Folia Canonica 8. (2005)
STUDIES - Wojciech Kowal: Norms for Preparing the Process for the Dissolution of the Matrimonial Bon din Favour of the Faith
114 WOJCIECH KOWAL OM1 riage will be contracted lives according to the baptismal promises and will care for the new family.”141 Now an explicit report about both spouses is required. The dossier should also indicate that the person, whom the petitioner wishes to marry in the Church, is free to marry:142 Proof of the person’s freedom should be included in the acts, if the individual was previously married, or lacked freedom to marry because of sacred orders or perpetual religious vows. In all cases it is necessary to include an interview with the prospective spouse. This will indicate the person’s freedom to marry and, if a non-Catholic, the freedom of the Catholic to practice the faith and to baptize and raise their children as Catholics. Of course, this does not eliminate the need for the written promises {cautiones) by both parties to this effect.143 What if the petitioner does not yet have an intended spouse, but he or she would like to initiate the procedure for the dissolution of his or her marriage in order to marry someone in the future? It seems to be the policy of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the case may be instructed and sent to the Congregation where it will be studied, all this in order to speed up the eventual response when the petitioner decides to get married. The decision, however, will not be made until the documentation concerning the person whom the petitioner intends to marry is received.144 Otherwise, it would not be possible to ascertain the “benefit of the faith” in a given case. 8. Report of the Instructor After the instruction of the case is completed, the instructor is to prepare the report which is to be a genuine commentary on the development of the process. The Congregation explains that the report should address the following points more particularly: the quality of the obtained testimony, the reasons why certain witnesses cited by the petitioner may not have given formal testimony, and the motives for omission of the required searches of baptismal records. A carefully prepared report anticipates requests for additional testimony or some other completion of the acts which the Congregation would likely make. This, of course, removes a cause of lengthy delays.145 141 In LE, vol. 5, col. 6703 (English translation in Woestman, Special Marriage Cases, 130). 142 See Canon Law Society of America,“Roman Report-Appendix: Privilege of the Faith Cases,” in Canon Law Society of Great Britain & Ireland Newsletter, No. 63 (December 1984), 15. 143 Woestman, Special Marriage Cases, 62-63. 144 Ibid., 62. 145 See Notes Regarding the Documentary and Procedural Aspects of Favour of the Faith Cases, no. 4.
