Posted on 09/06/2013 2:50:24 PM PDT by NYer
1615 This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy - heavier than the Law of Moses. By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to "receive" the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ. This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's cross, the source of all Christian life.
1640 Thus the marriage bond has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage concluded and consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved. This bond, which results from the free human act of the spouses and their consummation of the marriage, is a reality, henceforth irrevocable, and gives rise to a covenant guaranteed by God's fidelity. The Church does not have the power to contravene this disposition of divine wisdom.
1631 This is the reason why the Church normally requires that the faithful contract marriage according to the ecclesiastical form. Several reasons converge to explain this requirement:
- Sacramental marriage is a liturgical act. It is therefore appropriate that it should be celebrated in the public liturgy of the Church;
- Marriage introduces one into an ecclesial order, and creates rights and duties in the Church between the spouses and towards their children;
- Since marriage is a state of life in the Church, certainty about it is necessary (hence the obligation to have witnesses);
- The public character of the consent protects the "I do" once given and helps the spouses remain faithful to it.
1652 "By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory."
Children are the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves. God himself said: "It is not good that man should be alone," and "from the beginning [he] made them male and female"; wishing to associate them in a special way in his own creative work, God blessed man and woman with the words: "Be fruitful and multiply." Hence, true married love and the whole structure of family life which results from it, without diminishment of the other ends of marriage, are directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and enrich his family from day to day.
Have a good night.
I really like this Pope.
Oh, so we should treat them like crap, and make it harder on them then it already is. And we should make their children carry the extra burden of being outcasts.
Jesus was continuously criticized by the so called religious leaders, for preaching the love of God to outcasts.
Apparently you overlooked that part in your Bible studies.
I guess stoning her would have been more your style.
Kindly explain, if you will, if you can, how it is just to punish a child for the sin of its parents. Refusing to baptize a child really only harms the child, who is truly the innocent party. It certainly does nothing to discourage immoral behavior—it is impossible to imagine two lovers saying, “Oh, no, we mustn’t have sex—the priest will refuse to baptize any child we might conceive!”
Making the child pay the price for its parents’ sin is the entire premise of abortion.
"Kindly explain, if you will, if you can, how it is just to punish a child for the sin of its parents. "
Are the two of you incapable of understanding the difference between punishment and reward?
This woman is getting world-wide attention (reward) for what she has done.
So not rewarding single mothers is automatically punishment? I guess thats consistent with a dying civilization that sees not giving every kid a trophy "punishment" for failure
Since you have made it abundantly clear that you’re not a Catholic, please allow me to explain this to you. In the view of the Roman Csrholic Church, baptism is not something that is done to make a baby’s parents happy; it is not a reward to the parents; it does not garner attention or money for them. It is a sacrament that confers grace upon the child. Withholding baptism from a child is a petty way of punishing a mother for her sin. It does nothing to deintentivize or deglamorize the sin of fornication. It does not undo the sin. It achieves nothing except to make it more difficult for a penitent Christian woman to raise her child as a Christian. Is that your desire? To have fewer children raised to worship Our Lord and Savior? Because if so, this would be a way to achieve that goal.
Now, that said, I agree with you that it is disastrous to glamorize and incentivize the bearing of children outside of wedlock. But unless you take illegitimate children away from their mothers and raise them in a state orphanage, which presumably you as a conservative would abhor, it’s very hard to think of a way to punish a mother without also punishing her innocent child.
And may I draw your attention to the example Christ have us in speaking to sinful women, both the Samaritan woman who was shacking up with some dude, and the woman taken in adultery. He didn’t harass them or say that their children couldn’t be baptized because they had sinned. He spoke in a compassionate manner, telling the adulterous woman to cut it out and saying to the Samaritan woman that he would give her living waters to drink. Pretty clear examples of how we are to bear ourselves toward other sinners.
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