Let us start then with God's Plan for Peace - Marriage
God's Plan for Peace starts with Churches encouraging marriage. Well I am sure that some will say the Church does not discourage it, but in practice it does.
Let us start with Marriage is a Sacrament and no baptised person should pay for a a Sacrament. So what does your parish charge for a wedding, and is this charge justified. Do you know that there are many young people out there who do not get married because they see it as too expensive. Certainly the culture of the Secular State encourages young people to believe that marrying is about spending money in every way possible and if others are spending enormous sums then that is expected. So let us change this in the Catholic Church by having cheap weddings.
Another subject we have to look at is our Church facilities. Having cloisters and groups of small rooms may satisfy 'Community' but it does not cater for large functions like weddings. Again if the Church has a hall attached to it, it can bring down the price of weddings by charging a reasonable rate. The Church could also have an association with a selected caterer. Since everything is on the Church premises, God would not be very far away at any stage.
But what about education for Marriage? What do Catholic Schools do? Certainly marriage is not on the curriculum, but should it be? Is marriage not the most important step in a young man or woman's life. How do we prepare young people for marriage? It is certainly not by adapting a secular approach on sex and condoms and only a concern that none of the girls get pregnant. We need the positives as well as the negatives. That sex with others can lower expectations within marriage is or should be self evident if we look at society today. Marriage cannot be built on sex, for sex is not love. The harm done to children of a marriage should be put forward by the Church as strongly as the Secular Society dismisses it. Marriage is for children and a husband has a role in marriage despite the nonsense that the secular society puts forward as they justify selfishness. Again no all marriages work out even in the best of circumstances but we should support single mothers and keep them faithful to Christ, for such people are in a way the best advocates for marriage since they know what failure is, and have kept close to Him.
Many people excuse themselves from talking about marriage and its difficulties by making the remark that we should not judge. But claiming that Jesus hated divorce as in Matthew 19 is not judging, it is following the teachings of Jesus and his plan for the family unit to be the building block of society.
Let us start with Marriage is a Sacrament and no baptised person should pay for a a Sacrament. So what does your parish charge for a wedding, and is this charge justified. Do you know that there are many young people out there who do not get married because they see it as too expensive. Certainly the culture of the Secular State encourages young people to believe that marrying is about spending money in every way possible and if others are spending enormous sums then that is expected. So let us change this in the Catholic Church by having cheap weddings.
Another subject we have to look at is our Church facilities. Having cloisters and groups of small rooms may satisfy 'Community' but it does not cater for large functions like weddings. Again if the Church has a hall attached to it, it can bring down the price of weddings by charging a reasonable rate. The Church could also have an association with a selected caterer. Since everything is on the Church premises, God would not be very far away at any stage.
But what about education for Marriage? What do Catholic Schools do? Certainly marriage is not on the curriculum, but should it be? Is marriage not the most important step in a young man or woman's life. How do we prepare young people for marriage? It is certainly not by adapting a secular approach on sex and condoms and only a concern that none of the girls get pregnant. We need the positives as well as the negatives. That sex with others can lower expectations within marriage is or should be self evident if we look at society today. Marriage cannot be built on sex, for sex is not love. The harm done to children of a marriage should be put forward by the Church as strongly as the Secular Society dismisses it. Marriage is for children and a husband has a role in marriage despite the nonsense that the secular society puts forward as they justify selfishness. Again no all marriages work out even in the best of circumstances but we should support single mothers and keep them faithful to Christ, for such people are in a way the best advocates for marriage since they know what failure is, and have kept close to Him.
Many people excuse themselves from talking about marriage and its difficulties by making the remark that we should not judge. But claiming that Jesus hated divorce as in Matthew 19 is not judging, it is following the teachings of Jesus and his plan for the family unit to be the building block of society.
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