Describe a Catholic Wedding Ceremony and the Ideals Expressed Within It.

After the vows the exchange of rings is made, the groom must put the ring on the third finger of the left hand and say "take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity in the name of the father of the son and the Holy Spirit"; the rings are used as a token of their promises to each other.

The signing of the marriage register then follows this; this takes place, as there are civil requirements for a marriage. The bride, groom and an authorized priest or registrar must be present at the ceremony and sign the register. A certificate is then given to the couple. This is done to show that they are legally married as well as married through the church.

Altogether marriage is seen and approached as the most important decision of a catholic person life therefore a lot of preparation and thought must be put towards it otherwise people may commit a big mistake which is almost impossible to resolve. However marriage is demonstrated as a one of the most important and beautiful experience in life. This is why God has presented mankind with this gift, so it should be our pleasure to accept marriage vows and ideals, and try every thing possible to keep them. This is the very reason why the catholic church feel so strongly and are so strict about marriage, as the significance of marriage is to demonstrate your love for your partner, your offspring and God.

Explain the main problems that face a Catholic family today?

"If anyone dose not take care of his relatives especially the members of his own family then he has denied his faith" This quote from the new testament clearly puts into perspective what this essay will contain. In the following essay I will be discussing some of the main problems faced by Catholic families in the modern world. I will also be looking at some problems that are common to all families and describing in detail why some particular problems may be harder to resolve and cope with, for people of the Roman Catholic religion.

First of all I will be describing what I mean when I use this term "Catholic family".

By using this term I am referring to every couple that has been married through the Catholic Church and the children who they have brought to the world.

I will now share with you some of the hardships and problems that all families may go through and explain to you why some particular issues may affect Catholics more than they would affect a non-Catholic family. Starting with adultery.

Adultery is a common problem faced by many families. A lot of the time this problem could cause families to break but in some circumstances it may be resolved. However this problem may be easier to resolve for a non-Catholic couple that accept divorce. As for them it may be very easy to simply file a divorce and go their separate ways. However the Catholic Church does not see adultery as a feasible excuse for a divorce but dose condemns it for the fact that it breaks the exclusive ideal of marriage. However the church encourages forgiveness as Jesus taught in the woman caught in adultery (john 8:1-10). In this story Jesus teaches that every one sins therefore sinners shouldn't condemn sinners. In response to this teaching the Catholic Church say's Catholics must find other means of resolving their problems concerning adultery.

Another common problem for families today is disagreements within the household whether it is between child and parents or parents. These problems may range from various things, some larger than others but in many cases they may all be overcome through talking. However this may be hard in some cases where there might be a tense and hostile atmosphere, in which this problem may become worse and even lead to others such as separation of parent's, arguments over children, alcoholism, and domestic violence. These problems are all series and may take a lot of effort from all parties to overcome. The Catholic Church largely recommends this, as they believe that by allowing these problems to grow you are breaking the life giving ideal of marriage.

Nevertheless there are other common problems in families today, which are equally important such as unable or not wanting to have children, sexual problems, illness, falling out of love and financial difficulties. These problems are usually associated with the permanent and life-giving ideals of catholic marriage. These issues may be harder for some couples to cope with than others. But in many cases it could be resolved through other means like for example if a couple do not want to have children they can use contraception such as condoms which are not supported by the Catholic Church. This may lead to Catholics finding themselves having to make tougher decisions than non-Catholics, as they may have to do certain things differently because of there beliefs.

Overall I believe that in the world today Catholics may find it particularly hard to cope and resolve certain problems in a religious manner. My reason for saying this is that many Catholics are restricted to what they can do because of what the Catholic Church teaches. This leads me to believe that some of these restrictions may be hard to cope with for Catholics living in the secular society of today. Due to these restrictions and along with modern influences, this may be the reason why interest and popularity in the Catholic Church is decreasing.

How do Catholics Respond to These Problems?

"Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fail" This quote from St Paul 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Cleary describes what love should be and puts into perspective the point of view that catholic couples should base their marriage on. This essay is about the way Catholics respond to the problems described in the previous essay and what sources the can turn to when in need of help.

When Christians need help and guidance, one of the most reliable sources to turn to is the bible, the foundations of their whole religion. In the bible there are several passages that provide spiritual help and encouragement for married couples that are going through problems. For example Mathew 21-23 the parable of the unforgiving servant this passage teaches about forgiveness, and can be useful for couples because it helps to reflect on how they should treat each other, and teaches about taking responsibility and putting love into practise. St Paul 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 also is helpful for troubled couples because it teaches about what love should be and what qualities are needed to make it work. However this holy book is said to contain all the answers and solutions to every possible problem that faces man and woman. In many cases this is true but sometimes certain people believe that the bible does not provide them with the answers that they are looking for, so often the turn to other sources.

One of the first sources they turn to is often the Catholic Church, which usually provides them with information from church documents such as "the family in the modern world 1981" which holds good advice on what makes an ideal Catholic marriage. This document also outlines all the possible options that are approved by the Catholic Church. Nonetheless many catholic parishes offer confession sessions with trained priests, these sessions help people to talk and think about their role in marriage and what they can do to improve it. Some parishes also offer counselling groups who provide useful and valuable information about what is wrong with the couple's marriage, how the problems came about and how they can be fixed.

