Catholic church view dating
01-Dec-2019 18:35
If a husband has an affair, that does not necessarily mean he didn’t intend fidelity when he got married.
Nor does a wife’s refusal to have more children later in a marriage mean that she didn’t really intend fertility when she made her wedding vows. That’s why the Church has a formal process for Catholic annulment to determine, on a case by case basis, whether an individual marriage originally met the criteria of a valid marriage.
Don’t think Catholic annulment affects the bond of a valid marriage!
Nothing can break that bond, “as long as you both shall live.” Practically, this means that a separated or divorced person should live in a way that reflects the fact that they’re still married.
Truth be told, back when I was entering the Catholic Church, I used to think of it as a sort of “Catholic divorce.” But annulment in the Catholic Church comes from the great value we place on marriage.Couples seeking marriage are required to attend pre-marriage education sessions precisely so they can be fully informed about what they’re committing to.Note that it’s important to distinguish between what the couple intends when they marry, and deviations later in the marriage.If they are all met, then the marriage itself is valid. A Catholic annulment simply declares that to be the case. The Catholic Church does not say that a couple should always stay in a failed marriage.
Yes, we strongly encourage people to try to reconcile things, especially if children are involved.
They include things like coercion, being too young, already being married, blood or in-law relations, having received holy orders, being under vows of chastity, or being impotent (permanently unable to engage in sexual intercourse). It means that things don’t always follow God’s original plan, and don’t turn out the way they should.