Does money play any part in the declarations of nullity granted by the Church?
Do rich people have a better chance to get an annulment?
To answer your second question first... no. It would be a mortal sin of simony to grant a declaration of nullity in exchange for money or to give any preference for money. Also, it would be seriously sinful for any ecclesiastical tribunal to favor rich people over poor people in its work. If a case is introduced into a diocesan tribunal, the party doing this is asked to pay a fee to cover some of the costs of the undertaking. De facto, this fee is far beneath the actual cost (secretarial work, wages for the personnel, general expenses, etc.) and most of the expense is borne by the diocese out of other generous people's contributions. Treating marriage cases can be very costly. How ever, any party who cannot afford to pay the requested fee can have his or her case carried into the tribunal at less or no cost. Such cases are treated in exactly the same way and in the same order as those people who have paid the fee. There is absolutely no favoritism shown to those - who have money over those who do not. It should be remembered that not all cases in a tribunal emerge with a verdict that is favorable to the person introducing the case. The verdict is totally uninfluenced by any considerations apart from the evidence and the testimony.
Reprinted May 28, 1999
Who in the Church makes a decision about a marriage being declared null? Do
all annulments have to be decided in Rome?
Each diocese has a tribunal which can pass judgments about the validity of marriages. Parish priests normally help their parishioners when they have questions about the grounds, procedures, etc. of such tribunals. They also may help them obtain an "advocate," which is a sort of Church-lawyer for these cases if a local diocesan tribunal declared a marriage null, the case is not final but must then be appealed (by the Defender of the Bond, an official of the tribunal) to another tribunal. For our Diocese of Lincoln, the court of appeal for these matters is the Archdiocese of Omaha. If both the local tribunal and the court of appeal agree on a case, the matter is considered settled. However, every Catholic has a right to appeal further to the Holy See (to a court called the Sacred Roman Rota), as a third appellate court, in the event the decision of the local tribunal and the court of appeal are considered unfair, unjust, incorrect, etc. All of these matters do not have to be appealed to Rome and few of them actually are. Your parish priest can inform you about many of the details involved in these proceedings or he can obtain further information about them from the officials of the diocesan tribunal for you.
Reprinted May 14, 1999
When a spouse commits adultery, must the other spouse still live with him
or her? Must the other spouse forgive him or her?
Certainly we, as Christians, must forgive those who harm and hurt us, even before they ask. We cannot recite the Lord's prayer sincerely, unless we are always willing to do this, difficult as it is. However, adultery is one of the few reasons permitting a spouse to separate from a marriage partner, without committing any sin. Once a spouse has committed adultery, the other spouse no longer has to share "bed and board" with the adulterer. However, this kind of separation and the adultery itself do not terminate a valid marriage. The spouses are still married in God's eyes and in the eyes of the Catholic Church. This is true even if one of them enters another union (a marriage invalid and illicit in the view of God). A couple who live separately because of adultery are still married to each other. It should be remembered too that adultery is not only a mortal sin against purity and chastity but also against justice.
Reprinted from October 2, 1998