Time's Kerry goof

By Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. ( articles - email ) | Mar 30, 2004

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?