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Today Jesus tells us the truth about marriage, and from this comes the Church's teaching on annulments.

The Teaching on Annulment

From this gospel and also a parallel passage in the Gospel of Matthew, we get a glimpse into the Church's understanding of marriage. And the difference is not insignificant. In civil law, marriage is considered a contract. Both parties, in fact, say, "You do this and I'll do that," and so forth.

But in the Catholic Church, marriage is a covenant. A contract is 50/50. A marriage is 100/100. You can't hold back in your gift to another person. It's a complete and total self-gift. This gospel also helps us to understand something that I would suspect that most Catholics don't understand, and that is the topic of annulments.

But there are certain instances where the Church can declare that the necessary components to enter into this covenant were not present. It's not a divorce. It's rather a statement that says the essential elements of a marriage were not present. Hence, there was no marriage.

Now, what are those essential elements? Pope John Paul II wrote Canon 1095. It's actually the one--it's seared into my mind because it's the canon on consent. What makes consent? And why does it matter? It matters because consent makes marriage. In order for there to be consent, there are three components that need to be present.

One, I need to know what I'm consenting to. It can't be something where it's a complete and total surprise to me who, in fact, I'm marrying. I have to know what I'm consenting to, and I have to know in that consent that, in fact, marriage is for a lifetime and requires fidelity.

Secondly, one has to be free. If one is at the altar getting ready to be married because there is a person in the congregation that will shoot them if they don't get married, well, that wouldn't be free. Now, of course, that's an extreme example, but there are a number of things that could limit my ability to be free.

For example, I'll pick something that was probably more true years ago but not as true today-- a young girl who becomes pregnant, and her father says, "You have to marry that guy." Okay, that's not necessarily freedom. She's not freely choosing to do that, and there are a number of other factors that can impact freedom.

Lastly, one has to have the ability to consent. So, for example, we don't hold a 3-year-old to the same level of ability to make a choice as we would a 23-year-old. One has to have the ability. One has to be mentally competent. One has to be able to actually give consent.

And again, there are a number of factors that could impact one's ability to do so. This lack of consent can be temporary or permanent, depending on the situation, but the important thing to note is that it is a way of keeping faithful to what Jesus says in today's Gospel.

It is a declaration, not a breaking of the contract. That's what divorce is, and for those who have gone through the painful experience of divorce, the notion of it being a contract is pretty well understood, because you get lawyers in the room, and you say, "Okay, well, this is going to be this way and that way, and both parties have to agree to what it will take to break up the marriage, to break the contract."

Most importantly, the first reading tells us in whatever commitments we've made, we have to be able to say yes to God and no to sin, and we have to ask God for the grace of perseverance.

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