The Archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal intends to open offices in San Fernando and Arima so that persons from these areas who need the Ministry of the Marriage Tribunal will not have to journey to Port of Spain.

A release from the Tribunal states: “The documents of Vatican II call for the Church to be engaged with the world in such a way that God's saving grace is made present to the people of every age in real tangible ways.

The Church has come to understand that it cannot lock itself away from the world but it must go out and meet the world so that the Church might become present in environments in which it has not normally been found.

The Church here in Trinidad and Tobago has taken this injunction to heart and through the Synods we have had and will have, is putting structures in place to ensure that our Church makes God's saving grace present, not only to our members but also to all of Trinidad and Tobago.” It is because of this initiative the Marriage Tribunal plans to open the additional offices.

The release further states: “It is an unfortunate feature of our society that in spite of the efforts of the Church, there are marriages which do not work, and persons find themselves in situations of divorce and remarriage, or divorce and common law unions, which do not allow them to avail of the sacraments.

This is a source of great pain to many people. Such persons if they so desire, and this is a right given to them in the law, can have their first marriages examined to see whether or not these marriages are valid, so that if they are not, declarations of nullity can be issued, allowing such persons to marry validly within the Catholic Church and thus participate once more in a vibrant sacramental life.

With the opening of tribunal offices in other parts of the country, persons in such situations will more readily be able to access the services offered by the Marriage Tribunal.

This plan will of course necessitate trained personnel for it to be successful. The tribunal will therefore run workshops to train personnel for work in this apostolate.

This training will involve the theology of marriage; Church law on marriage; techniques for interviews etc. As soon as personnel have been trained and suitable accommodation found, dates, times and telephone numbers will be provided so that persons in need of this ministry will be able to make contact with the tribunal.