Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

landofsmiles · 10-17-2006, 08:22 PM,

[quote author=Anita link=topic=5486.msg27996#msg27996 date=1161115034]
Just trying to lighten the mood. If my "joke" is in realllllly bad taste or offensive, I can do a " ... "
Smile

[/quote]

Sorry, that's been taken already. But "!!!" is still available.

thentavius · 10-17-2006, 09:03 PM,

LOL!!!!!! You guys are too funny. And your theories / support / help cheered her up. xppman--I almost pissed a cross on my seat reading some of the comments. Too funny.

I was out this morning, or I would have responded sooner.

I'm going to work on a very succinct, firm, direct, and professional letter which will be sent to the dicoese, informing them that we don't appreciate their "inquiry" and "investigation" into a marriage that's been dissolved LEGALLY for almost 20 years, and which was dissolved ina REAL court of law. I'll also include how outraged we are at the audacity of the church to think it even has the right to send such a letter, and at the audacity of the church to even think about considering her children bastards / not bastards.

I want to say go f--k yourself, but I figure they get those all the time and will just trash it.

My mom, in the meantime, is not going to speak with them or tell them ANYTHING of any kind.

Quote:Anyhow, I sympathize... my sister was informed by the catholic church that her children were bastard children just months before her youngest son died of cancer (18 years old).

My mother prematurely gave birth at 7 months--within the first year of their marriage. She was not pregnant before they got married, but on paper or in spoken dates it might appear to be true.

Her first child was murdered, so she's seeing this as as serious affront. As if they're trying to prove her first (now dead) child was had out of wedlock, and therefore the phony masquerade annulment will be easy for dad & new wifey.

Apparently they frequently use children out of wedlock as the easy way to annul a marriage in the "eyes" of the church.

You can see why she got so emotional. Even if dad & wifey didn't realize it might sound that way, it did to her.

thentavius · 10-17-2006, 09:06 PM,

Forgot to add--I am VERY much considering the ACLU. I personally think receiving an investigation letter from a church violates some aspect of personal liberty and religious freedom. How dare they assume anything about us!

Imagine how hard the sh!t would hit the fan if someone got a letter like that from an Islamic temple, a Wiccan Coven, a Buddhist temple--you get the idea. There are double standards at work here. It's "ok" because the church is Catholic.

Well, not in my book. It wouldn't be ok for ANY religion to send a letter of investigation like that.

My mom even said that if they had approached her nicely, and asked for her help--rather than informing them that the investigation is already going on, she would have helped, regardless of her own spiritual beliefs.

Anita · 10-18-2006, 01:38 PM,

TRY not to let this get to you tooooo much. Remember, it is just ONE religion's point of view. They can't "undo" the law or the facts.

landofsmiles · 10-18-2006, 02:41 PM,

[quote author=Anita link=topic=5486.msg28080#msg28080 date=1161178712]
TRY not to let this get to you tooooo much. Remember, it is just ONE religion's point of view. They can't "undo" the law or the facts.
[/quote]

Did you see Boston Legal last night when Scientology was on trial? Funny stuff.

stardust · 10-18-2006, 03:06 PM,

You have every right to be angry right now at the whole thing. Hope you can leave it behind you quickly...

thentavius · 10-18-2006, 08:18 PM,

Yep. Just like the Buddhist monks, I put the (letter) down and left it behind. I won't carry it with me.

My mom has a harder time, but I've already processed it, filed it and recorded it.

We have a plan for how to take care of it, and that's that.

Thanks again, guys. p.s. I love Boston Legal

Jen · 10-19-2006, 12:32 AM,

Well, I'm just catching up, after a bunch of stuff going on with school and work.

My highschool sweetheart was catholic, an alter boy, just the perfect catholic. He did everything exactly the way the church wanted it. His parents had gotten divorced when he was about 4 - his mother had raised him.

During his senior year of high school, the church decided to do an investigation into his legitimacy (due to his dad wanting to remarry), and actually determined he was illegitimate. This hit him very hard, because the church was everything to him, and in their eyes he was now a bastard. His mother hadn't cooperated with the investigation in any way shape or form - so they just summarily decided that he was illegitimate - how they could assume to know the facts of his birth is beyond me.

Anita · 10-19-2006, 02:49 AM,

My uncle was married for over 30 years. He adopted and raised her kids.
His wife ran off with the gardener a few years ago. She was able to get the marriage to my uncle annulled so she could have her third marriage (to the gardner) recognized by the Catholic Church.

My point is... there are a lot of people that have been in your mother's shoes. It doesn't change anything, but it may help her to know she isn't alone.