[Bombshell: KERRY not validly married?] MEDIA INTEREST IN KERRY’S CATHOLICISM GROWS

Catholic League ^ | April 2, 2004 | William Donohue

[Notwithstanding]

Catholic League president William Donohue commented as follows:

“The Catholic League does not possess a theological micrometer that judges, with digital precision, how ‘good’ a Catholic is. Furthermore, it is not our business anyway. But it is also true that we will not pretend disinterest in subjects that touch on the issue of Catholics in public life.

“This week’s issue of Time magazine says Senator John Kerry ‘sought an annulment of his 18-year first marriage before marrying again.’ News reports indicate, however, that Kerry didn’t seek an annulment until after he married Teresa Heinz in a civil ceremony in 1995. Today’s New York Times says Kerry ‘sought an annulment from the church when he was divorced from his first wife.’ Notice that neither Time nor the New York Times says that an annulment was granted. They say it was ‘sought.’

“Kerry cannot claim that this is a private matter since he publicly joked about his quest for an annulment on the Don Imus show of May 8, 1997. ‘Seventy-five percent of all annulments in the world take place in the United States,’ Kerry said, ‘and I guess the figure drops to 50 percent if you take out all Massachusetts politicians.’ He continued saying, ‘It’s one of those special Catholic things. It’s like confession or feeling guilty about things you haven’t even thought of doing.’

“On February 16, 2004, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that ‘Kerry’s office didn’t respond to several e-mail and telephone requests’ regarding the question of whether an annulment was granted. On March 23, 2003, the Providence Journal-Bulletin said that Kerry ‘will not say whether he obtained an annulment of his first marriage….’ Why the reticence, especially since Kerry says his ‘current marriage is in good graces with the church?’

“Why does this matter? If Kerry did not receive an annulment, then he is not married in the Catholic Church and cannot receive the sacraments. But even if he was annulled, did he and Teresa Heinz get married in the Catholic Church following the annulment? If not, then Kerry is not married in the Church, thus raising all sorts of questions.”

[Notwithstanding]

How do you know an anulmment was actually granted? Do you have a link/source offering some proof?

[Carry_Okie]

Past media reports did not indicate the grounds on which Kerry sought to annul his marriage of 18 years, after it produced two children, and the campaign also declined to provide any explanation.

One wonders if there was a fat donation involved.

[Oztrich Boy]

Kerry needs to open his annulment records

[Notwithstanding]

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:qHvlxnFDSjUJ:www.cwnews.com/offtherecord/offtherecord.cfm+kerry+thorne+heinz+annulment&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Time's Kerry goof

Time magazine has a major profile on John Kerry's Catholicism in a recent issue, in which he tries to emulate his idol John F. Kennedy by saying his putative faith won't encumber his ability to vote for abortion and other problematic issues. He also throws the gauntlet down to Archbishop Burke of St. Louis. Burke told him that he shouldn't present himself for Communion in the archdiocese and Kerry says that when he's there, that's not stopping him.

Interestingly, Time also throws out a big whopper of an error,almost laughable in its attempt to portray him as a good Catholic despite his record:

He is enough of a stickler for Catholic rules to have sought an annulment of his 18-year first marriage before marrying again.
Kerry may have sought an annulment, but he didn't receive one. He can't be that much of a stickler.
In 1988, Kerry divorced his previous wife, Julia Thorne, mother of his two children. In 1994, he applied for an annulment in the Archdiocese of Washington, and in 1995 he married Teresa Heinz. But Thorne had challenged the annulment petition and it never went to completion. I guess it's like Kerry saying he voted for the bill funding the troops in Iraq before he voted against it.

