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Annie,
Welcome to the Church!
It is true that the marital situation
would have been best addressed during
your preparation, but it is not too
late to seek an annulment of your
husband's first union.
It would not really be an annulment,
but a declaration that there was
something in the marriage which kept
it from being a sacramental union,
a true marriage for a baptized person. (I'm assuming your Anglican husband
is baptized). There could also be
matters of:
- consent
- pressure, or
- a lack of understanding
of what marriage is
For instance, Anglicans and other
Protestants sometimes include the
possibility of divorce in their marriages.
It is part of their understanding
of marriage, and it can make a real
marriage commitment impossible, and
render the sacrament invalid (because
one is not intending marriage as
it truly is meant to be, permanent).
So it is no insult to your husband's
first union to ask him to seek an
annulment for the sake of your peace.
There are some other aspects of this
for which you should speak to your
pastor, who is also the one who would
start the annulment process.
Mary Ann
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