The Church, Marital Breakdown, and Annulments

The Catholic Church, rooted in the teaching of the Bible. believes and teaches that marriage is a life-long and exclusive partnership between a man and woman for the giving and receiving of love and for the procreation and education of children. According to Church teaching, every valid marriage between baptized persons is a sacrament and thus permanently binding and cannot be dissolved in God’s plan. In this understanding of marriage there is more than a personal commitment, a legal contract or a social arrangement; there is a partnership of the whole of life under God. “So then what God has joined, man must not separate” (Mark 10:9). Although every marriage is not a sacrament, the very fabric of society demands that every marriage be presumed valid.

It is a sad reality that marriages do break down. When the facts show that a specific marriage is not valid and/or not a sacrament the basis may exist for a decree of nullity.

View an Annulment Pamphlet.

View some Frequently Asked Questions.

Further information about specific circumstances and procedures may be obtained by contacting the Marriage Tribunal at (402) 558-3100.