Posted on 10/25/2004 3:23:21 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Why have we not heard anything about Sen. John Kerrys former wife, the mother of his daughters? What can you tell us about her? When divorced, remarried, etc.? - P.S., Lebanon
You probably havent heard anything about her because shes an exceedingly private person.
Kerry married the former Julia Thorne, a Philadelphia heiress, in 1970 in Bay Shore, N.Y. They honeymooned in Jamaica.
As you note, they had two daughters, Alexandra in 1973 and Vanessa in 1976.
The couple separated in 1982 at a time when Thorne was battling a deep depression and contemplating suicide.
"After 14 years as a political wife," she wrote in a book about depression titled "You Are Not Alone," "I associated politics only with anger, fear and loneliness.
"I could no longer pretend I was of use to my husband or my children. I knew that once I was gone my family and friends would be relieved of the burden of my incompetency."
The couples divorce was final in 1988 but was not annulled by the Roman Catholic Church until 1997 two years after Kerry married Teresa Simões-Ferreira Heinz, a former United Nations translator and widow of Pennsylvania Sen. H. John Heinz III, a Republican.
Thorne now lives in Bozeman, Mont., with her new husband, architect Richard Charlesworth, and recently completed a course of treatment for cancer.
Shes spurned attempts to get her to talk about her ex-husband.
"Julia does not want to answer questions from the media," a family friend told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle earlier this year. "She hopes her desire for privacy will be respected and honored thoroughly. She wants to be left alone."
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at bristolnews.com ...
There is some dispute concerning whether an annulment was ever granted. Kerry asked for one in 1997, but he and his campaign have never confirmed that it was granted. Check this out from April 9, 2004.
Living in Sin? HUMAN EVENTS reported last week that Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.), who says he is a practicing Catholic, may have problems with his church over the issues of abortion and gay marriage as he seeks the presidency. But there may be more trouble ahead. According to news reports in Time and the New York Times, Catholic League president William Donahue pointed out in an April 2 news release, Kerry's second marriage in 1995 to ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz took place before Kerry had sought an annulment of his first 18-year marriage. It is not known whether this annulment was actually granted, and Kerry has not confirmed or denied it.
"If Kerry did not receive an annulment, then he is not married in the Catholic Church and cannot receive the sacraments," said Donahue. "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." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tried to find the answer in February, but reported that "Kerry's office didn't respond to several e-mail and telephone requests" regarding whether he got an annulment. The Providence Journal-Bulletin wrote on March 23 that Kerry "will not say whether he obtained an annulment of his first marriage."
$ $ $ And they lived happily ever after. $ $ $
remember when the swifties said that Kerry met with the enemy in Paris, the kerry campaign came out and said he was on his honeymoon there and while in Paris was asked to join a meeting??????
That jumped out at me, too. Gee, could it possibly be that Effin made a special trip (while still wearing the uniform of the U.S. Navy) to Paris to consort with his allies among the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese?
gawd, leave the poor woman alone. she probably doesn't want to have to relive that awful time.
that was so totally unf*cking called for.
Skull and Bones is thicker than a marriage license.
Apart from the issue of annulment, Effin and Mama T got married in her Nantucket backyard, and not in a church building. Doesn't the Catholic Church require a church wedding?
I agree. We don't want to come off like the DU's ...
And I've got two middle fingers for anyone who says I'm an illegitimate anything.
Dear Xenalyte,
Do you view the progeny of non-Catholic marriages to be illegitimate? Do you view the children of married Jews to be illegitimate? Of Buddhists?
Wouldn't you say that all these are legitimate, because they were legally married, not illegitimate because they didn't meet the standards of the Catholic Church for a sacramental union?
Even the Catholic Church acknowledges the legal nature of civil marriage, and in the view of the Church, legitimacy is a function of LEGAL status, not CHURCH status. Is your view different?
sitetest
Yes, indeed. I married a Catholic and wanted an outdoor wedding. I always thought that the bride got to make these decisions, but I was overruled on anything that had to be done according to Catholic rules.
See, that's the tricky thing. I'm not a Catholic. And neither is my father.
However, he was required to annul his marriage to my mother before marrying my Catholic stepmom.
So perhaps I have a personal, and obviously biased angle on this, but I don't put any stock in a procedure that has degenerated into little more than a nice cutsey term for divorce.
To say that the marriage of my parents never existed in the eyes of God, therefore, is something I find extremely angering and offensive. And if that makes me a bastard in anyone's eyes, that's great. But if they address me as such, they're going to catch a whole lot more than harsh words from me.
Dear Xenalyte,
So, two folks who get married by the Justice of the Peace aren't married?
Then, are their children also illegitimate?
"Legal status has nothing to do with church matters."
That's the point - there is a CHURCH status involved in marriage, but also a LEGAL status. LEGALLY, two atheists married before the JP are legally married, their children are legitimate. The church perspective has no bearing on the legal perspective.
Whether the marriage exists in the eyes of God, or the Church, or Whomever, a legal marriage, even after divorce, existed in the eyes of the law. And that's what legitimacy is about.
sitetest
I did not know that she made those comments, before I posted.
Yes.
On one hand?
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