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Dear Roger,
Thanks for your question
As Mike pointed out, you really need to discuss your situation with a priest as it is complex. All annulment situations are different and the devil is the details.
I'm assuming that you got a proper dispensation to marry a non-Catholic Christian, or you could not have been married in a Catholic Church. If that's the case, the priest should have asked for a Baptismal certificate. Otherwise, you were technically marrying a non-Christian, which requires a slightly different dispensation.
Yes, she might have held to Christian doctrines and, for all intents and purposes, might be considered as being baptized by desire . . . but that status really isn't pertinent when it comes to receiving any other sacrament, like Holy Matrimony.
Now if, at the time, she lied about being a baptized Christian, that's a whole different issue that could, by itself, invalidate the marriage but it seems very odd that a proof of Baptism wasn't required for you to get married.
The fact is, that annulments, while never guaranteed, are easily granted these days. They can take a while and there are complexities that need to be dealt with by the proper authorities. For that reason, we aren't really able to answer, for sure, if you can be granted annulment or, if so, on what grounds.
We aren't priests or canon lawyers. We are apologists, our area of expertise is explaining Catholic doctrine and theology so on doctrinal level, all we can tell you is that an annulment requires some kind of pre-existing impediment to the marriage being valid. These impediments can vary from:
- emotional immaturity
- to a refusal to have children
- to failure to disclose an inability to have children, and so on.
It can't just be that the marriage didn't work out.
So as Mike said, the best thing you can do is go to your local priest. He'll help you get the ball rolling.
Warmly,
John DiMascio
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