Customer Reviews

What God Has Joined Together: The Annulment Crisis in American Catholicism

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Incredible! Intelligent--Brilliant! I literally couldn't stop reading this book. As a student of Canon Law, I was curious about why 98% of those Americans who petitioned for annulments in 1997 were granted them as this seems to justify contentions that "annulment" is merely the Catholic name for "divorce". Vasoli tackles such hard questions honestly with factual basis--and after trying to gain an understanding of the situation via my univ. law and theology professors, such straightforward analysis on the annulment issue is very rare.

Also, Vasoli does it in such a way that I read 213 pages in one sitting. He provides great documentation/annotations, and very valuable statistics. I cannot recommend it enough!

Vasoli's book is an amazingly thorough sociological study of the state of the American Catholic Church's annulment structure. He carefully analyzes every aspect of the process, from the paperwork through the personnel, including full statistics that show beyond a doubt that the Church in America is destroying the very sacrament it is bound to administer and support. While the current mindset even among conservative Catholics is to bow respectfully to the Church's declarations of nullity because "the Church knows better", the real issue of the effects this has on young unmarried Catholics and especially the children of those marriages which are dissolved is simply ignored, ostensibly for the sake of "peace in the family" or some such platitude. The message being sent is "Even if you're married as a Catholic, if it doesn't work out, you can still get out and find real happiness in another marriage -- and nobody will look sideways at you." In fact, the person who dares to suggest that perhaps an annulment isn't the best thing for someone in terms of their eternal salvation is the evil judgmental pharisee. Meanwhile Vasoli shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that most annulments would never stand the scrutiny of the Roman Curia, if the American tribunals were honest enough to let their victims know they had the right to appeal there. He lays out the facts, the numbers, the people, the quotes, and the results. If you have any questions about annulments, this is a must-read for you.

I read this book, when it was new. Over the past decade, I recall at least one deriding reference to Professor Vasoli's work from a radio source who seemed to view himself as more orthodox than the Pope. It would appear to me that Dignitas Connubii vindicated Professor Vasoli for the concerns he raised about "The Annulment Crisis." I am very greatful to Professor Vasoli for calling my attention to the Holy Father's annual addresses to the Roman Rota (usually done in January of each year & available at the Vatican web site).