Mrs. Kennedy has become quite the crusader–albeit from the left–aganist the liberalized annulment process in American Catholic diocese. It would be interesting to see her team up with Bai MacFarlane, in left/right one-two punch. Not to mention Maggie Gallagher (The Abolition of Marriage is a must-read!)
Anyway, the point of this particular column, though, is that she wants the Church to change what she thinks is its theology of annulment. She thinks an annulment means a marriage never happened. Of course, this gets to the definition of marriage itself. She seems OK with the divorce, but just not the annulment. But she says that the Orthodox will declare a marriage “non-sacramental but valid”. That is an inherent contradiction and shows her own ignorance of the annulment concept, which is due to the fact that her husband was a Kennedy.
An annulment *means* “invalid, no sacrament.” It does not mean “no marriage,” (at least not in the civil sense that she means).
So there’s no need for a change in theology.
