Gossip and slander are frequently found even among those who consider themselves good Christians. Few things, however, are more harmful to a community. It can start innocently enough. One person makes a comment to a third person about something someone else did or said. Perhaps this first person doesn't even intend the comment to be [...]
Archive for the ‘marriage’ Category
Only excerpts or summaries of the posts are shown on this page. Click on the title of a post to see the whole post.Remedies for Gossip and Slander – St. Josemaria Escriva
Sunday, December 4th, 2011Ratzinger On the Pastoral Care of the Divorced and Remarried
Friday, December 2nd, 2011In 1998 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger introduced the volume entitled 'On the Pastoral Care of the Divorced and Remarried', published by the Libreria in the dicastery's series. The third part of this introduction has been recently republished by the L'osservatore Romano. In outline, he makes the following points there: (1) The possibilities of separation indicated in [...]
Why is Consecrated Virginity Not a Sacrament
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011Marriage and religious life are two fundamental ways to fulfill the fundamental vocation of every human being to love. Why is marriage a sacrament and consecrated virginity or celibacy is not? Since Christ certainly could have made consecrated virginity a sacrament, any answer can only be based on arguments of appropriateness. Both marriage and virginity [...]
Ratzinger and the Magisterium on Reception of Communion by Divorced and Remarried Catholics
Saturday, March 26th, 2011Cardinal Ratzinger, who proposed in 1972 that there should be some possibility in certain cases for divorced and remarried couples to receive the Eucharist, seems to regard the teaching of the Church (see the last post–The Church on Reception of Communion by Divorced and Remarried Catholics), and in particular Familiaris Consortio, as having definitively settled [...]
The Church on Reception of Communion by Divorced and Remarried Catholics
Saturday, March 26th, 2011While the present practice called for by the Church in regard to the reception (or non-reception) of Communion by divorced and married Catholics, a practice which emphasizes the objective and visible unity in the Church and in the life of faith that is appropriate to the Eucharist, may or may not be strictly a necessary [...]
Ratzinger On the Indissolubility of Marriage and Pastoral Practice
Friday, March 25th, 2011Not much notice has been taken of Ratzinger's article on the dogmatic-historical aspects of the indissolubility of marriage and their relevance to present teaching and pastoral practice: "Zur Frage nach der Unauflöslichkeit der Ehe: Bemerkungen zum dogmengeschichtlichen Befund und zu seiner gegenwärtigen Bedeutung" in Ehe und Ehescheidung: Diskussion unter Christen, Kösel-Verlag, München, 1972. Perhaps that [...]
Aquinas on Marrying to Support One's Parents
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011Is someone obliged to marry if that is the only way he can support his parents? This article is from Quodlibetal 10, q. 5, a. 1. Whether someone is bound to contact marriage in order to support his father by the marriage dowry, if he is not able to support him otherwise. Objections It [...]
Marriage and Procreation
Thursday, March 17th, 2011This post continues the response to the question, what has changed regarding christians' and the Church's view of marriage and marital relations, a question raised in a comment on the post Married Saints and Continence. Traditional View (Systematized by St. Augustine) St. Augustine understands sexual intercourse to be so ordered to children, the "one honorable [...]
Attitudes to Marriage and Holiness
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011The attitudes of Christians towards marriage and holiness have changed in recent times, especially in the 20th century.
This change may be roughly described as an increase in realism, which is a change for the better, and a decrease in idealism, which is a change for the worse.
Married Saints and Continence
Thursday, January 27th, 2011Why did so many married saints live in continence, that is, without having sexual intercourse with their spouse for a significant portion of their life as married persons.
(1) Because such continence is and was considered very helpful for growing in virtue.
(2) Because the holiness of such persons is more evident.
(3) Because persons advanced in charity and virtue are disposed to practice such continence.
I am a Catholic seminarian and deacon in Vienna, and a teacher at the