|
|
The Teaching of the Catholic
Church on |
||
|
Complete the Surveys Couples survey Click here to take survey
Frequently Asked Questions about the survey Benefits of Marriage Preparation Marriage Preparation in England and Wales Marriage in the Documents of the Catholic Church Supporting Marriage in England and Wales Further information:
|
Married life has great value and importance as a special form of personal relationship. This value is rooted in the nature of man and woman and the covenant partnership of love and common life between them. For Christians, this deep human reality is given a further level of meaning as a sign and a way of sharing in the love between Christ and his bride, the Church (Ephesians 5:22). Catholics see marriage as one of the seven sacraments of the Church, an effective sign of divine love. Marriage is already understood as a gift from God and a fundamental human good, but now it also expresses vocation from God into the life of Christ. When two baptised Christians marry they are joined together by God, and the Holy Spirit is given to them to inspire ‘progress towards an ever richer union with each other on all levels - of the body, of the character, of the heart, of the intelligence and will, of the soul’ (The Christian Family in the Modern World, 1981, paragraph 19). The Sacrament also strengthens those who receive the gift of children
so they can welcome them into the life of faith. As marriage reflects
the mystery of Christ and the Church the Second Vatican Council called
the Christian family ‘the domestic Church’ (The
Church (Lumen Gentium) 1964, paragraph 11), a microcosm of the
universal Church. The Sacrament of marriage is a reality that endures
throughout life as long as both husband and wife remain alive. It
creates a bond that cannot be dissolved by any human power. Marriage,
then, is a bond, a union or communion, a ‘joining together’ of a man
and a woman. Edited extract from Cherishing Life (sections 119-120) a teaching document of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, 2004 |
The
Church in
|
|
