Here is the only book that explains fully in lay terms the grounds and procedures by which Roman Catholics who have undergone civil divorces can also have their former marriages annulled by the Church. In the last decade alone, annulements in the United States have increased from 350 to over 30,000. At present, there are an estimated eight million divorced American Catholics, banned from full participation in the Church if the remarry without obtaining an annulment. Many of these people could obtain annulments -- yet, until the publication of Annulment, the lack of proper information and guidance has discouraged the majority of them. This book makes available the rights of divorce Catholics under the Revised Code of Canon Law, which is now in effect. In everyday language, this authoritative handbook takes readers step by step through the process, defines the laws as they now exist, sorts through misconceptions and fears surrounding annulment procedures, dicusses the meaning and rationale behind the rules, lays out all the grounds (including the new psychological grounds), examines all factors (including costs), defines the various apporaches, and provides samples of the forms involved.The author, a lawyer himself, consulted with canon lawyers, priests, and laypeople, -- some of whom have already used his manual with success.Annulment offers hope and solid help to the increasing number of people directly and indirectly affected by the divorce-remarriage-annulment problem. Zwack cuts cleanly through the Gordian knot of uncertainty to point the way for realistic, clear, effective solutions to this longstanding, anguished problem.
