Marriage

Marriage in the Christian tradition is a life long commitment, of one partner to the other, and is based upon the teaching of Jesus about the permanence of marriage. In the Catholic church only annulment or death can end a marriage. Love of each other and love for God is the foundation of marriage.

 

Marriage is:

a sacrament

Permanent - it is designed to last forever

Public - a sign for all to see

Exclusive - it demands faithfulness to one person

Life long - involves a life-long relationship

Life-giving (open to having children) and it involves responsible parenthood

Outline of the ceremony

p The greeting - the bride and groom are welcomed by the priest

p The Homily (Sermon) - a talk about the meaning of marriage

p The marriage ceremony - the couple are questioned to make sure they understand what they are about to undertake

p The marriage vows - the couple make their vows to each other

p Acceptance of consent and blessing - on behalf of the church

the priest accepts to promise the couple have made

p Exchange of rings

p The marriage (Nuptial) blessing - the priest blesses the couple

p Signing of the marriage register - for a marriage to be legal the register has to be signed

 

Marriage in the New Testament - Mark 10:2-9

In Mark’s Gospel Jesus shows that God intended men and women to marry and once they are married they become one person and should not be separated:

Some Pharisees came to him and tried to trap him. "Tell us," they asked, "does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife?" Jesus answered with a question, "What law did Moses give you?" Their answer was, "Moses gave permission for a man to write a divorce notice and send his wife away." Jesus said to them, "Moses wrote this law for you because you are so hard to teach. But in the beginning, at the time of creation, `God made them male and female,' as the scripture says. `And for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one.' So they are no longer two, but one. No human being then must separate what God has joined together."

Marriage breakdown and divorce

Marriage is permanent but divorce still happens

Marriage is exclusive (there are only two people involved - the married couple) but there is still adultery

Marriage is life-giving but there is still abortion and contraception

Reasons why marriages end:

Failure - breakdown in communication caused by selfishness, argument, neglect, resentment

Tragedy- accidents or sudden death, loss of income, redundancy, unemployment etc.

Illness - when one partner may become a real burden to the other, physically or mentally

In the Roman Catholic church a person cannot be divorced (Although they may legally be divorced in the eyes of the law) as the marriage vows are sacred and last forever. The marriage can be annulled, which means that if it was invalid in the first place it can be dissolved - it was not a proper marriage and therefore the couple were never really married (E.g. one of the couples may not have taken the vows seriously)

Sex and contraception

Sex before marriage for Catholics is not allowed because sex has been given by God as a gift for use within marriage - shared by a couple who have dedicated their lives to each other in marriage.

Artificial contraception (the pill, condoms etc.) is forbidden, natural contraception like the billings method is totally acceptable - and responsible parenthood is encouraged.