The Pope’s recent comments on marriage, which have raised a few eyebrows, do at least contain one statement with which I wholeheartedly agree. It is this: “Marriage is the most difficult area of pastoral work.” As for the rest of what the Pope has said, most of this raises a “Yes, but…” response from me. Read more
Pope Francis has described priests who refuse to baptise the children of young single mothers as “animals”. Francis was speaking at a Q&A session near the end of a pastoral conference of Rome diocese on the family. Crux reported that Francis spoke of a “pastoral cruelty” at the Q&A. An example is priests who refuse Read more
More than 200 Catholic couples were married in a huge tent in a nuptial Mass in Indonesia. The event, involving 239 couples and several priests, took place on the property of St Filomena Church in Mena. The main reason for the combined wedding was the desire to assist the issuing of marriage certificates by the state. This Read more
American sexual behavior is much different than it used to be. Today, most Americans think premarital sex is okay, and will have three or more sexual partners before marrying. What, if anything, does premarital sex have to do with marital stability? This research brief shows that the relationship between divorce and the number of sexual partners Read more
“Unrealistic lust is a great place to kick off” a relationship. That’s the counsel the advice columnist for the liberal English newspaper The Guardian gives to a woman who doesn’t know whether to move in with a boyfriend who won’t even say that he loves her. Save “duty sex” for later, Mariella Frostrup continues. “The Read more
Ministeroni’ Karen Martyn, who became the world’s first legal marriage celebrant for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) earlier this year, was the marriage celebrant when Toby Ricketts and Marianna Young got married last Saturday. During the first-of-its-kind ceremony, the bride and groom discussed their marriage’s terms and conditions in a comical list of demands and promises. “If Read more
On Friday, Pope Francis released a 256-page document called “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love.” In it, he calls for the Catholic Church to approach issues of sex, marriage, family planning and divorce with less emphasis on dogmatic law and more emphasis on individual conscience. While the post-synodal apostolic exhortation doesn’t directly alter any Read more
In a new document, Pope Francis has called for renewed efforts to strengthen marriages, while being compassionate and close to people in their frailty. The 325-paragraph document, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), draws together almost three years of consultation with Catholics around the world, including synods in 2014 and 2015. Among the many topics Read more
Four Kiwis who went to last year’s synod on the family have welcomed Pope Francis’s wide-ranging new apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family. In a statement released through the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Cardinal John Dew, Bishop Charles Drennan, Dr John Kleinsman and Sharon Cole spoke on Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). Read more
A National Party MP who once studied for the priesthood with the Society of Mary is to marry a mother of five children. Tamaki MP Simon O’Connor proposed to Rachel Trimble earlier this year. She is the sister of Transport Minister Simon Bridges. Mr O’Connor is 10 years younger than Ms Trimble. Referring to his Read more