The Dialog

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Upholding the sacredness of human life becomes concrete when generations work together to serve everyone: the poor, disabled, orphans, migrants, the unborn and the elderly, Pope Francis said.

Such work is demanding and complicated, but “only by strengthening your association and inviting other families to join with you, will the task become less arduous, since union makes for strength,” he told members of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe June 1. The group was holding a meeting in Rome to celebrate its 20th anniversary. 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.

Read more »

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — Phil and Mary Wrubleski are eager to bring practical marriage enrichment opportunities to couples in the Diocese of Saskatoon.

The couple, who chair the diocesan marriage task force, are examining marriage mentoring, in which a younger couple is invited to meet monthly with a more-established couple in the parish who is trained to engage in helpful conversations about marriage, life and children. Read more »

Catholic News Service

HARRISBURG, Pa. — In a society where many consider marriage vows to be contrary to human freedom, the “self-aholic” lifestyle leads to incalculable unhappiness, Harrisburg Bishop Ronald W. Gainer told some 400 Christian leaders and ministers.

Ultimately the human heart, created by God, thirsts to give and receive love, he said. Read more »

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:

Read more »

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 »