The rings are exchanged to show a sign of love and fidelity. The couple promises to love each other and have a permanent and exclusive relationship.
The church teaches that marriage is till death, yet many marriages do break down. Divorce is on the increase. So the Catholic Church has an agency Marriage care. Marriage care helps marriages in trouble. The divorced are welcome.
The church does not recognise divorce so no Catholic can remarry. If a catholic decides to remarry in a non-Catholic Church, they can no longer receive communion.
Annulment is possible when a couple did not intend to have a Catholic marriage, for example they never intended to have children so then annulment will be possible.
The church teaches that marriage should be faithful. When a couple is wed, they give themselves to each other freely and without reservation. Marriage is an exclusive sacrament no one else should be involved except the man and the women. During the marriage celebration the priest questions the couple individually. This is so the couple fully understands the responsibility they are about to accept. The priest says ‘Have you come to give yourself to each other freely and without reservation?’
The rings are exchanged to show their faith and trust.
The bible teaches that couples should always be faithful to one another and to never commit adultery. As one of the commandments id ‘Thou shall not commit adultery’
Sex before marriage is very common in today’s world. The traditional Christian teaching is that a sexual relationship should be kept for marriage. Marriage should be secure. But sexual relationships outside marriages are unpromising to public, neither the couple nor their family can be certain about the future. This is serious if a child is conceived and for Catholics there is no sacrament.
The church teaches marriage should be life giving. In the ceremony the priest asks the couple ‘Will you accept children lovingly from God’ when the couple accepts this, this shows the couples are willing to make their own children and in the future starts a family. This is accepted even if the man or a woman is unable to produce children because of medical issues.
The Catholic Church approves and recommends Natural family planning for married couples as it follows the natural fertility cycle of a women’s body and has no side effects. The church disproves of unnatural methods of contraception, as it teaches every sexual act must be open to making a child. To prevent this the church teaches that these methods of contraception have many unwanted side effects, for example disease and unwanted pregnancies.
The Church strongly disapproves of abortion, as abortion is the killing of a new life before it is born. Abortion is usually used when a women becomes pregnant at a inconvenient time, for example a very young women wanting to live her young life without a child. Even so the Church discourages from having an abortion, but encourage to keep the child.
Sacrament means Jesus is present during the ceremony. The sacrament needs to be witnessed by t least 2 people. In today’s world in a traditional catholic marriage there are usually more than 20 people present at the ceremony. The witnesses represent the world and the priest represents God, the love of the couple has to be shown to the world. Marriage is a sacrament that is public.
During the marriage celebration the couple give one another their wedding rings it is meant to symbolise 2 things: the promises they have just given to one another (the vows), and the belief that marriage cannot be ended except by death, just as a ring has no ends.
