cormacburke.me.ke - Marriage - Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine (1997)

Marriage Covenant (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997. Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:59:15 +0000

The Second Vatican Council placed special emphasis on the term "covenant" to describe the unbreakable union of husband and wife (GS 48; 50). Even on the level of its natural institution, the indissolubility of marriage images the absolutely faithful character of God's love for humankind, a love which was to find very special expression in the covenant which, through Abraham (Gen 17:1-2) and Moses (Ex 19:5), he made with his Chosen People.

When Jesus Christ raised marriage to the level of a sacrament, indissolubility took on a new significance, becoming a sign of the love - faithful to death - of Christ for his Church. So indissolubility in christian marriage is said to acquire "a special firmness by reason of the sacrament" (c. 1056).

The Goods of marriage (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997. Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:58:08 +0000

The expression "goods" (or "bona") of marriage originated with St. Augustine, one of the leading figures in the history of Western thought. Augustine used the expression "bona" (plural of the Latin "bonum") in the rich and significant sense of "values" or "blessings". It is important not to overlook this, since subsequent use down the centuries, especially in the field of church law, has tended to narrow its meaning and make it appear to be a term of purely technical interest just for canonists. In order to understand its scope, it is important to recall the context in which St. Augustine utilized it.

Mixed marriages (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997. Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:53:26 +0000

Many complexities and difficulties accompany "mixed marriages", i.e. between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic. These difficulties, the Catechism says, "must not be underestimated. They arise from the fact that the separation of Christians has not yet been overcome. The spouses risk experiencing the tragedy of Christian disunity even in the heart of their own home" (1634). According to Church law, such marriages cannot be licitly contracted without the express permission of the proper authority (usually the local bishop), who is not to grant it unless the Catholic party is ready to protect his or her own faith and sincerely promises to do all in their power to have the children baptized and educated as Catholics (cf. cc. 1124-25).

Marriage in the Old Testament (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997. Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:52:43 +0000

The book of Genesis contains two accounts of the creation of the sexes and the institution of marriage. "God created man in his own image...; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply'" (Gn 1:27-28). "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him a helper fit for him'... [and God made woman]. Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh'... Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Gn 2:18-24).

Marriage as a Sacrament (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997. Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:52:06 +0000

Marriage was instituted by God from the start of creation (Gn 1:27-28, 2:18-24). It represents a major part of the divine design for the good of persons - of the spouses and children - as well as of society.

For Christians marriage is much more. It is also a sacrament, one of those "efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us, [and which] bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions" (CCC 1231). Marriage between Christians is therefore a source of grace. "Since it signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant" (ib. 1617).

Marriage (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine (Ed: Russell Shaw) Our Sunday Visitor, 1997)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:51:12 +0000

Life is about getting to know and love God. Our starting point to know him is creation, particularly the masterpiece of visible creation: the human race. Each individual human, male or female, is made in the likeness of God. Man and woman each "images" God, in a different though complementary way. Considered together in their complementarity, they give a fuller image.

Although there is no sexuality in God, his creation of man as a sexually diversified being, also gives a key to what God is. An understanding of what it means to be masculine or feminine is essential in order to learn from a major revelation of himself inscribed by God into creation.

Indissolubility of marriage (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997. Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:50:08 +0000

For centuries men and women have repeated the vow, "till death do us part", feeling that they express the natural resolve of two people who are so in love as to get married. The Catholic Church continues to take these words seriously; and sees them as corresponding to the fact that marriage is naturally meant to be an indissoluble union. She continues to teach the indissolubility of the marriage bond, not as a law of the Church applying just to the marriage of Catholics, but as a law of God for all marriages.

Divorce (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997. Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:49:34 +0000

A man and a woman marry because they are in love and want to share life together. They choose one another in preference to all possible others, because they think they will be happier with the other than with anyone else. In many cases it works: but not always. People gradually run into difficulties, discover each other's defects, get irritated, have small quarrels and then bigger ones, feel attracted to someone else... Love and fidelity often survive the crisis, and take on a more voluntary and mature form. The couple "make it". Other couples do not; love declines and finally "dies". Then the idea of continuing in a loveless marriage appears senseless.

Disparity of cult (in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997: Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:48:51 +0000

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 1633) insists on the difficulties which can arise in the case of mixed marriages (between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic), and even more so when there is disparity of cult (a marriage between a Catholic and a non-baptized person). The Catechism goes on (1634): "Differences about faith and the very notion of marriage, but also different religious mentalities, can become sources of tension in marriage, especially as regards the education of children. The temptation to religious indifference can then arise" - especially among the children, who will have to grow up in a secularized world without the support that comes from a home united in faith.