Why We Chose This Image

We are the only organization worldwide (that we know of) intended to reach out with support and information to Respondents caught up in the annulment process.

Challenging Catholic Annulment & Respondent Education/Support (CARES)

SOS Mission Statement:

S.O.S. was founded in 1997 to help Catholic and Protestant Respondents defend their marriage sacrament from being annulled.

SOS is a network of former Respondents whose purpose is to offer support to new Respondents facing the annulment process, via online advising and education. Our support helps Respondents as they discern whether or not to work with the Catholic annulment process. We offer support to all Respondents; those who choose to pursue the Tribunal’s annulment process, and those who choose NOT to continue with the tribunal process.

Our mission is based on belief in the dignity of the Respondent, the welfare of each child in these marriages, and the validity of the marriage sacrament as God’s Grace.

What We Do

We have worked with over one thousand Respondents who are contesting Catholic annulment. Most U.S. local tribunals do not offer adequate support and information to the Respondent, and certainly tribunal personnel show little concept of compassionate ministry to Respondents. We can help you challenge Catholic annulment.

SOS continues to be inspired by Sheila Rauch Kennedy, author of Shattered Faith: A Woman's Struggle to Stop the Catholic Church from Annulling Her Marriage.

We are a 501C3 nonprofit organization and offer our services without charge. We are supported entirely by private donations.

We Can Help

• If you are a Respondent with questions about the Catholic annulment process, we can help.
• If you are a Respondent facing an intimidating Roman Catholic Tribunal, we can help.
• If you are preparing an Appeal to Rome, we can help.

We question if a God-given sacrament can be annulled by any person or body of persons.

A Question

In roughly 90% of all cases that come before the American Church tribunal-officials declare that “in the eyes of God the marriage never truly existed.”  Can any human or organization decide what is in the “mind” of the Creator God about your marriage sacrament?

We are very interested in hearing your experiences as your case progresses through the tribunal court system.

"Catholics are taught that marriage is a Sacrament as an essential belief of their Roman Catholic faith. The United States has six percent of the world's Catholic population, but U.S. Tribunals annul over three-fourths of all annulments worldwide. In Italy, by comparison, only a third of requests for annulment are granted. The American Catholic Church annually grants over 60,000 annulments, three-quarters of the total granted throughout the world. An expert in Canon Law observed, 'There isn't a marriage in America that we can't annul'. The United States has become the Nevada of the annulment world."

Sheila Rauch Kennedy, Shattered Faith, p. 12

"Annulment is now a form of divorce in every way but name, and the church [hierarchy] refusal to acknowledge this is deeply corrupting. Moreover, the Catholic annulment procedures hurt children, are cruel to former spouses, force applicants to misrepresent the past, mock well-meaning priests, and drive many thousands out of the church. It is a disaster."

James Carroll, Boston Globe, May 13, 1997