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It probably shouldn’t be necessary to have pastoral letters or papal encyclicals or apostolic exhortations to tell us what we should already know: that marriage and the family life it creates are holy and sacred.
And yet, as someone celebrating 40 years of marriage and 36 years of parenthood this year, I readily admit that there are times when the sacredness of marriage and family life gets lost amid the day-to-day challenges and struggles of surviving in the world. Read more »
Congratulations on your engagement! The church rejoices with you and eagerly awaits the day you become husband and wife, a new family, in the covenant of marriage (a sacrament for baptized Christians). The following are suggestions for the centerpiece of your wedding day: the wedding liturgy.
The Catholic wedding liturgy (or ceremony) presents engaged couples with both choices and structure. The structure is provided by the Rite of Marriage, the ritual book that contains the prayers, readings and liturgical forms used in Catholic weddings throughout the United States. The choices come from a variety of options provided in the Rite of Marriage, which include cultural customs approved for use in the United States. Take some time as a couple to think about these choices and then discuss them with the priest, deacon or other pastoral minister at your parish. Read more »
The following marriage preparation courses — Pre-Cana and Remarriage — will be offered by the Diocese of Wilmington’s Office for Marriage and Family Life this year:
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Real love is constant, concrete and communicates — it is action over words and it obeys the Beatitudes, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass.
True love is not “soap-opera love,” or “a whim” or something that “makes our heart beat a little faster,” and then nothing more, the pope said May 7 during the Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Read more »
The Diocese of Wilmington’s marriage preparatory policy and guidelines require that contact with the parish priest or deacon be initiated one year before the date of the proposed marriage. Read more »
SAN FRANCISCO — A new 12-part video series on marriage from Ignatius Press will provide ongoing formation that many couples need “to help us to live the art of marriage well,” said a theology professor who is content director of the series.
“Everybody knows that there’s a great crisis in marriage in the culture today,” said Edward Sri, who teaches at Augustine Institute in suburban Denver. Read more »
For The Dialog
BETHANY BEACH — Pope Francis’ focus on family life has struck a chord with parishioners of St. Ann Parish in Bethany Beach.
Study groups there are poring over the final report of the October 2014 World Synod of Bishops on the family with hopes of preparing a document of their own to be sent to Bishop Malooly and to leaders of a second synod, building upon the first, this coming fall.
Like those at the October synod, people attending St. Ann’s study sessions have strongly held and often differing views involving issues affecting family life today, Roach said.
“The church is really involved in a time of discernment about the family and pastoral care for the family,” said Molly Roach, director of religious education at St. Ann. “People want to talk about this. They are really concerned about what is going on with the family in the church.” Read more »
The Diocese of Wilmington is holding a Women’s Conference Nov. 1 at St. Joseph Parish in Middletown.
The day, sponsored through the Office for Marriage and Family Life, will feature Johnnette Benkovic, president and founder of Women of Grace, who is an author, retreat director and speaker. Nancy Burke, director of the Marriage and Family Life office, said the day’s theme will be from the diocese’s patron, St. Francis de Sales, “Be who you are and be that well.” Read more »
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Political and religious leaders encouraged Americans to promote traditional marriage with truth and love at the second annual March for Marriage.
Referencing the passage from the Gospel of Matthew, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, encouraged march participants June 19 to spread the message of the Gospel with love. Read more »
MADISON, Wis. (CNS) — A federal judge halted same-sex marriages in Wisconsin while an appeal of her decision to strike down as unconstitutional the state’s ban on such marriages is pending.
U.S. District Court Judge Barbara B. Crabb stopped same-sex marriages in the state a week after her initial ruling June 6. About 500 couples had wed during the period after she allowed county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Her order did not address whether the marriages were valid. Read more »
