Posted on 10/15/2004 8:44:14 AM PDT by mtp
1) KERRY EX-WIFE ASSAILS ANNULMENT PROCESS Published on April 10, 1997 Author(s): Frank Phillips, Globe Staff Kerry's former wife, Julia Thorne, says she received what she considers a coldly-worded letter in November from a church official notifying her that the senator was seeking an annulment of their 12-year marriage, which ended in
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
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So, what's stopping you?
If it works for Kennedys then why not him. Insulting
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sKerry doesn't have the guts to tell his wife he wants an annulment (divorce); he has a priest do it via letter. He'll sure have the guts to stand up to terrorist won't he?
I don't think it is a moral thing to bring details about these specific items from sKerry's past into the political arena.
General "divorced", etc., is sufficient knowledge. Of course the woman and rest of the family are miserable after that. Dragging these items out is jackal behavior, not Christian, as would be any further discussion about the Edward's son other than that he was killed in an auto accident at age 16. Sorry, but this is not worth posting or discussing.
Just ask someone to get them off Lexis for you.
Kerry ex-wife assails annulment process; [City Edition]
Frank Phillips, Globe Staff. Boston Globe. Boston, Mass.: Apr 10, 1997. pg. A.1
Copyright Boston Globe Newspaper Apr 10, 1997
The Catholic Church's marriage annulment practices, already at the center of a fierce public battle between US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II and his former wife, have become an issue for another Bay State politician -- US Senator John F. Kerry.
Kerry's former wife, Julia Thorne, says she received what she considers a coldly-worded letter in November from a church official notifying her that the senator was seeking an annulment of their 12-year marriage, which ended in 1984.
Unlike Sheila Rauch Kennedy, who is battling a similar request from Representative Kennedy, Thorne says she will not contest the annulment request. She says she still supports Kerry politically and is glad he is happy in his remarriage, to Teresa Heinz, the Heinz food fortune heiress.
But Thorne, a published author on issues of emotional experience, does not hold back her contempt for the way the Roman Catholic Church takes a marriage off the books.
She said the church's approach to the issue was cold-hearted and showed no respect or recognition of her 12-year union with the senator, whom she wed in 1970.
"It was disrespectful to me, it was aloof to any emotional issues, and devoid of any sense of the humanity of what this means to me and the children," Thorne said. She and Kerry have two daughters, ages 20 and 23.
The Roman Catholic Church considers marriage a sacramental bond that cannot be severed by civil divorce. Only an annulment from the church -- essentially a finding that a true marriage never existed -- allows a Catholic to remarry in the faith. A church tribunal probes the circumstances of the marriage before ruling on an annulment request.
In a Feb. 14 letter to a Washington-based church leader who had asked her to participate in the annulment investigation, Thorne offered a scathing denunciation of the process.
"I regard your ecclesiastical investigation as hypocritical, anti-family, and dishonest," Thorne wrote.
"It is my belief that my marriage, made before God with the best of intentions and sanctified by a Catholic priest as well as an Episcopal minister, was as valid in its doing as it was in its undoing -- the sufferings of its failures as sacred as the joys of its success," Thorne said in her letter.
Her book, "You Are Not Alone: Words of Experience and Hope for the Journey Through Depression," was published by HarperPerennial in 1994.
Thorne said that an annulment would not only invalidate her 12-year marriage to Kerry but also hurt her children.
"I cannot look my children in the eyes or stand before them with integrity and know in my heart that I have contributed in any way to a process that invalidates and nullified the union from which they were created," Thorne said.
"History cannot be changed," Thorne wrote. "Because I believe truth is sacred, I wish to set an example for my children of courage, honesty, forgiveness, and compassion by taking responsibility for my actions and history."
Thorne, who now lives in Wyoming, also offered strong support for Sheila Rauch Kennedy in her battle against the congressman's request for an annulment. Thorne has written a dust-jacket blurb for Kennedy's new book in which she details the annulment dispute.
"Shelia is a courageous woman. She is a gutsy, gutsy lady. She is blowing the whistle on truth," Thorne said.
Thorne said she feels no need to contest Kerry's annulment request because she does not recognize the validity of the church proceeding. Also, she said she wants to free Kerry and his new wife to participate fully in their church.
"I loved John when I married him and there will always be a marriage," Thorne said. "I support his career, and I really know he is happy with Teresa and they both deserve the right to pursue their faith."
Under church doctrine, a divorced Catholic who remarries outside the church without a declaration of nullity cannot participate in many key church practices, including taking communion. The next spouse of the divorced Catholic faces similar constraints.
Sources familiar with the case say that Kerry is seeking the annulment mostly because Heinz is a devout Catholic who wants to participate fully in church ceremonies.
Kerry, in a statement, declined to comment on his annulment request, except to say that he "very much understands Julia's feelings and appreciates her support."
The battle surrounding the Kennedy annulment flared up again this week when Sheila Kennedy's book about the case was released. In an epilogue to the book, she revealed that the Boston Archdiocese has granted the annulment over her objection, but that she was appealing the finding to Rome.
The flap comes at a sensitive time for the congressman, who is telling Massachusetts Democrats and others that he will run for governor in 1998. One of the reasons Joseph Kennedy gave the church for seeking to dissolve his marriage was that he lacked "due discretion" -- that is, the proper judgment or maturity -- when he entered into his first marriage.
John Walsh, director of communication for the Boston Archdiocse, said that he could not comment on the Kerry case, but that the publicity surrounding several high-profile annulment cases has created misunderstanding about the process.
"A declaration of nullity adjudicated in a church court in no way affects legitimacy of the children," Walsh said. "Our tribunal system exists to assist people who approach us for help and clarification in very difficult situations. We do so with complete integrity, pastoral concerns, and according to canon rules."
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