You'd better stop Catholic bashing - you'll sprain your arm if you keep it up.
Let me take over.

Seriously, you're doing no more than telling the truth about annulments.
Some of your readers may not realize that the Roman Catholic Church does not
recognize divorce - not for any reason.  Of course, Catholics can still obtain
CIVIL divorces and the Church does not cut them off automatically.

But as far as the Church is concerned, a marriage cannot be dissolved,
so neither husband nor wife can ever be free to marry a second time.
Yes, Catholics who have obtained a civil divorce may remarry at city hall,
but the Church regards such people as adulterers.  A divorced Catholic
may marry in the Church for a second time only if he or she is found not
to have been married in the first place.  A marriage which seemed real enough
to everybody at the time is declared never to have been valid.  It can take
considerable time and money to come to such a conclusion, especially in the
case of a marriage which was entered into by two willing adults who
professed the faith, which lasted for years and which produced children.

In fact, if one of the parties hadn't wanted to remarry, that marriage's lack
of validity would have forever gone undetected.  It isn't your characterization
of them that makes annulments outrageous.

As I type this, the "Holy Door" has closed for the night.  I found on the
CNN site a story on this topic, dated January 4:

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/italy/01/04/vatican.door.ap/index.html

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is some spiritual benefit to be gained
by the act of walking through the "Holy Door" of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

"Pilgrims can gain an indulgence, or remission from punishment for their sins, by passing through
St. Peter's Holy Door . . . .  The passage must be accompanied by prayer and other actions
such as confession and receiving Communion to meet all the conditions for the indulgences."
 

Now, I ask you people crying about Catholic-bashing:  how can Bartcop's jokes top this one?
If you saw an advertiser on Dr. Laura's TV show claiming that you could shed those unwanted pounds
just by walking through the door of a weight-loss clinic -- open for a limited time only! -- wouldn't you
be offended by such a shameless attempt to defraud the public?  Would you accept the advertiser's excuse
that there was a disclaimer on the screen which in tiny print explained that the passage had to be
accompanied by reduced calorie intake and increased exercise?  Wouldn't the commercial seem to exploit
troubled people, with its promise of easy escape from the consequences of their actions?
(And remember, the "sin" here is only overeating -- not an offense against a fellow human being.)
Should the advertiser be immune from criticism if the commercial said that the walking
was done in the name of the Lord?

Margaret, nice rant.
I remember as a kid, sitting in school with pinful scabs on my elbows and knees
from falling off my bicycle onto the pavement. Koresh, that hurt like hell.

Then I heard the nuns talk about the magic "Our Lady of Lourdes" spring in France,
where the Holy Water from the spring would cure the sick and the stopped their suffering.
They showed us drawings of people throwing away their crutches, getting out of wheelchairs, etc
And I was pissed that I had to endure the pain because God put the magic fountain there.

I thought I knew most of their shananigans, but walking thru the Holy Door?
Notice they didn't mention what the cover charge was.
To be fair, they should at least have a two-drink minimum.