Is Annulment Just Catholic Divorce?
By Dr. Edward Peters You often hear it said that annulments are just a Catholic version of divorce. But nothing could be further from the truth. The differences between divorce and annulment are profound. At the most basic level, divorce and annulment represent two utterly different attitudes toward the truth in general, and the permanence of marriage in particular. In brief, divorce reflects the civil state’s contempt for the facts surrounding any given marriage. Annulment, on the other hand, conveys the Church’s humility before the truth of the situation and a willingness to go wherever the truth leads. Considerable confusion about divorce and annulment springs from confusion about marriage itself. So let’s first clarify certain aspects of marriage, and then apply those insights to the issue of divorce and annulments — or, as they are technically known, “declarations of nullity.” What Is Marriage? For Catholics, marriage is more than a convenient way to open joint checking accounts o
