Tribunal Advocate
    Rita Friedewald
    [email protected]

Why does the Catholic Church have marriage tribunals?

The people who work in the marriage tribunal look upon their effort as a healing ministry, an expression of the Church's compassion and concern for those whose marriages have ended. The Church has a system of courts to handle marriage nullity cases. Those who believe that their marriage was not validly established, have the right to petition a tribunal to look into their claim. The work of the Tribunal, for the most part, involves a process of reviewing and discerning the basis of such petitions.

The task of a tribunal advocate is to help petitioners gather evidence, write their testimony and present the case to the Diocesan Tribunal (the church’s ecclesiastical court) to determine if the marriage was invalid.

“It’s important to know that advocates don’t judge the person, they assist in presenting a case. Nor does the tribunal judge the people, it just judges the marriage — whether it is valid or not,” 

• In the simplest terms,  annulment is a process for seeking the truth about whether a sacramental marriage existed. Jesus is not standing with hands on hips shaking his finger at you,. He’s there with arms outstretched and he knows your pain and suffering.