26th July 2003 Herald and Times
Protestant, John Swinney, leader of the SNP, has had his first marriage annulled in order to marry in the Roman Catholic Church. Swinney has said that any children he might have with his new wife, Elizabeth Quigley, the BBC journalist, would be brought up as Catholics.
As a sign of his commitment to the woman he describes as ”my rock”, Mr Swinney, a practising member of the Church of Scotland, went to the Roman Catholic Scottish National Tribunal to have his first marriage annulled. The Church of Scotland marriage, which took place in 1991, was legally dissolved in 2000.
Mr Swinney, who is fighting a leadership challenge in September, attends Catholic mass regularly with Ms Quigley. He said he was ”very pleased” to receive the letter from the tribunal telling him he was free to marry in the Catholic Church.
It is not clear whether this came directly from Rome, but it will certainly have been granted with the consent of the Vatican authorities.
Mr Swinney also spoke of his overwhelming love for his wife-to-be. ”She is the most joyous person to be with,” he said. ”She is my rock, and I am extremely grateful to have met her.”
His application to have his first marriage annulled, lodged after the couple met in 2001, has taken less than two years to reach its positive conclusion. However, suspicions that Mr Swinney’s case was helped by the fact that his divorce was the result of his first wife’s infidelity, or even that it was rushed through because of his high public profile, have been strongly rejected by the Catholic Church.
Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: ”Neither scenario would have been a factor. It is the state of the marriage when it was entered into that is taken into account. Pre-existing grounds allowing it to be set aside would have to be present from the very beginning.
”Any breakdown that develops after a marriage, be it as a result of drunkenness, violence, or adultery, has little bearing on the process, even if the petitioner is the injured party.
”However, these can be indicators of a pre-existing defect that was present at the beginning of the marriage. It is the function of the tribunal to satisfy itself, through interviews with parties to and witnesses of that marriage, that the pre-existing defects were always there.”
A senior member of the Church of Scotland last night said there was ”general unease” in the Kirk with the concept of annulment.
The Very Rev Finlay Macdonald, former moderator and principal clerk of the Church of Scotland, said: ”The general trouble we would have with the concept of annulment would be that annulment presumes that the marriage never took place.
In canon law, “lack of due discretion” (specifically covered under Canon 1095 of the Catholic Church) is a technical legal category, not a personal insult.
It generally covers situations where, at the exact moment of the wedding one or more factors existed
Immaturity:
One or both partners did not possess the psychological or emotional maturity required to understand the lifelong commitment of marriage.
Lack of Internal Freedom:
A person faced heavy external pressure, anxiety, or circumstances that impaired their ability to make a completely free, unforced choice.
Inability to Fulfill Vows:
A hidden emotional or behavioral condition existed that made it impossible for a partner to actually carry out the essential duties of marriage, regardless of what they promised at the altar.
The Catholic Church publicly emphasized that the tribunal did not rule based on his first wife’s subsequent infidelity. They only looked at the psychological state of the couple in 1991 to determine that a valid spiritual bond was never formed.
The reasons for the decision to annul the marriage have never been revealed. But there was a confirmed measure of compatibiliy. Two children were born in the marriage. that never existed. They stayed with their mum.
caltonjock 