[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.

[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?

[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

[cynicom]

Grounds are spelled m o n e y, Sot kennedy did the same thing.

[Arthur McGowan]

Nonsense. That's not what an annulment means.

[Coleus]

"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.>>>

And who married Kerry a second time in Martha's Vinyard, it's against canon law for a Catholic to get married in someone's house or back yard, it MUST be in a Catholic Church were we receive the sacraments.