On the Don Imus Radio Show in 1997, Kerry showed how important all this is to him:

"Seventy-five percent of all the annulments in the world take place in the United States, and I guess the figure drops to 50 percent if you take out all Massachusetts politicians," Kerry said after being dragged into a discussion by radio talk show host Don Imus. ... "It's one of those special Catholic things. It's like confession or feeling guilty about things you haven't even thought of doing," said Kerry, a 53-year-old Democrat.
Kerry apparently knows that Americans want their presidents to be religious men, at least in form. And Massachusetts Catholic politicians know that it's important to have the appearance of being at least nominally Catholic. But will the game he's playing translate him to national office?

[txzman]

“The Catholic League does not possess a theological micrometer that judges, with digital precision, how ‘good’ a Catholic is. Furthermore, it is not our business anyway. But it is also true that we will not pretend disinterest in subjects that touch on the issue of Catholics in public life."

Uh, so promoting murder by abortion has no bearing on your faith? Annulments are more important? What the heck?

[kcvl]

That is what I found when I GOOGLED. Someone with more knowledge about the Catholic church can call the Boston diocese to find out the truth.

Press Here...

More...

Kerry is a former altar boy who complains when his campaign staff does not leave time in his Sunday schedule for Mass, who takes Communion and describes himself as a "believing and practicing Catholic, married to another believing and practicing Catholic." But just last week he made a rare appearance on the Senate floor to vote against a bill that would make harming a fetus a separate offense during the commission of a crime. The vote put Kerry on the same side as abortion-rights advocates in opposing specific legal rights for the unborn—and against nearly two-thirds of his fellow Senators.

For now, theologians say, Kerry's conduct is principally a matter between the candidate and his own Archbishop. Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley has given him Communion in the past; the Senator took the sacrament at O'Malley's installation last July. More recently, however, O'Malley has said that Catholic politicians who do not vote in line with church teachings "shouldn't dare come to Communion." But between the gay-marriage debate in Massachusetts and his efforts to repair the damage from the sexual-abuse scandal that began in his archdiocese, O'Malley already has a plateful of controversy. Kerry, for his part, is planning to avoid stirring any up. "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."

[Notwithstanding]

Time's Kerry goof

Time magazine has a major profile on John Kerry's Catholicism in a recent issue, in which he tries to emulate his idol John F. Kennedy by saying his putative faith won't encumber his ability to vote for abortion and other problematic issues. He also throws the gauntlet down to Archbishop Burke of St. Louis. Burke told him that he shouldn't present himself for Communion in the archdiocese and Kerry says that when he's there, that's not stopping him.

Interestingly, Time also throws out a big whopper of an error,almost laughable in its attempt to portray him as a good Catholic despite his record:

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

Kerry may have sought an annulment, but he didn't receive one. He can't be that much of a stickler.

In 1988, Kerry divorced his previous wife, Julia Thorne, mother of his two children. In 1994, he applied for an annulment in the Archdiocese of Washington, and in 1995 he married Teresa Heinz. But Thorne had challenged the annulment petition and it never went to completion. I guess it's like Kerry saying he voted for the bill funding the troops in Iraq before he voted against it.

On the Don Imus Radio Show in 1997, Kerry showed how important all this is to him:

"Seventy-five percent of all the annulments in the world take place in the United States, and I guess the figure drops to 50 percent if you take out all Massachusetts politicians," Kerry said after being dragged into a discussion by radio talk show host Don Imus. ... "It's one of those special Catholic things. It's like confession or feeling guilty about things you haven't even thought of doing," said Kerry, a 53-year-old Democrat.

Kerry apparently knows that Americans want their presidents to be religious men, at least in form. And Massachusetts Catholic politicians know that it's important to have the appearance of being at least nominally Catholic. But will the game he's playing translate him to national office?

<

[Notwithstanding]

Catholic League is focused on anti-catholicism or erroneous reports involving the faith.

[kcvl]

John Kerry with the Rev. Michael J. Chaback after attending Sunday service in Bethlehem, Pa., on March 14, before a day of campaigning.

Mr. Kerry sought an annulment from the church when he was divorced from his first wife. He later married Teresa Heinz, who is Catholic, and together they regularly attend Sunday Mass and take communion, a sacrament reserved for those in the church's good graces.

