The Annulment.

The article looks at the Catholic Church's annulment process. Like many divorced and remarried Catholics, I looked down on the church's annulment process, viewing it as cover for Catholic divorce, a process tinged with hypocrisy, reserved for the rich and powerful. Then one day, Walter Modrys, my pastor at the Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola in New York, said to me: "You have mentioned several times you were not married in the Catholic Church. It obviously bothers you. Why do you not seek an annulment?" An annulment would end any remaining estrangement from the church. Sister Amadeus suggested that I read a book, "Annulment: Your Chance to Remarry Within the Catholic Church," by Joseph Zwack. I have often thought about the stigma attached to annulments: that they were granted only to the biggest donors or most famous members of the church. Most of my friends, and many if not most Catholics, think of the church's annulment process as some kind of mumbo jumbo, a sop to the large number of Catholics who have divorced and remarried, especially those with money or contacts in the church hierarchy. Going through the spiritual, psychological and emotional process of reflection on my first marriage and why it did not work out, and then entering into a sacramental marriage with my second wife within my church, gave me a peace of mind and soul I have never before known.