by Chris Bodenner
A reader writes:
Yes, dioceses will charge for the annulment process. There are expenses involved: staff time, preparation, the members of the tribunal — the equivalent of "court costs." In my experience, the fee covers about half of these costs. Certainly the diocese doesn't make any money on it.
Another writes:
While the annulment process can be criticized as "bogus" (and I'll be the first to criticize the Church on several issues), it really is not fair to look at annulments as a cash cow. In the Diocese where I worked for many years (Northeast and not atypical), the "fee" consisted entirely of the actual technical costs of staffing the Tribunal – the lay secretarial folks, two psychologists with a specialty in relationship dysfunction (each part-time) and the priests who received the standard priest salary – and the PRINTING of each dossier.
In my day (10 years ago), UPON the granting of the annulment, the petitioner was THEN told (so after the annulment had been granted) what the fees in his/her case was …. Not pay first, then get annulment granted. In our Diocese, I kid you not, we were reimbursed in full only by about 10% of the people who received their annulments! Our Marriage Tribunal was one of the most heavily subsidized agencies at the Chancery! Oh yes, and folks with limited financial means were ALWAYS taken care of – from a "sliding scale" based on resources to full subsidy when necessary.
Ask anyone what a civil divorce costs!
And except for people terminally ill, for whom there was a special process so as to give them the peace of mind of having their marriage convalidated before death, there was NO special treatment tolerated. I remember an instance when the Bishop called our Officialis (the Tribunal head) to ask where a politician as prominent in our State as Kennedy was in MA, and he was told, "Oh Bishop, his case is #324." The Bishop asked, "Yes, but where does the case stand?" Monsignor – a man of scrupulous integrity replied very curtly, "Why, Bishop, that would be just after Case 323 and just before 325" (the protocol numbers were more complex, I'm just illustrating the principle).
And that psychologist who worked on annulment counseling adds:
The comment on annulment costs is absurd. Annulments are not a money-making operation for the Catholic church. I have never encountered a case where finances were an obstacle to an annulment. Costs range from nothing up to about $1,000 depending on the diocese where the petition is filed. A diocese will ask petitioners who can afford the fees to pay the costs of administration, but fees are often waived for petitioners based upon financial circumstance.
The Dish 