So how was Nicole Kidman able to wed Keith Urban in a Catholic church?Kidman, baptized and raised Catholic, is one of the most famous divorcees in filmdom these days, her 1990 marriage to fellow actor and former Catholic Tom Cruise having collapsed in 2001. In the Catholic Church, marriage is for life, no matter what a civil divorce court might rule, unless the couple can obtain an annulment from a Catholic marriage tribunal, a process that typically takes several years. Kidman and country singer Urban announced their engagement only two months before their wedding ceremony, which was performed by a Catholic priest last weekend at the Cardinal Cerretti Chapel in Kidman's native Sydney, Australia.
Here is the lucky break that enabled the couple to proceed speedily to the altar despite Kidman's divorce: Her marriage to Cruise took place in a Church of Scientology ceremony (both were practicing Scientologists back then, and Cruise still is).
The Catholic Church requires its members to be married by a Catholic priest in a Catholic sacramental ceremony, so the Cruise-Kidman marriage was what the church calls "invalid as to form." Proving a defect of form is relatively easy. The rules of diocesan marriage tribunals vary, but typically, the Catholic party or parties simply have to file copies of their baptismal certificates along with their marriage certificate (which would show who performed the ceremony) and a copy of their divorce decree. The process takes at most a couple of months--after which the marriage is declared null and void.
Thus, in the eyes of the church, Kidman, who returned to her childhood Catholic faith after her divorce from Cruise, has been married only once: to Keith Urban.
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Sounds like we need a constitutional amendement to say that marriage will only take place in a Roman Catholic Church.>
I just hope they considered this verrry carefully; the RCC is getting stickier about annulments, I hear.
Odd story: my wife's ex-husband, who is a messianic, but not Christian, was married to a Jewish woman, and they divorced. Years later, she was marrying a Catholic and the Church sent him a letter saying his first marriage was null and void. Needless to say, he was not happy.>
I'm sure there was some extravagant amount of money involved in the transaction err... annulment.
BTW, I don't recall Jesus ever declaring one religious ceremony higher than another when it came to honoring marriages, so Kidman and Urban, Cruise and Holmes are still technically in perpetual adulterous relationships whether or not The Church wants to admit it. And it would appear that only Kidman/Urban have Vatican approval since they bowed to Rome, and probably paid a hefty fee to get a blessing.>
That is not the case. Why would the Vatican give any consideration to 2 stars over a billion other people.
Here's the truth about annulments. It dispells a lot of the legends you hear, especially from bloggers:
">http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1999/9909fea2.asp>
An annullment is divorce compounded with simony. Cruise and Kidman had two children. Cruise and Kidman did moral violence against those children by divorcing and now the Church has done the same.
What hypocrites you are.>
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