Way out of abusive marriages

by Letters Editor · Published June 23, 2011 · Updated July 5, 2011

From Name withheld

Where Colleen Constable�s article �Does an abusive marriage call for divorce?� (June 1) is mistaken� is that abuse is in fact always considered a ground for declaring a marriage invalid.

Canon 1055 describes the marriage covenant as a partnership of the spouses� whole life, �which of its own very nature is ordered to the well-being of the spouses�.

This canon is derived from the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes (48) which defines the marriage covenant. Thus, if a spouse in a marriage does not promote the well-being or good of his/her spouse and on the contrary is abusive, there is something seriously wrong in his/her consent of marriage, and he/she has excluded an essential element in the marriage. Maybe �domestic violence� is not the term used as a ground for nullity, but it is called by another name such as �excluding the good of the spouse�.

The Church does not condone violence of any kind, neither in marriage, so it is always a ground for it not to be a true Christian marriage. Canon law also proclaims the equal dignity of the spouses, and the rights and duties of the faithful.

Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Familiaris Consortio urges pastors and members of the faithful to have compassion on those who are divorced, that they may be reintegrated and made to feel at home in the parish community.

I would encourage the writer and all those who are divorced, those remarried, to approach the marriage tribunal in their archdiocese if they have not received the compassion, help and support of their parish priest.

The tribunals are mandated to offer helpful and friendly advice to explain the procedure for introducing a marriage nullity case which can be healing and can help the petitioner to move forward in his/her life and put the painful past behind them through forgiveness and reconciliation.

I myself have experienced much healing from the pain of emotional abuse and divorce through the process of the annulment of my marriage.