Annulment for Cindy QUESTION from Smith on January 23, 2003 If Cindy was a Catholic, and had never formally joined another Christian denomination or religion, at the time of her first marriage and did not receive the proper instructions or dispensations for the Catholic Church to marry as she did it is invalid due to lack of canonical form and she does not need an annulment.
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on January 29, 2003 Dear Father:
Thanks for the information.
But we need to be careful about making those determinations ourselves and presuming to go forward with a marriage without telling the Church about the previous marriage. Canon 1085 seems to say that even if the previous marriage was invalid that the Church must establish the facts of the case.
Can. 1085 §2 Even though the previous marriage is invalid or for any reason dissolved, it is not thereby lawful to contract another marriage before the nullity or the dissolution of the previous one has been established lawfully and with certainty. God Bless
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