Divorce
Annulments in Toronto
By Catholic Insight

Hardcopy Issue Date: May 1999
Online Publication Date: May 18, 2000, 15:46

Toronto - As a follow-up to the April '99 article on annulments, we received a copy of the report submitted by the head of the Toronto Marriage Tribunal, Father Brian Clough, to the archdiocesan Council of Priests, dated Nov. 17, 1998, and covering the year 1997. The opening paragrath reads:

"In 1997 we decided 462 cases in the affirmative. There were no negatives, but 122 cases were closed before decision and a further 96 had no petition presented. 23 cases were transferred to other tribunals for lack of competence, and 79 preliminary applications were not pursued. The Appeal Court has not reversed one of our decisions in more than three years."

The seventh paragraph reads:
"The Tribunal spent $2,012,000 last year, approximately the same as 1992. The Archdiocesan subsidy amounted to $1,705,000. The big ticket item is salary."

The report explains that the average case is estimated to cost $3,500óbut the cost to the applicant seeking a declaration of nullity is held down to $800. The difference, $1,705,000 is being paid for by archdiocesan parishioners, a decision made by the Cardinal. Comment
The person who sent it to us adds the following comment:

"Marriage enjoys the favour of law, according to canon law, that is, marriages are presumed to be valid: Canon 1060. Given the track record of the Toronto tribunal, one has to conclude that they are more of an administrative assembly line aiming to grant every annulment possible, rather than a judicial tribunal which genuinely seeks to investigate marriages based on the presumption of validity for them. For the Toronto tribunal, all failed marriages are invalid ones. They seem incapable of contemplating the possibility that a valid marriage may fail. And the same can be said for the appeal tribunal in Ottawa.

We want to note that this correspondent did not sign his name. We printe his comment because it seems to us to be a valid observation.