[Jim Noble]

One wonders if there was a fat donation involved

Probably not.

Annulments are complex to apply for, but routinely granted if the applicant uses the right words.

I assume JFK II had access to good coaching on the application, but that's really not hard to find if you look for it.

If it is a given that a Catholic needs the sacraments, and it is also a given that said sacraments are witheld in the case of civil divorce regardless of circumstance, then the annulment system is best seen as a reasonable compromise between the needs of the faithful and homage to Church discipline.

They're not hard to get, and although I'm sure Kerry's (and Kennedy's) was a certainty, most other people's are too.

[A.A. Cunningham]

and it is also a given that said sacraments are witheld in the case of civil divorce regardless of circumstance,

Not a given but an urban legend of those ignorant of Canon Law and the Catechism. A divorced Catholic who remarries without obtaining an annulment is denied the Sacraments. A divorced Catholic who does not remarry and is in a state of grace is allowed to partake of the Sacraments.

[Conservative til I die]

Divorce is not an obstacle to receiving the Sacraments. Let's reason through it logically. a) There is no such thing as "divorce" to the Catholic Church. b) Hence, without an annulment, civilly divorced people are still considered married in the Church. c) Civil law on marriage doesn't mean anything to the Church. It's just that civil law usually coincides with Catholic law, i.e., when one gets married in a Catholic Church, they are getting civilly married as well as the priest has the power vested in him by the state of so and so to ordain a marriage.

So, a divorced man who is not living in sin with anyone else and is in a state of grace is still considered married to the Church, and eligible to receive the sacraments.