Begin a Case

Trained ministers throughout the Diocese are ready to answer your questions and help you understand, prepare, and submit a petition to begin your case. These case specialists are priests, deacons, and laypeople, and most take on this work in addition to their regular parish ministry. Click here to request an appointment with a case specialist near you. Or, you can look through the directory.

If you are not ready to work with someone directly just yet, you may consider coming to the next First Step Program. These sessions are presentations by tribunal personel, and allow people to learn about the Church's understanding of marriage and divorce, and the canonical process for claiming that a marriage is invalid. There is also the opportunity for questions, either general questions for the whole group to learn from or personal questions asked privately afterwards.