Since the late 1970s David and Bronwyn Lea have been active in the Marriage Encounter movement. They became co-ordinators for the Pacific in 1995. And then came the call to lead the global programme. Between 2005 and 2010 they travelled the world encouraging individual countries to promote and develop Marriage Encounter. And during that time Read more
This year, for the first time, World Marriage Day was celebrated in New Zealand at a Wellington Event organised by the Centre for Marriage and Family (CMF). The Family Fun Day Out at Aotea Lagoon included games and spot prizes, a walk around the lagoon, cakes, live music and a sausage sizzle. Many young couples Read more
I haven’t written in this space for some time, but now that the election is over some additional interventions seem necessary to capture what’s happening in Roman Catholicism’s remarkable period of controversy. My Sunday column talked a bit about the way in which varying interpretations of “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the family, have Read more
‘How’s married life?” People ask it in a slightly mocking tone, as if it’s rather quaint to think that married life should be any different from unmarried life. One year in, however, I’ve been surprised to find that it is different – in a good way. This idea is increasingly out of fashion. Nearly half Read more
In his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis used St. Paul’s “hymn to love,” taken from his First Letter to the Corinthians, to offer several pieces of advice on how to keep one’s marriage strong throughout the years, based on true love. “Love is patient, love is kind. love is not jealous or boastful; it Read more
Amoris Laetitia came out while I was sitting in a hospital with my Tio (Uncle) Roy when he was dying in the ICU. At the time, my husband and I were on very shaky ground as far as our marriage was concerned. After many years of struggle that caused a lot of damage, pain and Read more
Gender theory – where people choose their gender – is destroying marriage, Pope Francis says. He said it is a global war against marriage, which he described as God’s most beautiful creation. He was speaking to a group of religious men and women and pastoral agents in Georgia. “Today, there is a global war trying to Read more
Basically, most people’s wedding vows have the same gist, right? “I’ll love you forever” say Bella Ellwood-Clayton “I wonder, knowing what we do now, 10 years later, what new set of vows would we make?” she asks. Here are the first of 17 things she would say now: 1. I will forgive you, endlessly. Partnerships of Read more
My husband and I were married on a cold, overcast afternoon the day before New Year’s Eve. Neither of us had imagined having a winter wedding, but we needed to marry by January in order to be posted together for our next assignment. We both work as diplomats, our lives divided into chunks of time Read more
A friend gave me permission to write this story. She and her husband were in the car, their three young daughters in the back seat. Suddenly, the youngest daughter announced, “Mummy and Daddy had sex three times.” Middle daughter, knowing there had been two miscarriages, corrected little sister. “No! They had sex five times.” Eldest Read more