Posted on 10/15/2004 8:58:28 AM PDT by johniegrad
A Washington Times article was just pulled because the poster violated the copyright rules for our website. I was in the process of typing a response to the article and it was pulled prior to my posting. I went to the Times website and could not find it. There was something about his marriages that would be of interest to a number of Freepers, i.e., the article said he married Theresa Heinz BEFORE his first marriage was annulled. I think that may be new information. Is there a way to get this article, appropriately excerpted, back on the site.
Whether or not you agree with the Catholic Church's practice of annulments, it is indeed practiced. I can also tell you that not only the wealthy pursue and are granted annulments.
Unless you are attempting to challenge and transform the Catholic Church, there really is no political story here.
Because he wanted you to see it.
This may be my fault. Here's an old Boston Globe article. Excerpted and follow link for the full version--->>>
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22already+at+the+center+of+a+fierce+public%22&hl=en&lr=&selm=01bc45fd%24a4bb1de0%2463755acf%40default&rnum=1
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.
Thorne, unlike Sheila Rauch Kennedy who is battling a similar request from Congressman Kennedy, says she will not contest the annulment request. She says she still supports Kerry politically and is glad he is happy in his new marriage 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.
Thorne, who married Kerry in 1970, 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.
"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,"
Marriage is a legal, binding contract, recognized and registered with the state.
Marriage is also a sacred union, recognized by the Catholic Church.
The legal wheels can turn fairly quickly, enabling the contract to be declared void. Upon the issuance of the divorce decree, the state declares the marriage to be at an end, and both parties are free to pursue their lives, even to entering into another marriage contrat, recognized by the state.
The Catholic Church would view things a little differently.
Divorce is a sin, under canon law. But the Church does recognize the process of annulment (fundamentally declaring that the marriage never existed in the first place).
Technically a Catholic would have to receive an annulment from the Church (a religious nicety that the state doesn't recognize), as well as a divorce from the state (a legal action that the Church doesn't recognize). Technically, the Church recognizes the couple as still married, until the annullment is granted, even if they are divorced.
Re-marrying, before receiving the annulment is a sin, but not a crime.
Don't waste your time.
We probably don't even need any more dirt.
But nothing being married to two rich women at the same time cannot solve.....
People can bear children outside of marriage, too. Having children is not the litmus for marriage.
The Church determines whether or not the marriage vows were fraudulently declared, declared in ignorance, declared under duress, or declared without full disclosure of personal information (e.g., "I'm really bisexual") between the man and woman.
It's debatable whether or not it's loosely granted. What's not debatable is the fact that a man or woman can be re-married (in sin), receive an annulment of the previous marriage, and be returned to good standing in the church.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, NMH.
"We have a loser"
I miss your point. Do you not like nmh's #17?
You are exactly right. The first wife supports Kerry. What's in it for us? Nothing and it is very dirty to go digging into mental health issues and past marriages.
You are wrong, wrong, wrong. Don't go there.
Even if it's just a "technicality", it would still lodge in the minds of many voters. Go for it. The Dims would.
Ah, gotcha right here:
"What's not debatable is the fact that a man or woman can be re-married (in sin), receive an annulment of the previous marriage, and be returned to good standing in the church. "
Where in the Bible does God reveal that annulment is acceptable?
Um, when someone calls the Catholic faith "not Biblical and is that of another Gospel as well as illogical," I'm going to come out swinging.
Practicing Catholics are an evangelical's best friend, and a very powerful component of the Republican party.
Technically speaking the Catholic church is NOT following the Bible. At some point you must decide, WHO are YOU going to follow? Perfection or a fallible mortal?
Just pointing out the obvious minus the unbiblical rationalizations.
Is this another vanity?
It's more than a "technicality". It's simply wrong. It's a scam put forward by the Catholic church to allow DIVORCE and NOT call is a divorce. Honestly after EIGHTEEN YEARS OF MARRAIGE and TWO kids later, it's laughable that this is an "annulment."
You have no idea!
"Um, when someone calls the Catholic faith "not Biblical and is that of another Gospel as well as illogical," I'm going to come out swinging.
Practicing Catholics are an evangelical's best friend, and a very powerful component of the Republican party."
Swing all you want but it doesn't change the FACT that the Catholic church is NOT Biblical on the issue of annulment. This is an add on by a mere mortal to allow for DIVORCE without saying the word DIVORCE. It's illogical, unBiblical and WRONG.
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