[Non-Sequitur]

Buried in an large New York Times Magazine profile of Newt Gingrich is a little nugget of information: A Baptist since graduate school, Gingrich said he will soon convert to Catholicism, his wife’s faith.

Think twice, Newt. This Church isn't as open to divorce as your other one was.

[sissyjane]

That only applies if he was married in the Catholic Church.

[fish hawk]

As a Catholic, if he wants to divorce this wife he may end up beheading her and grasping the Protestant sect.(remember Henry VIII)

[Kansas58]

I suggest this book:

With Open Arms - Catholics, Divorce & Remarriage
Hosie, S.M., John

The truth is, the terminology trips up those who do not understand the concepts.

A Catholic with a valid “civil” marriage can later receive another valid “civil” marriage, and have that new marriage respected by the Church.

In the eyes of Church, even if BOTH Weddings were held in a Catholic Church, or otherwise witnessed by a Catholic Priest, It is possible to have the second Marriage WITHIN the Church, even if both of the original partners are still alive.

-— It requires only the sincere belief by the person seeking marriage in the Church that the original marriage was not “sacramental” -— this does not even require the official “annulment” of the original Catholic marriage.

I am sure this post will create a firestorm, among Catholics and non-Catholics, alike.

But it is the truth.

It is not “remarriage” because the “conscience” loophole or the formal annulment process would both require that the first “Marriage” was invalid in the eyes of the Catholic involved, and therefore invalid in the eyes of the Church.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Think twice, Newt. This Church isn’t as open to divorce as your other one was.

---

Maybe Newt figured it out.