Tribunal Serves as Church Court as Specified By Canon Law

The Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Interdiocesan Tribunal for the Province of Oklahoma City are Church courts. The work of Church Tribunals and the procedures to be followed are specified by the Canon Law of the Church. In practice, most of the activity of Church Tribunals concerns matrimonial cases in which a petition is presented for a declaration of invalidity of marriage. With the high rate of civil divorce the Tribunal of Oklahoma City, as all Tribunals in this country, is faced with a large number of matrimonial cases.  The Tribunal handled approximately 250 Annulment cases last year. Instead of an individual petitioner paying for the expenses of handling a marriage case, the over-all expense of the Tribunal is paid through the Archdiocesan Development Fund (ADF).