'The Sacraments are Free'

By Jennifer Haselberger
Canonical Consultation
April 4, 2015

http://canonicalconsultation.com/blog.html

Less than three months after Pope Francis decried the costs attached to Catholic declarations of nullity of marriage, stating, 'How I wish all marriage proceedings were free of charge!', the Diocese of Pittsburgh announced that it was waiving all fees associated with processing requests for annulments. 

The change, which was implemented immediately on Wednesday, was meant to encourage more Catholics to take advantage of the process. According to Bishop David Zubik, 'For people who have not taken advantage of it in the past, either because of financial reasons or out of principle, my hope is that now this opens the door for them to give it some consideration.'

Here in the W.D.O.E, however, we are moving in the opposite direction. At a recent meeting of the Presbyteral Council our Judicial Vicar, Father Timothy Cloutier, instead floated the idea of the Tribunal receiving its $600 fee upfront, at the time the initial paperwork is filed. Under this scheme parishes would issue a check for $600 to be sent with the application to the Tribunal, and then parishes (rather than the Tribunal) would play the role of bill collector and receive the payments from their parishioners. 

There is nothing that pastors like more than paying money to a bankrupt Chancery, unless it is trying to collect hard-to-justify administrative fees from their flock. Still, I am sure that the Tribunal is becoming desperate. One can imagine the reluctance of the faithful to write a check to the Archdiocese, and especially to the Tribunal, which has had its own role in the sexual abuse scandal. This reluctance is no doubt increased by the fact that, as the Star Tribune reported in November of 2014, 'the chances of getting an annulment from the Twin Cities archdiocese are among the lowest in the nation, and the waits are among the highest.'

While it is too early to have data on this, one would predict that the waits are even longer now that the Tribunal had to eliminate staff as a result of the budget cuts and other personnel, such as the Judicial Vicar, have been spending a large amount of their time sitting in on the meetings of the Review Boards (for what reason?). 

My advice to those seeking an annulment? Move to Pittsburgh.