Although some parishes offer many means of helping; some couples for one reason or an other sometimes decide to seek outside help from a number of organizations such as RELATE or CMAC. The Catholic Marriage Advisory Council (CMAC) is the largest Christian counselling service in the UK. This organisation provides every one no matter race or religion with help. It does this by providing each person with a professional qualified councillor, offering marriage guidance, education services, information about natural family planning methods and the opportunity for research into ways that marriages can be sustained and enhanced. Nevertheless the national marriage guidance council RELATE is an independent charity that relies on clients for financial help. Unlike CMAC, volunteers who undergo two-year part time training can take part in runing this charity that provides help for all types of people in a number of ways and methods that are more or less the same to those of CMAC.

However sometimes all these sources that are available are not always as helpful to some couples as they are to others. Sadly if this is the case then the Catholic couple can seek an annulment. An annulment is a solemn declaration made by the Catholic Church stating that a real marriage between a couple never existed because of certain impediments. In order to obtain an annulment a couple must go in front of a court council and provide statements from people who attended their wedding proving why it wasn't a real marriage. Once an annulment is gained it allows couples to re marry through the Catholic Church once again. However this is not a divorce for the reason that a divorce recognises that the marriage went wrong and broke down and this not what an annulment stands for.

Finally overall I believe that in order for Catholic marriages to survive difficult times it is needed that a couple has moral understandings of what a marriage stands for. It is also vital that a couple learns and develops the qualities of love and forgiveness which are described in St Paul 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and Mathew 21-23. However if the Bible teachings fail to address people with the answers, which they are searching for, they should find other sources such as parish groups or outside agencies etc; that provide the answers and do the most possible to sustain their marriage.

"The Catholic teaching on the family has a positive contribution to make to our society's understanding of the family." do you agree?

This statement is highly arguable among people of today. Reason being that that many believe hat some teachings are negative and out of date. However I agree with some of the catholic teachings but like most I believe that some need to be updated to suit the modern world.

First of all I think it is important that we make clear what a family means. According to the oxford school dictionary a family is parents their children sometimes including grandchildren and other relations; a group of things that are alike in some ways. This is the correct definition of a family but nonetheless in the modern world there are four most common types of families. One is the nuclear family, which is married parents and children; this is commonly described as the ideal catholic marriage. Another is the extended family this includes parents, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and cousins all living in the same house; this is often looked at as an old fashion type of family. The next one is very common among broken families; this is the single family that is one parent and children. Finally the other type of family is the stepfamily this is very common among reconstituted parents; this may include stepparents, stepchildren.

Nevertheless I believe that one of the positive teachings the Catholic Church offers about the family is that parents should be married before having children. Because by being married the couple show their love and commitment to one another and if this is the case the marriage is capable of providing a healthy environment for children. However this can be argued because many could say this is just an assumption, because who's to say that a married couple make better parents than those who are not.

Another positive teaching from the Catholic Church is that which says that parents should be the first teachers of the children and should teach them love and how to relate to other people. I believe this is good because this creates respect towards parents and love within the family. However this could also be argued because if parents where to teach children the wrong things this could damage the child and create a mirror image of parents.

One of the most important teachings the Catholic Church has on the family is that the parents should provide physically, emotionally and spiritually for their children. This is important because these are the things that a child needs most while growing up. These are vital needs for a child because if denied these necessities a child could be left mentally scared.

Although the Catholic Church has many positive teachings they to have some that, are negative. For example the Catholic Church teaches that at no circumstances may a woman have an abortion. I believe that this teaching is negative because their certain circumstances in which a woman may be entitled to one for example if a woman falls pregnant due to rape. Another would be when the abortion may be enduring life for a mother who already has children or preventing pain and suffrage for a mentally or physically ill child, which is not, assured a healthy life. However these points may be argued because they may be biased towards the unborn child and many could state that by allowing abortion for one reason another would arise afterwards and then another etc.

The Catholic Church bans artificial family planning methods. This is sometimes seen as a negative teaching from the Catholic Church because if a couple wants children and are finding it difficult to conceive they cannot use such artificial methods like IVF treatment because it contradicts catholic teachings. Nonetheless this is negative in some circumstances but when looked at in depth it is obvious that the reason for this teaching is that if the Catholic Church allows IVF it may lead to further treatments like genetic engineering, and this could lead to disorder among all humans.

The Catholic Church also forbids artificial forms of contraception and sex before marriage because it. This teaching is maybe the most argued point between Catholics today. Reason being that sex before marriage is very hard to avoid in our secular society and if it is happening, the ban on contraception doesn't help. This point is very commonly regarded as negative and old fashion because with the developments of contraception, sex is now safer and easier to have without taking that many risks.

Finally I believe that all of these teachings both have negative and positive sides to the argument. Some catholic teachings such as the one on parents duties towards their children do have a positive contribution to societies understanding of the family. Nonetheless some teachings like the ones on artificial contraception and family planning methods are out of date and need to be adapted or improved to help young Catholics, before they to become secularised as much of society. I also believe that the Catholic Church needs to improve and modernise their way of preaching as some of their teachings put many people in very awkward positions because often they are made to choose between catholic teachings and their needs.

Nino Gomez Personal Relationships R.E. Course Work