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Posted on 06/29/2007 2:45:11 PM PDT by wagglebee
The article continues, “Such a process would meet the legitimate Catholic and social requirement that the sexual act must take place only within a stable relationship.”
Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss of the Omaha archdiocese rejected this proposal in a letter to U.S. Catholic. In his letter, the Omaha World-Herald reports, the Archbishop reaffirmed that, “Couples who live together without marriage do in fact live in sin objectively.”
In addition, he said, “Because the position of the authors is contrary to church teaching about the intrinsic evil of fornication, I have disassociated the Omaha Archdiocese from the Center for Marriage and Family at Creighton University.”
When asked if the severance with the CMF was permanent, Rev. Joseph C. Taphorn, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Omaha, told LifeSiteNews.com, “If we felt comfortable with the Center’s theological approach, we might consider working with them in future, but clearly substantial changes would have to be made before we would cooperate with them on future projects.”
University spokeswoman Deb Dailey gave LifeSiteNews.com the university’s official statement, saying that as a Catholic and Jesuit university, Creighton “has a very positive relationship with the archbishop.” Moreover, she continued, “As a university, Creighton respects the academic freedom of its faculty to dialogue on societal issues, and we recognize that the archbishop has the final say with regard to the moral theology of the Catholic Church.”
The official teaching of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) also backs the Archbishop’s condemnation of premarital cohabitation. The USCCB explains, “Every act of sexual intercourse is intended by God to express love, commitment and openness to life in the total, unreserved gift of the spouses to each other. Premarital sexual intercourse is sinful because it violates the dignity of persons and the nuptial meaning and purpose of sexuality.” (United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, p. 406)
“It (premarital intercourse) cannot express what God intended. Rather, it says something false—a total commitment that the couple does not yet have. This total commitment is possible only in marriage, ‘the covenant of conjugal love freely and consciously chosen, whereby a man and woman accept the intimate community of life and love willed by God himself.’” (Familiaris Consortio #11)
Read original U.S. Catholic article promoting premarital cohabitation:
How do they justify such nonsense?
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I hope I am not overestimating this, but this could be huge.
Creighton University is noted for its work in teaching NFP to all comers including to physicians. There are doctors trained in what is called “the Creighton Method.” They are frequently those who will allow no artificial birth control of any kind in their practice and are sought out by Catholic women.
If this now reflects the attitude of that Institute and Creighton itself, it would be devastating. Bishop Elden Curtiss is an incredible man. He is one of the most orthodox Bishop’s in the U.S. If he has “pulled the pin on this grenade,” it is bad. It means that theologically, they are “off the reservation” and he will not tolerate that.
What a shame!
F
Bishop Curtiss should read Archbishop.
They've succumbed to the spirit of the world.
It's true that couples who are living together and have a proximate wedding date set and a deposit put down on the reception experience fewer bad outcomes than couples who just live together, and either break up or eventually get married, maybe after a couple of kids.
However, that doesn't change the fact the "married" is "married," and any relationship can be considered "stable" right up to the moment it ends!
Even in this day and age there are people who marry because they’ve come to feel ashamed of “shacking up”.
That’s true.
The authors under discussion are, in my opinion, simply trying to make people feel better about sinning. Judeo-Christian history does not include a period before marriage where the couple lived together; it included a legally-binding betrothal period where the couple did NOT live together.
Part of the problem we face today is that there are no binding contracts. Engagement isn’t legally binding, and neither is marriage. In the situation, it’s not surprising that many couples don’t think marriage would add anything.
How did the nation manage to regress to common law marriage, which never works to advantage of women? In 1960 it was outlawed in almost every state?
Right. Co-habitation nowadays seems to confers as many rights as marriage.
while most catholic colleges have co-ed dorms.
**In addition, he said, “Because the position of the authors is contrary to church teaching about the intrinsic evil of fornication, I have disassociated the Omaha Archdiocese from the Center for Marriage and Family at Creighton University.”**
More Bishosps and Archbishops should have this man’s faith and conviction! What an outstanding shepherd!
Although I'm personally not big fan of NFP since I so often see it advocated and practiced with what I perceive as a contraceptive mindset, it should be noted that the "Creighton Method" is a product of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction and not the "Center for Marriage and Family" at Creighton University. I still find the idea of this Catholic university permitting such a heretical group on its campus to be quite troubling.
Thanks for the clarification. I was worried it was the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction that was involved. In any case, Archbishop Curtiss comes through again to defend the Catholic Faith.
In addition, I understand your concerns about NFP being used in a “contraceptive mindset.” With studies now showing that the most modern methods of NFP are better at preventing pregnancy than most other contraceptives, it can be used and probably is used in a manner that circumvents its true purpose. This debate can be found on many websites dedicated to NFP.
F
This is pretty dumb on the part of these “researchers.”
Cohabitation involves the sin of copulation, which the Church has always treated as far less serious than adultery. But it is still a sin. It is also socially destructive when it becomes a common custom.
Where is the point in making people “feel better” about it? If they are seriously in love, then they should repent, confess, and get married.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that their argument contradicts two thousand years of Catholic teaching. Thanks to the Bishop for pointing it out. Hopefully the administration at Creighton will find some way to make it clear that this article was not written or published with their approval, and that they will not continue to give such work the stamp of approval implied by its appearance under the aegis of a supposed Catholic university.
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