Father McCloskey said, American bishops are "in a quandary" over just what to do about Catholic politicians who fail to uphold church doctrine on issues like abortion. Punitive measures like denying Mr. Kerry communion could backfire, he said.

Few bishops followed the example of Archbishop Burke in St. Louis, and two who did were far less direct. A Catholic official familiar with the bishops' thinking, who did not want to be identified, said after Archbishop Burke's sanction: "Notice the resounding silence. I think many people would not consider that a pastoral way to approach somebody."

Bishop Joseph A. Galante of the diocese of Camden, N.J. who served briefly on the task force on Catholics in politics, said that bishops must, in their roles as teachers, assert church doctrine and continue to call Catholic politicians to account to prevent them from leading other Catholics astray.

"When someone who is public and identifies as a Catholic takes public positions opposed to church teaching," Bishop Galante said, "if it's just ignored, then the question arises among other Catholic people, who say, `Well, I guess it's all right to hold these positions.' "

More here...

[IrishRainy]

But he IS telling Church officials what to do -- namely, to butt out of his life, don't tell him what a "good Catholic" is or isn't supposed to do, and don't excommunicate him merely because he refuses to follow the laws of the Church.

If a Catholic who was married in the Church later gets divorced, he is not allowed to marry again in the Church unless he receives an anulment of the first marriage. If he doesn't remarry in the Church, he is not allowed to receive the sacrament of Communion until he rectifies that situation.

If Kerry has known all along that his marriage to Te-ray-sa is not valid, yet he has continued to receive Communion, that is a mortal sin.

I for one believe this issue should be pursued vigorously. If the above situation is found to be the case, he should be instantly excommunicated by the Archbishop since he is obviously a religious fraud as well as just a fraud in general.

[BurbankKarl]

how many abortions has that man's votes papered over?

he can't call himself a devout Catholic....

[Notwithstanding]

Telling refusal from the main thread article:

"On March 23, 2003, the Providence Journal-Bulletin said that Kerry ‘will not say whether he obtained an annulment of his first marriage….’ "

[Notwithstanding]

Kerry will not confirm if he has obtained an anullment.
That speaks volumes.

[BurbankKarl]

that was the big thing with Gray Davis in CA....the Bishop in charge of Sacramento refused to allow him to take communion....(ut that didnt stop him from getting it in So Cal)

these guys on the East Coast must have some altar boys hiding in the closet.

[BurbankKarl]

If I recall my Catholicism correctly, back in the day, children of an anulled marriage were not allowed to participate in the Church...as they were seen as illegitimate. I am sure this has all been changed.

[NYer]

If Kerry did not receive an annulment, then he is not married in the Catholic Church and cannot receive the sacraments. But even if he was annulled, did he and Teresa Heinz get married in the Catholic Church following the annulment? If not, then Kerry is not married in the Church, thus raising all sorts of questions.”

Understanding Annulments

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[MinuteGal]

Kerry allowed everyone to think he was Irish. He kept mum about his Jewish heritage till he was outed by the media.

Now we find that he's allowed everyone to think he received an annulment. He's kept mum about that also and now he's again being outed.

This devious creep is a candidate for the highest political office in the world. Anyone who thinks that Kerry's various subterfuges are to be considered "private" certainly does not care about character in public officials.

If this weird character straight out of horror-movie central casting can lie and use sleight-of-hand in public, the populace is also entitled to publicly nail him for his deceit.

Leni

[CyberAnt]

Not being a Catholic, I appreciate your insight.

This statement hits the nail on the head: "a double-talking phony in yet another area of his life"

I hope some moderate Catholics will see it that way too.

[CyberAnt]

I think the Catholic church should handle it.

[CyberAnt]

I'm not a Catholic, but I could not agree with you more.

Unfortunately, I don't think the Catholic church has gone out of its way to enforce their rules. Personally, I say it's their problem and up to them to solve.