To the Catholic Church,

Respectfully, I believe this process is ludicrous. I have no agenda to “contest” Tyler’s request for an annulment outside of my own principle and my own truth. Tyler and I were two adults who were in love and decided, mutually and without coercion, to participate in the sacrament of marriage. The sacrament, which I fully expected to last a lifetime, ended much sooner than I ever could have predicted, but not because our relationship was invalid. If Tyler had believed it to be so, why would he have not pursued this route initially?

Put simply, there is no amount of context that I, Tyler, or “witnesses” can offer that will ethically let the Church determine whether our marriage was “real.” I dedicated nearly a decade of my life to this person, and if it were up to me, I would have dedicated all my decades to him. You, the Church, cannot take that away from me, no matter what the outcome of this procedure is – one that I fully believe is being done in bad faith.

To know that my experience – the most beautiful, hauntingly painful one of my entire life – can be nullified by a one-hour phone call with a stranger or 37 questions on a piece of paper, is insulting. The Church, of all entities, should understand the complexities of marriage, and you should not be relying on third-party witnesses to legitimize or nullify one of your own sacraments.