and more time on the internet with pornography, a habit that he had even before marriage. She wanted children, but he never felt the time was right. Both became “party goers” with him often flirting with others and going out drinking with co-workers alone. She thought he was being unfaithful, but he assured he was not – just “unwinding.”

Henry and Anna

One day she discovered an E-mail on his lap top that he was having an affair. Anna divorced him. Henry went off and married his girlfriend in Bermuda. Anna has no intention to marry again, nor is she dating. She feels she needs an annulment to feel absolved of the sin of getting a divorce. What would be your counsel to Anna?

Henry and Anna

Hint: What type of Church process would be required for Anna? Do you believe it is appropriate in this situation?

Case Studies #4

Abelard and Heloise

Abelard and Heloise Heloise signed up in September to be a member of

the RCIA class of her parish as a non baptized person. On the intake form, she listed that she was divorced from her husband, Abelard, who himself was non-baptized during their marriage. This was a first marriage for both. They had three children. After their divorce, Abelard became a born again Evangelical Christian and was baptized in the Myaka River at a tent revival.

Abelard and Heloise The RCIA Director told Heloise she could not be

baptized Catholic until she had her marriage to Abelard “annulled” by the Catholic Church. To complicate matters, Heloise has been dating a Catholic man who asked to marry her, but only if they can marry in the Catholic Church. Heloise does not want an annulment because she thinks her children will become illegitimate

Abelard and Heloise The parish priest tells Heloise to apply for a

“dissolution” of her marriage to Abelard rather than an “annulment.” Neither Abelard nor Heloise’s family baptized their children as infants. One family was Jehovah’s witnesses and the other family Unitarians. Abelard and Heloise did not attend any church although they married in the Unitarian church where Heloise’s family attended.

Abelard and Heloise At Thanksgiving, Heloise contacted Abelard,

himself now re-married, and he agreed to participate as long as this did not affect their children. Both sets of parents are alive as are older siblings of both Abelard and Heloise.

Abelard and Heloise What sort of process can you employ to allow

Heloise to be baptized in the Catholic Church and enter marriage with a baptized man who is Catholic?

Cases Studies #5

Linda and Achmed

Linda and Achmed With a dispensation from disparity of worship and

canonical form from the Catholic Bishop of Venice in Florida, Linda, a baptized Catholic age 24 entered marriage with Achmed, a non baptized person, before a civil magistrate in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel on June 1, 1995. The bride’s pastor attended the ceremony, and he recorded the marriage into the marriage register of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church and filed the pre-nuptial papers in the parish archives.

Linda and Achmed Five years later, the marriage between Linda and

Achmed ended in the civil courts with a civil dissolution of marriage being granted by the County Court of Sarasota, Florida on August 1, 2000. The grounds of the civil proceeding was “irreconcilable differences.” The children, three girls, were entrusted to the custody of the wife.

Linda and Achmed In 2010 Linda approached her parish priest with a

request to enter marriage with a man she had known for many years, the son of friends of her family. Thomas, a Catholic, age 35 had never been married. She would like to “annul” her first marriage so as to marry Thomas in the Catholic Church.

Linda and Achmed Hint: the baptismal status of both parties is the key

to resolving this matter.

Types of Cases

#1 Lack of Canonical Form #2 Diriment Impediment #3 Formal Declaration of Nullity #4 Pauline Privilege of Faith Dissolution* #5 Petrine Privilege of Faith Dissolution*

deacon canon law iii

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