Reply #7: I'm Catholic and could care less about them; but here's my take [View All]

I bet they were never married in a Church (may not have actually been legally married, either!), but had a contract, as has been much-talked-about in the tabloid entertainment press. I think their marriage was a sham. And they, of course, have adopted children. So there is also no proof that the marriage was consummated. All of this would matter in the eyes of the Church. I would think it's a sin in the Church's eyes to pretend to be married to someone for ten years for monetary reward or notoriety, but it WOULD provide a loophole, either in that Nicole is still free to marry, having never really been married before (though I should add here that the Catholic Church does recognize any legal marriage, and holds that it is valid for a Catholic - i.e. you cannot have a strictly civil ceremony, then get a civil divorce, and have the Church marry you the second time because the first one was outside the Church), OR the marriage was easily annulled, Ted Kennedy style.

I also have a friend whose mother recently remarried, having gotten a divorce and then an annulment, even though she had THREE kids with her Catholic husband. :eyes:

ALSO, remember Tom was raised Catholic, and actually entered a seminary intending to become a priest, if I remember correctly.