Q: I have a close friend who is in OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) and is very serious about her faith and becoming Catholic. She is very disappointed that she won’t be able to be baptized and join the church this Easter because she still has an annulment case in progress at our marriage tribunal. Isn’t there something that could have been done to speed the process up for her? (New York)
A: Naturally, I can’t comment on your friend’s specific case given the limited information you’ve shared here. But I can share a few thoughts related to this topic in general.
First, for the most part there really isn’t a way to speed up a marriage nullity trial in specific cases. A person seeking a declaration of nullity can try to make sure that their case is processed as quickly as is possible by doing what they can on their own part to provide all the required information to the tribunal in a timely fashion. But this is more about avoiding unnecessary delays than it is about proactively making things run faster.
Although it might seem complex or even apparently arbitrary to an outside observer, the whole marriage nullity process is carefully designed to protect the rights of everyone involved while also safeguarding the church’s teaching on the sacredness and permanence of marriage.
A nullity trial involves careful evidence-gathering and review by multiple canon lawyers, and for even the most efficient tribunals this is necessarily going to take some time. Any “cutting corners” or skipping steps in the process would run the risk of invalidating the whole trial, meaning that the tribunal’s eventual decision would not be valid.
Also too, a quick decision isn’t necessarily going to be the decision your friend is hoping for; nobody is ever guaranteed a declaration of nullity, and there are times when the tribunal concludes that the marriage in question was indeed valid and binding.
But it is good to keep in mind that the real requirement for a person to enter the church is that they simply commit to following all the church’s teaching on faith and morals, including the church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality — and it is possible to do this even after having been divorced.
So, if an aspiring Catholic has been divorced, but has and continues to live out the church’s teaching on chastity, then their marital status on its own is not an impediment to baptism or entering into full communion. It really only becomes an issue for a divorced person to become Catholic if they have also attempted remarriage and/or are living with a romantic partner as if they were married.
There might still be good reasons for a divorced and chaste person to approach a marriage tribunal before entering the church, such as a desire for greater clarity about one’s marital status or for the sake of eliminating obstacles in case they ever do decide they would like to try to marry in the future. However, strictly speaking there is no need for a divorced and chaste person to approach the marriage tribunal at all if they are living a virtuous “single life” peacefully.
If your friend is civilly remarried and is unable or unwilling to separate for whatever reason, it’s also possible for her to enter the church and receive the sacraments if she and her civil spouse commit to living “as brother and sister” (i.e. without engaging in the marital act). But this can be a challenging proposition for many; and pastors also need to ensure that a divorced and civilly remarried person receiving Communion and the other sacraments is not going to cause any scandal or wonderment in the local parish community.
Finally, we should keep in mind that the church sees the process of Christian initiation as a spiritual journey, not as an academic year with a deadline for “graduation.” Even if your friend can not be baptized this year, hopefully she can be encouraged by the knowledge that she is nevertheless still on her way.
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