What that middle ages thing
CLEVELAND -- A teacher who said a Roman Catholic school fired her because she remarried without obtaining an annulment from the church has sued the school, its principal and a pastor.
Vicki Manno, 47, and her new husband, Michael Yasenchack, 43, filed a lawsuit Friday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court against St. Felicitas Elementary School in suburban Euclid, principal Ann Marie Woyma and the Rev. Richard Bober, pastor of St. Felicitas Church.
The couple are asking for damages in excess of $275,000 and have accused the defendants of breach of contract and age discrimination.
...An annulment is a declaration by an ecclesiastical tribunal that a marriage was invalid for reasons such as immaturity or the lack of a true marital commitment.
...Manno and her husband, who say they remain regular churchgoers, said they consider the annulment process a remnant of the Middle Ages.
Well I guess the Church just got Medieval on her. I think her woeful lack of knowledge about the Church should have been enough to get her fired. We don't need teachers in a Catholic school undermining the faith, we have had enough of that.
Earlier this week Amy Welborn posted a similar story about another woman Mrs. Meacham who was fired after Bishop Roger Foys received an anonymous letter about her divorce and remarriage without an annulment.
Known as 
A remnant of the Middle Ages, eh? Apparently just the way they feel about the indissolubility of marriage.
None of which is to defend the way the annulment process can work, of course. I know of a woman who got put needlessly through the wringer because the procedure didn't adequately address that fact her ex-husband was an uncooperative jerk who could not have cared less about it. Indeed, a jerk spouse can make it as painful and aggravating as a second divorce.
But that doesn't seem to be the case here.
Setting aside the theological arguments, annulments are ridiculously easy to obtain. Some may say too easy, but that's for another post to work through. I don't know wht she didn't make the attempt, but in most cases it's downright stupid to put yourself on the outs with the Church because you're too lazy to file the paperwork.
If the Barrister had read the article about Mrs.Meacham, he would have seen that she has indeed applied for an annulment. In fact, it has been in the works for almost 2 yrs. and she has been told that it may take as long as two more years to complete. As for ridiculously easy, she has had to answer 90 essay questions detailing the most intimate aspects of her marriage for strangers to read and declare her children illigimate. In addition to that, 3 witnesses have had to answer 46 intimate questions about their knowledge of the marriage. As a single mother of two children earning a Catholic teacher's salary she was only able to afford the initial payment to the tribunal and could not afford to pay the extra cost needed to put the annulment on the fast track. Another person seeking an annulment was told it would cost a couple thaousand dollars more to speed up the process because, "our time is valuable"
This behaviour is disgusting and so hurful. In obtaining an annulment a couple then makes their children illegitimate. In the interest of the children from a family why not acknowledge this relationship for what it was rather than pretend it did not exist. This can be so harmful to children. The Catholic Church is unfortunately full of hypocracy. What a shame that something with so much potential for good can be destroyed with such insensitive rituals.