Dear Josephine:

I am sorry for your hardships. I know that such hardships are not easy to bear. Many people suffer from such hardship and from much, much worse. "Lesser people could not have endured? There is a major statement of Pride. Enduring has nothing to do with us, iot has to do with God and our willingness to accept His grace.

However, very little of this has anything to do with being Catholic, per se. What does have relevance to being Catholic is how we respond to those hardships. Hardship can never be an excuse for sin.

To clarify, I did not ask you what kind of Catholic you are. I asked you that as a Catholic why are you asking a question that is born out of Protestant heresy. "Where is that in the Bible" is a nonsense question.

You are Catholic by virtue of Baptism and Confirmation. But, all Catholics sin, and you have grievously sinned in marrying the way you did. That is objective fact.

It is true that God is a loving and merciful God. He is also a God of justice. He forces no one to follow His teachings and His Church. We all have a choice. We can choose Him or choose ourselves. To spend eternity in heaven we must choose Him.

No matter how "happy" one is with the choices they make, one cannot sin to find happiness. That is an oxymoron. One of the central tenets of the Catholic Faith is the "the ends does not justify the means."  Such "happiness", gained by means of sin, is hollow. True happiness is found only when we conform our lives to Christ.

It is objective sin to marry again without needed annulments (on the part of either party), or even with annulments, it is objective sin for a Catholic to marry outside of the Church. If your husband is Mormon (practicing or not) that means he is not a Christian because his his baptism is not valid. One must have a dispensation from the Bishop to marry a non-Christian. These facts are not opinion on the part of anyone; it is objectively true.

You sought to find "happiness" on your own terms outside the Church. That is your choice, but as an adult I am sure you understand that there are consequences for the choices we make. You are experiencing the consequences of your sin now. Be a woman and owe up to that. You made a mistake, a mess that now has to be cleaned up. You seem to be trying to do that now, perhaps, in trying to regularize your marriage. But, as I said before, your husband's ex-wife does not have to be found for the annulment procedure to continue.

However, this is a new piece of information that your husband is Mormon. Mormon's are not Christian, thus no annulment may be needed. Check with the Marriage Tribunal. It appears that someone is not feeding you correct information. I would call the Marriage Tribunal office directly at the Chancery to get correct information. Be sure all information is given to them, including that your husband is Mormon and whether or not his ex-wife was Mormon.

If you still have a ex-husband who is alive, then you will need to petition the Marriage Tribunal, too.

My dear, God tells us that true love rejoices in righteousness. Decisions made on emotions of happiness get many people in trouble. That sort of happiness comes from pride or from a damaged soul. Your's appears to be a damaged soul.

Doing what you have done is objectively grave sin that places your soul at risk. But, the Church also teaches that one can have "diminished capacity" and thereby the objective grave sin one commits may be reduced to even a venial level.

I hope and pray that is the case with you should you die before all this is resolved. Only God knows. We cannot judge diminished capacity as we cannot judge a soul.

But, that famous passage, "Judge not, lest ye be judged," is perhaps the most misinterpreted passage in the Bible, along with the "turn the other cheek" passage.

We are to judge. The bible repeatedly teaches us to judge. St. Paul specifically teaches that we are to judge fellow Christians (1 Corinthians 5:12).

We are to judge properly, however. The type of judgments we are not to make are the judgment of a hypocrite who does the same thing that he accuses of others, the judgement of double-standard that applies one standard for some and another standard for others, and the judgment of someone's soul. We can never judge a person to hell. We can, however, warn people that their behavior is risking their soul.

We are, obviously, to judge behavior and ideas. Anyone who does not judge behavior and ideas is a liar and a fool. The Church teaches, for example, that we are to admonish sinners. That cannot be done without making a judgment that the person has sinned.
You need to read, Three Secret Strategies of Satan, if you are truly interested in your faith. It would also be helpful for you to read and study the Catechism, and to study the Bible. There is an online Bible Study I recommend.

As for Martin Luther, his heresy is an objective fact, and not an opinion.

For the sake of your soul I pray that you repent of your sins of marrying in an invalid marriage, and continue to seek regularization of your marriage so that you can bring the sin of the marriage, and all other sins, to the Sacrament of Confession. At that time you may once again be in communion with the Bride of Christ and back on heaven's road.

We all sin, but there is a remedy for sin if we have the courage and humility to accept it.
On happiness, I am reminded of holy St. Bernadette of Lourdes. She said that Mary told her, "I cannot promise happiness in this life, only in the next."

You need, we all need, to abandon ourselves to God's will regardless of how hard that is, regardless of whether or not we have emotions of happiness, regardless of how we may want to do it our own way instead. It is a child who demands his own way. Love does not do that. Love seeks conformity with the wonderful God who is love itself.

Always remember that neither God nor our Blessed Mother are liars. They keep their promises. God promises forgiveness, but we must be sorry for our sin, repent, and make a firm purpose to not commit that sin again. Repentance means "to turn away". Unless we turn away from our sin, and seek the direction of righteousness, our repentance is fraudulent.

Josephine, seek not the fleeting emotion of happiness, but seek God and his righteousness. Remember that the ends never justifies the means. How we do something matters, not matter how good the end result is. We cannot sin to gain the good end of happiness.

Love rejoices in righteousness and opposes that which is not righteous. All that I have said has been said in love and concern for you.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary