Divorce and Catholicism 

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the Catholic church isn't very fond of divorce. In fact, they actually prefer the term "annullment"--aka, it never happened.

My ex-husband was a Catholic and I was not. We didn't marry in his church (or any church, for that matter). Per the church, our marriage never existed because we didn't marry within the scope of their rules. I couldn't and wouldn't have cared less until it came time for me to marry another (practicing) Catholic, one who insisted on a proper Catholic wedding at his church.

We quickly discovered that to get married and have it recognized, I had to annul my previous marriage with the church. They didn't care that I was divorced already; you have to do it their way.

A Catholic annullment can be expensive and maddenly time-consuming. You and/or your spouse must also meet certain criteria or grounds, just like when seeking a secular divorce. If you can't find grounds they would recognize, I guess you are out of luck. If you are religious (I am not), it is important to know that if the church does not recognize your marriage as valid, your offspring are bastards in their eyes and you are going to hell for "living in sin". Ugh.

There are, however, loopholes. If you were not married in the Catholic church and one party is not Catholic and the other is--instant annullment! Nothing even has to be sent to Rome or anything. I fit into that category. All I had to do was track down my ex-husband's baptismal certificate showing that he was Catholic and produce mine showing that I wasn't. Annoying, but easy as pie.