Dear Donald:

Any non-Catholic marriage between two baptized persons is considered by the Catholic Church to be a valid sacramental marriage. Thus, when such non-Catholic baptized persons who have been divorced and remarried wish to convert to the Catholic Church they must petition and receive an annulment.

If I remember correctly, when I was in RCIA there was a couple who needed an annulment. They were told that they could go ahead and be Confirmed if they were willing to live as brother and sister until such time as the annulment was approved. Of course, if this couple did go ahead with Confirmation and then the Tribunal denied the annulment, they would have to live the rest of their lives as brother and sister if they were to avoid a permanent state of grave sin. The couple decided that they could not live as brother and sister even for the year it may take to receive an annulment, and thus they decided to drop out of RCIA and not be Confirmed.

The bottomline is that for those who are already Catholic, if they have been divorced and remarried without an annulment, or removal of other impediments, they are living in grave sin and thus cannot receive the Sacraments. To live in the state of grave sin is to risk one's soul to hell. This may seem harsh, but the Church does not have a choice in this. It is Christ himself who gave us the teaching concerning divorce and remarriage. It is not possible for the Church to change this doctrine.

In addition, no one put a gun to the heads of the Catholic couples to divorce and get remarried without an annulment. No Catholic can claim that they are not aware of the need for an annulment when they are divorced and wish to get remarried. Thus, a valid claim for invincible ignorance is extremely rare. These couples have made their bed and they must lie in it like all of us must. If a petition for annulment fails then such couples must live the rest of their lives in perfect chastity, living as brother and sister, if they are to remain living with each other. They also must not hold themselves out to be husband and wife. They are housemates.

Non-Catholics who wish to come into full communion with the true Church that Jesus established must understand these things and be willing to make sacrifices, if necessary, to come into communion with the Church. The problem with the non-Catholic couple who decides not to go ahead with Confirmation because of these issues of annulment is not scot-free. If one has been convinced that the Catholic Church is the true Church of Jesus Christ and then they choose not to enter the Church they then risk their souls to hell.

Such persons cannot claim invincible ignorance. In such a situation the only possible chance they have for salvation is if God judges them to be in diminished capacity.

Diminished capacity, or sometimes called diminished responsibility, is a state in which there is some impediment in the ability of a person to make a truly free will choice. In order for a grave sin to be mortal, and thereby send one to hell if they do not repent of that mortal sin, they must know that they action is grave and they must have complete freedom of will without any impediments to choose to do the sin anyway. In most cases only God can know where the lines are drawn between culpability and diminished responsibility.

We can only hope that any couple who has been convinced of the Catholic Church and then chooses to not enter into communion with her because of annulment issues will eventually change their minds or be in a state of diminished responsibility. That is our hope and prayer.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary