The next part is the acceptance of consent and blessing. It is essential in the Catholic marriage ceremony that a priest is present. He represents the people of God and the Church and accepts the mutual consent of the bride and the groom with these words: ‘You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has put together, Let no man put asunder.’ The Church takes this to mean that the marriage which is now being made in the sight of God cannot be dissolved.
After this, the couple would then exchange their rings. These rings are used as a token of their promise to each other. The priest blesses the ring with these words: ‘May the Lord bless this rings which you give to each other as a sign of your love and fidelity.’ Having been blessed by the priest the ring becomes sacred. It is a constant reminder of the love they have for each other, a love in which God is present.
After the ‘Our Father’ of the mass have been said, the priest will then give the marriage blessing. He approaches the bride and says: ‘Let us pray that God will bless this woman, give her love and peace, may her husband recognise that she is his equal and be the heir with him to the life of grace. May he always honour her and love her as Christ loves his bride, the Church. Keep them faithful to you and each other and let them be the living example of Catholic life.’ The ideas expressed in these blessings points out the two important themes of Catholic marriage: that a husband’s love for his wife is a model which Christ has for God’s people – the Church and that marriage is a relationship based on faithfulness which is plain for all to see.
The civil requirements for marriage is the signing of the register. The bride, groom and an authorised priest or a 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. The marriage certificate is made holy through the sacrament.
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 everything 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.
What are the Problems facing Christian families
In today’s society?
“If anyone does not take care of his relatives especially the members of his own family then he has denied his faith.” First letter of Paul to Timothy 5:8
A Catholic family refers to every couple that have been married through the Catholic Church and the children who they brought up practising their faith. A family may encounter hardships through time and sometimes may result to broken relationships. Some problems facing Christian families in today’s society face similar problems to those families of different faith. They have their own ups and downs. They may face problems like financial difficulties, illness, impotence, adultery, arguments about children, differences with each other and domestic violence. Other problems may be different. But what differs is the way a Christian family would face this problem. They face these problem following Christ’s teachings, just as Christ taught us.
Families often breakdown and the couple may fall out of love. Adultery is one of the common problem facing families today. A lot of times this problem causes 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 accepts 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 difficult 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 series of problems 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 happen the couple would grow closer to each other making a strong bond become stronger ready to face the next problems they may encounter.
False hopes causes people to become disillusioned and when realities of married life do not come to their expectations, others simply walk away. The person you are marrying now may be a different person at 30. That’s why couples need to know their partners better before engaging into a serious relationship/marriage. 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 examples if a couple do not want to have children they can use contraception such as condoms which the Catholic Church discourages resulting to a much tougher decision.
How do Christians Respond to
These Problems?
“Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fails” St. Pau1 1 Corinthians 13 4:7
This quote clearly describes what love should be and puts into perspective the point of view that Catholic couples should base their marriage on.
Most couple experience some kind of difficulty in their marriage at one time or another. You would hardly expect anything else in a life-long relationship. Financial difficulties, overwork, illness, and the threat of unemployment are some of the common problems that a family face today. All of these can lead to other problems and can put real strain on a marriage.
Most married couples manage to work through their temporary difficulties. Sometimes the marriage may even be strengthened by the shared experience of the problem. But in some cases the couples’ problems become so overwhelming that, despite their best intentions, their love for one another and the relationship itself is threatened.
When Christians need help and guidance, the most reliable sources they would turn to would be the Bible, which is the foundation of their whole religion. The Bible provides spiritual help and encouragement for married couples that are going through problems. Mathew 21-23 The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant and John 8:1-10 Woman Caught in Adultery teaches us about forgiveness. This passages could be useful to couples because it helps to reflect how they should treat each other, and teaches us about the responsibility of putting love into practice. St Paul 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is also helpful for troubled couples because it teaches us about what love should be and what qualities are needed to make it work. However this Holy Bible is said to contain all the answers and solution to every possible problems that face man and woman today. In some cases this might be true but in others this might not provide the couple the answer they are looking for, that’s why they turn to other sources.
The couple may seek help from the Church. Some of the parishes provide special marriage counselling groups which provide useful and valuable information about what is wrong with the couples’ marriage, how the problems came about and how they can be fixed. The priest may also be an alternative, they offer confession sessions which could help the couple talk about their problems and think about their role in marriage and what they can do to improve it. They could give the couple some good advices on what makes an ideal Catholic marriage. They feel that they have to uphold the sanctity of marriage as this is expressed in the Bible and especially in Jesus’ teachings.
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. It open its doors to anybody who seeks help and aims to accept them as they are regardless of their race, religion or whether they are married or not. It provides help to people through the understanding of marriage on the Catholic principle. They offer professional qualified counsellors, offering marriage guidance, education services, information about natural family planning methods and the opportunity for research into ways that marriage can be sustained and enhanced.
Relate is also an organisation which a couple can turn to if they are experiencing difficulties on their marriage. It is a charity which depends on its clients for financial support. The National Marriage Council is an independent boy which is not attached to any religious institutions. They believe that it is in a unique position to help people from all cultural and social backgrounds. Both CMAC and Relate stress that their counsellors must put their clients first. They must be completely unshakable and unjudgemental. They aim to work through their clients problems with them, and give their clients a greater understanding of their own feelings and situations to enable them to take control.
Many couples think that it is easier to get divorce than to work thing out, that’s why they are not encouraged enough to overcome their problems. As a result many young people have suffered the trauma of seeing their parents divorce and too many children experience what a ‘broken home’ means. If a Catholic couple chooses to file for a divorce and remarry again, they may choose to remarry in a registers office. In the eyes of God and the Church, they are still considered to be married therefore they are not permitted to remarry again in the Catholic Church.
However, all these sources available may not be as helpful to some couples as they are to others. 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 of cannon lawyers 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.
“The Catholic teaching on the family has a positive
contribution to our society.” Do you agree?
A family is the basic unit of our society. It is composed of parents, children and sometimes grand children and other relations. 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. 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
In my point of view, I think the Catholic teaching have both positive and negative effects to our society. 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 they are capable of providing a healthy environment for the upbringing of the 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 parents should be the first teachers of the children. They should teach them love and how to relate to other people. And pass on their faith to their children. 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.
