A Test of Kerry's Faith -The candidate's policies are at odds with church canon.

Time ^ | 04/05/2004 | Karen Tumulty and Perry Bacon Jr.

[maro]

"He is enough of a stickler for Catholic rules to have sought an annulment of his 18-year first marriage before marrying again."

He is an annulment Catholic. I don't know what grounds he had, after 18 years and several children. By annulling his marriage, he rendered his kids bastards.

[doug from upland]

Kerry's positions on some hot-button issues aren't sitting well with members of the church elite.
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The elite, my Catholic rear end (sorry, Father). We non-elite believe that not only should he not receive Communion, until he changes his public positions, he has no right calling himself a Catholic. He has the choice of being an abortionist politician or a Catholic. If he never sets foot again in a Catholic church, that would be none too soon for me.

[conservativehistorian]

Apparently Teresa insisted upon the annulment before she would marry Kerry.

[GraceCoolidge]

The Catholic church has been pretty clear that annulment doesn't render children illegitimate. By the way, there is another thread on this same article. I don't know how to post a link, unfortunately, but if you do, you might want to put it as a cross-reference of some sort?

[GreatOne]

John Effing Kerry (or John Francios Kerry - don't know which I like best yet) is NOT Catholic. The Catholic faith is not a political party, where one can pick and choose which beliefs they will adhere to. There is no such thing as a "liberal" or "conservative" Catholic - you either believe and you are, or don't and are not. He worships at the altar of the abortionists and sodomites, so he clearly has chosen not to be Catholic. The huge weak link in the American Catholic Church, as we just saw with the pederast scandal, is the weakness of the Bishops, who are just a bunch of 1960s-era hippies, with no moral fiber to speak of. He, along with Daschle, Kennedy, etc., should all be denied communion, as their actions and vocal utterances have separated themselves from the Church, hence not being in communion with it.

I also remember reading in the past that Kerry has NOT been an active church-goer; his going now is purely for political reasons. As for his getting an annulment, big freaking deal - annulments in the Church are another source of scandal, as they are given out like candy. Again, he did that for political purposes so he could work his gigoloing way into more money.

Too bad the media crucifies those who abide by their faith (Pryor, for example), but give a free pass to those who make a mockery of it.

[areafiftyone]

He had the nerve to get Ashes on Ash Wednesday and parade in front of the press with his forehead blackened and receive communion. He sickens me!

[jwalsh07]

The Pope needs think very clearly about the ramifications of a Kerry Presidency on the Catholic Church.

He is a pro abortion, pro homosexual marriage apostate Catholic who can do great harm to the Church's dogmatic teaching that innocent life is to be protected.

Pastors should be preaching from the pulpit and the Pope should address it personally and publicly.

[Malesherbes]

Kerry quotes James 2:14 "...if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds." What if a man claims to have faith, but his deeds are regularly in contravention of that faith? What does that make him?

Yes, O'Malley has scandals on his hands, but it only creates another one to let Kerry and Kennedy take communion. If the Church would turn away hypocrite piliticians, it would stregthen not weaken its witness.

[little jeremiah]

Politicians and others who practice make-show religious fervor for personal gain are truly reprehensible. They nauseate me. Better to be a real hedonist, atheist, or whatever than a fake Catholic or other religious member. Effin-Kerry is one of the worse, totally transparent about it too.

Another interesting point someone made about how the media loathes sincerely religious people, and gloms onto those who make a mockery of religious principles. The make heroes of those who desecrate religion in the name of religion. Kind of like aggressive people who keep vicious dogs, who do the barking and biting for them.

(LOL- Your tagline is great!)

[areafiftyone]

Thanks. Ted Kenndy and the whole Kennedy clan are the same way. No wonder they are close with Kerry.

[wfu_deacons]

Kerry is only a Catholic of convenience. On another thread, someone posted an article with information from Kerry's tax returns. The information was only available for the early 90's and for two years his charitable contributions were $0. The other years were pretty paltry, too. This on a reported income of over $160,000.

[alloysteel]

What are you trying to do here, expect CONSISTENCY? John Kerry has to stay loose on these things, you know, because he may have to switch positions on practically anything on a moment's notice, and do it so smoothly that nobody notices.

Well, people do notice, in fact, but they risk getting labeled "liars", or worse, "Republicans" (calling them "Republican liars" would be redundant, for the Kerry campaign).

[Tacis]

Fear not dear Christians, Kerry's beliefs are absolutely in accord with those of his church. It is just his claims about those beliefs that are false. Why would you believe that Kerry wouldn't lie about this as well?

And, clearly, this dichotomy has never bothered his Massachusetts constituents, why should it bother any of the rest of us now? Kerry is a lying scum bag; why does that obvious conclusion come as a surprise anyone?

[LadyDoc]

He is an annulment Catholic. I don't know what grounds he had, after 18 years and several children. By annulling his marriage, he rendered his kids bastards.

No, no, and no.

First, having an annulment of a bad marriage does not make one less of a Catholic...for example, Teddy Kennedy cheated from the start of his first marriage (marriage entered without the intention of fulfilling one's vows), and his wife was an alcoholic (immaturity/psychological impediment to marriage). So there may have been two reasons for an annulment.

Two, eighteen years and two kids don't make that impediment less of an impediment. My husband's first wife had major mental problems, but he supported her for years despite her mental illness, and yes they also had two kids

Three, the children of a marriage that is annulled are considered legitimate. This is a lie used to shame and manipulate those seeking freedom from a mental case.

For example, if Henry VIII had annulled his marriage to Kathryn, bloody Mary would still have been legitimate. It doesn't say the marriage was illegal, but that the marriage did not meet the criteria for a sacramental marriage. (Henry lost because Kathryn never had sex with his brother, so there was never a full marriage by church law...if she had, he probably would have gotten the annulment)...Your barb about "illegitimate" is similar to those people who say that Catholics view all non Catholic marriages as not legitimate and all children of non catholic marriages as illegitimate. ..this is not true, merely another anti catholic lie

[delacoert]

"We have a separation of church and state in this country."

"I don't tell church officials what to do," he says, "and church officials shouldn't tell American politicians what to do in the context of our public life."

Kerry can cite separation of church and state all he wants. The supposed doctrine places no restriction on the church, only the government. Excommunication wouldn't be telling him what to do. It would just be telling him (and the rest of the world) where he stands in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

Wouldn't it be nice if the Catholic Church wasn't so beholden to the power of the wealthy.

[NYCVirago]

He is enough of a stickler for Catholic rules to have sought an annulment of his 18-year first marriage before marrying again.

I thought Teresa was the one who insisted that he get the annulment.

[scottinoc]

Kerry actually did adhere to church teachings, before he decided not to.

[Springfield45]

"Separation of church and state", actual meaning: No government-sponsored and funded national church that citizens had to attend, a la the Anglican Church in England.
"Separation of church and state", John Kerry and Bill Clinton style: No overt display of anything related to sprituality in public because we believe in the deity of government and of ourselves, not of God. You need to be worshipping us. We're your saviours. Worship government and rely on government to take care of your needs, not some silly God. Besides, religion is just for low class peasants who aren't sophisticated enough to own guns and are threatening to us because they won't lay down and be good, stupid, TV-injected slaves...and look the other way when we do whatever we want, whenever we want, regardless of how questionable, amoral, evil, anti-Constitutional, treasonous, criminal or disgusting it is because we know what's best for you and your god doesn't.

[Consort]

... at odds with church canon.

He's a loose canon.