JUDY VALENTE: The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a sacrament -- a vocation to holiness -- a means of grace in which two people share a love that reflects God['s] love for his church; that it is a permanent union between a man and a woman.
Unidentified priest: What God has joined, no one must ever
divide. VALENTE: In reality, Catholics get divorced at about the same rate as everyone else. And half of those, like this man, remarry. Until the mid-'70s, a person who did that would have been expelled from the Church.
After the second Vatican Council, in the 1960s, the Vatican made it easier for divorced Catholics to stay in the Church, even if they remarry. It did so by more readily granting what are called "declarations of nullity" -- annulments.
FATHER PAT LAGGES (judicial vicar, Chicago Archdiocese): Divorce says that this marriage ended. What the annulment looks at is, were there factors present at the beginning, from the time these people entered into this relationship, that kept that relationship from becoming what the Church means by marriage.
VALENTE: Traditionally, the Church told couples: if you say your vows and consummate the marriage, it is valid and cannot be dissolved, regardless of the quality of the personal relationship. But after Vatican II, the Church took another look at the institution. It concluded that the intimate partnership between spouses is a crucial, basic dimension of marriage.
FATHER LAGGES: We look at how well they were able
to form that intimate partnership of life, or were there
things that prevented them from being able to do that. Things
like severe personality disorders, addictive disorders,
[or] severe immaturity. VALENTE: In the annulment process, the Church tribunals ask: Did both parties have sufficient use of reason to consent to the marriage? When they said their vows, did they understand the lifelong commitment they were making? Did both have the personal capacity to fulfill that consent?
ELISE RADTKE (Family Ministries, Archdiocese of Chicago): All of us got married with the full intention [of] be being married forever. But somehow, it doesn't happen.
VALENTE: Because divorce has become easier in this country, there are now more divorced Catholics. And with annulments easier to get, there are more Catholics who want them.
JEANNE NOVAK: It's like wiping the slate clean and making it right.
VALENTE: For some, it's hard to believe they can get an annulment.
MICHELLE DOYLE: Okay, I'm divorced, but I don't have the right to remarry. You know, God -- I can't get passed that -- you know -- it would be adultery.
VALENTE (to Cassidy): Do you think Catholics are confused about annulment?
BOB CASSIDY: I don't think they're confused, they're just misinformed.
VALENTE: Annulment does not deny the existence of the previous relationship. It does not make the children of that union illegitimate. Nor does it affect alimony, child support, property rights, or other matters resolved in civil court.
MS.
RADTKE: Your heart's gonna hurt. This is hard stuff
to go back and look at. VALENTE: Initially, the petitioners fill out brief questionnaires, then the hard part begins.
FATHER PETER CHAVITZ (Chicago Marriage Tribunal): When you get the large questionnaire, usually most people go, "Oh, my God." So let's practice -- "Oh, my God."
VALENTE: It is ten pages of questions about the personal and family histories of both husband and wife.
(to Father Lagges): Let's look at some of the questions: Describe your childhood memories. Emotional or adjustment problems. Describe any sexual related problems you've had. Describe your attitude toward sex, sexual tendencies. These are not easy things for people to answer.
FATHER LAGGES: Mainly, what we're looking at is for people to tell their story, not necessarily go into each and every one of these questions -- sort of as a history test.
VALENTE (to Father Lagges): But many people are getting annulments who don't have that history of abuse or alcoholism or narcissism.
FATHER LAGGES: I think if you looked at our cases,
you might have a different opinion of that. VALENTE: Most petitions for annulment are successful, but because of the difficulty of the process, the vast majority of Catholics don't bother getting one because of misconceptions, fear, and the length of the process. Yet, the Church can barely keep up with the case loads it has.
(to Father Lagges): How many cases do you personally handle a year?
FATHER LAGGES: Each judge on a tribunal would handle 150-200 cases per year.
VALENTE: Father Lagges is one of eight full-time judges in the tribunal of the Chicago Archdiocese. Some are priests, others are lay persons, including women. There are no courtrooms, just offices like this, where the cases are heard via correspondence.
FATHER LAGGES: The cost to the Archdiocese is about $850. We ask the petitioner to assume as much of that as they can.
JAN LEARY (reading letters): "My two daughters, aged 22 and 18, are questioning the fact
that if the marriage never should have taken place, are
they the product of a marriage that makes them a mistake? In his annulment petition,
he states that it was always a non-marriage. Apparently,
I, as a bride, had mental reservations, but he only remembers
this after 30 years of our life together. By annulling his first marriage, my father may have erased
the marriage, but he also erased all the great moments and
experiences along with 'his mistake'." 
MR. LENZ: The annulment was a very healing process
for me. It was all the things you wish you could have said
in the civil process, but you know you're never gonna say
in a court of law. So in my journey through this, it was
very, very healing. 
MS.
LEARY: The annulment process is stopped. In other words,
I still have my sacrament. They [the Vatican] will investigate.
Now, that was 1997; I have not heard one word from
them since. 
