15 Sunday Nov 2015
Last week in our blog post, Catholic Teaching on Marriage, we looked at the state of marriage today and began to look at Catholic teaching on the sacrament of Marriage. This week we will look at marriage from the aspect of being a lifelong covenant, ordered to procreation, and raised to the level of a sacrament by Christ. We will also examine the argument for following the Church’s teaching on marriage.
08 Sunday Nov 2015
The well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community produced by marriage and family.[i]
Pope Paul VI issued this prophetic message in the Vatican II document, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes), on December 7, 1965. At a time when the world was fraught with rapid change and traditional values were being questioned, and often jettisoned as being “old fashioned,” the Church offered its service to guide humanity to true meaning and happiness. The divorce rate was rapidly rising, greater numbers of children were born out of wedlock and traditional family life and moral values were under attack. Fifty years later the assault on families has escalated, leaving broken children and parents in its wake.
This post will look at the current state of marriage and the family, present Catholic teaching on the sacrament of marriage and provide arguments that Church teaching on marriage is not only good for the spouses and children, but also for society as a whole.
01 Sunday Nov 2015
The future of humanity passes by way of the family. It is therefore indispensable and urgent that every person of good will should endeavor to save and foster the values and requirements of the family.
St. Joseph was “a just man,” a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families.
May the Virgin Mary, who is the mother of the church, also be the mother of “the church of the home.” Thanks to her motherly aid, may each Christian family really become a “little church” in which the mystery of the church of Christ is mirrored and given new life. May she, the handmaid of the Lord, be an example of humble and generous acceptance of the will of God. May she, the sorrowful mother at the foot of the cross, comfort the sufferings and dry the tears of those in distress because of the difficulties of their families.
25 Sunday Oct 2015
And he said to all, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23
In a rural mountain town off the southwest coast of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a community of 13,000 ethnic Croats who have found the secret to a successful, lifelong marriage. Throughout the centuries of war and famine, of cultural and political strife, not one single divorce has been recorded amongst the inhabitants of Siroki Brijeg.
The residents of this town believe that the crucifix is the greatest symbol of the love God has for His children. While preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage, the couple chooses a cross together, one that will soon occupy an honored place in their new home. During the premarital meetings with the priest, the couple is told they have found their cross – not their partner – and this cross is to be loved, to be carried, not to be thrown away, but to be cherished.
18 Sunday Oct 2015
Pope Francis canonized Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, on Mission Sunday, October 18, 2015. They are being canonized during the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which is focusing on “the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world.”
The couple is the first to be canonized together as husband and wife, giving testimony to their “extraordinary witness of conjugal and familial spirituality,” said Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. He said that their lives “positively impacted their historical context through witness to the Gospel for the renewal of the face of the earth.”
08 Thursday Oct 2015
We continue our study of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted’s Apostolic Exhortation to Catholic Men, issued on the Feast of the Archangels, September 29, 2015 “as an encouragement, a challenge, and a calling forth to mission” in the battle for the family.
Last week, we outlined what it means to be a Christian man (Stand in the Breach – Part I). This week we will look at how a Catholic man is to love and why fatherhood is crucial for every man.
05 Monday Oct 2015
And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Ezekiel 22:30
There is a battle raging around us that is deeply wounding spouses, children and families. Satan hates families and is out to destroy them. Saint John Paul II said “The future of the world and of the Church passes through the family” (Familiaris Consortio, 75). Satan is out to destroy families so that He can destroy not only the Church, but the world.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona has issued a clarion call to men to engage in the battle for the family. Just last week, on the Feast of the Archangels, September 29, 2015, Bishop Olmsted issued an Apostolic Exhortation to Catholic Men “as an encouragement, a challenge, and a calling forth to mission.”
18 Friday Sep 2015
Marriage and family life is in crisis!
According to a recent study, the marriage rate in America declined by more than 50 percent from 1970 to 2010. At the same time, the number of unmarried couples cohabitating increased more than seventeen-fold between 1960 and 2011. The presence of children in America has also declined significantly from a fertility rate of 3.65 children average per woman in 1960 to 1.89 in 2011. This rate is below the “replacement level” of 2.1, the level at which the population would be replaced through births alone.*
The Catholic Church has long recognized the importance of marriage and family life for the good of society. In the last 100+ years, the popes have consistently taught on marriage and family. Some of the most notable documents include:
13 Saturday Jun 2015
On September 22-27, 2015, Philadelphia will welcome the World Meeting of Families 2015, which is expected to draw a global audience. In June 2012, the 7th World Meeting, held in Milan, Italy, drew hundreds of thousands to the city with more than one million attending the Holy Father’s Mass.
Since its inception by Blessed John Paul II in 1994, the World Meeting of Families has sought to strengthen the sacred bonds of family across the globe. Each World Meeting of Families has a theme, which aims to emphasize the good news of the family and highlight its intrinsic value to the good of society. The theme for the 2015 World Meeting of Families is “Love is our mission: the family fully alive.”
The following is the text of Pope Francis’ first catechesis on the family, delivered last December, leading up to this year’s World Meeting of Families.
Final 2014 General Audience Address: On Jesus’ Choice to Be Part of a Family
“As Mary and Joseph did, every Christian family can first of all receive Jesus, listen to him, talk with him, guard and protect him, grow with him, and thus improve the world.”
Calling Couples to Christ 