The Session was held on 26 February 2011 and conducted by the Society’s spiritual director Rev. Fr. Jestus Pereira who is also the Judicial Vicar of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.
He started his session by explaining the codification of Canon Law in 1917 followed by the amendments in 1983 which structured the Canon Law into books, parts, title and chapters.
He then explained the various books in Canon law that refers to the Marriage Tribunal and its process.
For this first session, Fr. Jestus spoke on the steps to apply for Annulment beginning with an understanding on the matrimonial covenant and the prevalence of matrimonial consent that forms the substance to a marriage. The absence of such consent may give rise to an omission of an integral element of the marriage covenant that may set up the grounds for annulment of the marriage.
The various grounds for annulment include, the person’s incapacity to understand and give his/her consent to the marriage or was ignorant or such consent was obtained through force or fear or even fraud. He gave a thorough explanation of each of these grounds.
Next part of the session was an explanation on the procedure in applying for an annulment and the composition of the officials and the appeal process.
God Bless,
Joy Appukuttan
President 2010/2011
26th Feb 2011