March 1972. Pope Paul VI's new law to make marriage annulments for Roman Catholics faster and cheaper took effect today. Under the revised procedure, annulment is expected to take an average of seven months.

   Quote from Rev. Dennis Burns, presiding judge of the Boston Roman Catholic diocese on 10/9/75. "The church is granting more annulments than ever. We used to hear 10-20 cases a year. Now we have heard 160 in Boston alone."

  The Canon Law Society of America (CLSA) has charged that proposed revisions in Canon Law will destroy the US marriage annulment system. Almost 2,000 marriage annulments were granted in 1969 under the old canon law system. "If we are forced to work under the new system," said Rev. Dillon, outgoing CLSA president, "the entire marriage tribunal system in the US would fold. The canonists explained that the new proposed revisions would invalidate the American procedural norms adopted in 1970. These norms facilitate marriage annulment processes in the U.S. Since adopted, the number of annulments granted in U.S. has risen dramatically. With the repeal of the norms, the amount of red tape would drastically increase and greatly reduce the number of annulments that could be considered, the CSLA explained.

   Some modern priests say that since mutual love is necessary for a sacramentally valid marriage, if either party did not love the other at the time of the ceremony, it could be annulled.

   From CATHOLIC VOICE, Oakland, CA (2./1/81). "Pope John Paul II said there had been an alarming increase in marriage cases and warned against `easy and hasty' annulments. Papal criticisms seemed directed to U.S. church courts which have been responsible for more than 3/4 of the yearly decrees of nullity (annulments).

   According to a Catholic News Service article, "Drug adiction can invalidate a marriage if a person's ability to make judgments about essential marital right and duties is impaired at the wedding..."

   In order to apply for an annulment, you must already have a civil divorce. (Valerie Dillon, Family Life Director of the archdiocese of Indianapolis. Quoted in COLUMBIA, April 1990.) This was confirmed by a report of the Archbishop of Worcester, MA when he was questioned about the Kennedy annulment. The question was put to Catholic Answers (San Diego, CA) who also confirmed it, but have not yet provided any proof from Canon Law. A detailed study of Canon Law and the conservative writers about annulments seems to negate this (as an absolute necessity), although it is the usual procedure.

   From OUR SUNDAY VISITOR, 2/21/93. Column by Priest Frank Sheedy. "An annulment is a finding by Church courts that no true marriage existed and that the recipient of the annulment is free to marry. The number of children has no effect on the granting of an annulment, and children do not become illegitimate when the annulment is given because Church law declares otherwise (Canon 1137). "A priest does not have the power to refuse or grant an annulment ...There is a processing and court fee charged...In most dioceses, this fee is about $300. However, it is waived for those unable to pay it. You also have the right to appeal directly to the marriage tribunal of your diocese."

   A correspondent to The Visitor (Southern California's Catholic Weekly), 5/16/97, writes: "Concerning the church's annulment of the Joseph and Sheila Kennedy marriage, isn't it about time that the church reconsider its position on this archaic principle?

   "Despite the lack of any scriptural foundation, there is a total lack of purpose in this charade. The (church's) judgment (was that) at the time Joseph Kennedy and Sheila married, Kennedy lacked the discretion necessary to undertake a marriage commitment.

   "At what age would the church consider a person capable of such a decision -- perhaps 30 or 40? In the eyes of the non-Catholic brethren, this is a laughable situation, hardly one to bring respect and admiration. . . (I)t is time that this gobbledy-gook be a thing of the past." (Ed - The use of the term "gobbledy-gook" is because this is the term Joseph used when giving to Sheila the Catholic teaching that allowed the annulment.)

   From TIME, 5/24/76. "Diocesan marriage tribunals have been examining an increasing number of broken marriages, and last year granted almost 10,000 annulments - declarations that a valid marriage never existed. Says Msgr. Marion Justin Renhart, judge of the Brooklyn tribunal, `If two people really cannot live together, there must be a reason why not, and it should be up to us to find the reason. If we find it existed at the time of the marriage, then that marriage must be null and void. Nobody must oblige himself to do what he cannot do,'"

   From THE MORNING JOURNAL, Lorain, OH 3/29/92. "U.S. LEADS IN ANNULMENTS. Despite her wealth and influence, Princess Caroline of Monaco has waited nearly a decade to get one. But Lee Iacocca...got one easily in February.

"For centuries, annulments have been associated with the rich and royal, eager to switch spouses. In many foreign countries, it remains that way.
   "The 55.6 million U.S. Catholics represent only 6 per cent of the 906 million members of the church worldwide. But the 61,416 annulments that were granted were a whopping 79 percent of the 77,319 given out in 1989, the most recent year reported by the church.
   "`It's a sham. It makes me angry,' said Wayne County, Mich., Circuit Judge Michael Callahan, who as a Catholic priest worked on the tribunal in the late 1970s.
"Callahan said he considers annulments a hypocritical way for church leaders to wink at divorce while claiming to defend Pope John Paul II's teaching that a properly conducted marriage sacrament should last forever."

   From CURRENT TRENDS & THOUGHTS, 10/93. "Roman Catholic marriage anulments have reached an all-time high, says TIME. Since 1968, when 338 annulments were granted in the U.S., the annual figure has grown to exceed 41,000. To grant an annulment, the church establishes that a marriage never existed. In the 1970s the Vatican broadened the valid reasons for annulment to include over-dependency and trouble handling adult responsibilities."

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