ON THE SSPX RULES OF MARRIAGE

AND ANNULMENT:
Catholics have a right to certainty about the validity of the sacraments they receive.
The crisis in the Church today means that many people have genuine questions about
their marriage; was it done rightly? To investigate this requires jurisdiction as for
marriage there are public, legal and social consequences.

So our policy is to have those who come to us recognise the gravity of the crisis in the
Faith today, even in Rome and many bishops, which legitimates our sacramental activity
without the ordinary jurisdiction. The Common Good and the social nature of man and
the Church requires that matters of jurisdiction be respected and the laws obeyed. The
SSPX only exists because the laws are so generally flouted these days by those charged
with administering them. This is especially the case with marriage laws. If someone
comes to our parish, having had a church annulment and is now remarried, we say
nothing to them at all about it, we leave them in peace. If however, they later realise that
something may be gravely wrong with the way the annulment was granted, (especially
via the blanket canon 1095) we will only agree to investigate the matter if they accept our
extraordinary jurisdiction, and agree to abide by the decision of our canonical
commission in Switzerland.

Some cases are so clear that the local priest can easily declare there was no marriage,
sometimes the District Superior (our equivalent in canon law to the local Ordinary or
bishop) can easily decide, usually the case must be referred to the experts in Menzingen
(our HQ). The ten volumes of Canon Law Digest show how very complex the decisions
can be, and how there is a need for expert legal opinion, with some reliance on the
professional opinions of medical or other men. Moreover some outside witness must be
able to testify to the veracity of the invalidating factor in the putative (presumed)
marriage, otherwise there would be utter chaos in society. It is this latter point that is the
crux of the problem with the modern diocesan tribunals for judging marriage cases. They
often neglect even the lax canons of the 1983 code of Law, or interpret them very loosely
so that the present Pope has had to rebuke them for it. That means they are breaking up
perfectly valid marriages and allowing Catholics to live in public adultery, just because
their previous valid marriage was unhappy or broke down. This turns the process of
annulment into a mockery of the sacredness of marriage and brings down God's wrath on
His churchmen who co-operate in such desecration. We want nothing to do with this.

One canon law expert said on TV in the USA that with the new rules and procedures,
there is now NO MARRIAGE IN THE USA THAT WE CANNOT DECLARE NULL!
For example, the Roman Rota in its pre-Vatican II decisions revealed that there may
indeed be certain mental conditions that do not appear at the very time of the marriage
but which would impede a valid consent. The Rota used to make the point very clear: If
any civil court would for the same reasons declare invalid any other contract of grave
public importance, then that is sufficient for the church to declare nullity for a marriage.
The problem since Vatican II is that the experts have proven to be far too lax in their
diagnosis of supposed mental conditions, and the infamous canon 1095 say very broadly
"lack of discretion" and "causes of a psychic nature". It now become less defined and
more fluid what is required for a valid marriage, and so no marriage is safe from the
clerical marriage destroyers. In some dioceses "you pay your fee, you get your
annulment". The former wife of one of the famous Kennedy's wrote a book on the
scandal of her annulment.

Because there are many possible causes for annulment, the forms that we use are so long
and comprehensive. The priest is instructed to be very discreet and careful not to lead the
answers one way or another. It is a legal document of maximum importance for the
stability of society. Why so many and such intimate questions? Why should the priests
and tribunal staff know all these details? If the problem is not mental but physical (e.g.
impotence) then the proof of that fact is necessary for the nullity to be granted. Its like
buying a car that won't drive, prove that it is that defective and the contract is invalid, but
the contract was valid if it was a good car that broke down afterwards. Prove that one of
the parties made a secret condition to the marriage, or intention of infidelity or a serious
error about the person's identity (not character, or wealth or position), and the nullity can
be granted. There are many reasons and so the investigation must be thorough. That is
why we will not start it unless the petitioner is our parishioner, is likely to continue and
the final decision adhered to. Otherwise we are wasting our time, time that could be used
in preventing a marriage breakdown by teaching well in the classroom, or administering
the Sacraments more worthily or simply by saying better our prayers.

Wedding at Cana