Religion!
Chapter 16: Marriage Matters
Guiding Questions - Pages 310(1), 312(1-4), 321(1-4), 325(1, 2 &4)
Page 310 #1
1.What insights does that Book of Genesis’s account of Adam and Eve offer about Marriage today?
It says that a man leaves his mother and father and then joins with his wife and they become one flesh. They join bodily, share a home, become totally attached to each other in all aspects of life.
Page 312 #1-4
1.Identify the essential elements of marriage.
First
•An intimate partnership of life and love.
•Covenant and partnership
•Catholic teaching does not use the word “contract” to describe marriage
•And unconditional and public “yes” of a man and a woman to create a complete and personal community of life and love
•Marriage is a communion of a man and a woman in all the things of life.
Second
•The central trait or soul of marriage is love.
•It is a love that is to grow from physical to sexual love, the love with which Christ loved: a selfless love totally for the other.
Third
•Love is open to procreation.
•Love and new life are the gifts of marriage.
•Mutual love and the procreation and education of children are both central goods of marriage.
Fourth
•The role of consent.
•Built on the consent of two partners.
•Giving and receiving from one another “a partnership and communion of one’s whole life.”
Fifth
•A valid marriage between baptized persons is by that very fact a sacrament.
2.What is implied by “an intimate partnership of life and love”?
It constitutes the married state that has been established by the Creator and endowed with its own proper laws: it is rooted in the covenant of its partners, which is in their irrevocable personal consent.
3.Why does marriage include an openness to receive children?
Marriage includes an openness to receive children because the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring. Love and new life are the gifts of marriage.
4.Irina did not consent to the marriage because the consent of marriage lies within the trust and love that each other can share. Hassan did not tell Irina of his addiction and in that they broke the consent of trust. Although they may love each other, and got married, the consent was not there.
Page 321 #1-4
1.Why are marriages indissoluble - "until death do us part”- according to the Church?
Marriages are indissoluble because the intimate union of marriage, as a mutual giving of two persons, and the good of the children, demand total fidelity from the spouses and require and unbreakable union between them.
2.Discuss the importance of consent.
Consent is when two people make an agreement, together, to join in union. If a couple has married, but feels that the relationship will not work out, and then this would not be considered as an agreement to each other.
3.Distinguish the terms divorce and annulment.
Annulment - the marriage covenant is void and invalid from the first day of the wedding. This happens when the couple does not fulfil the conditions of marriage. The couple who have agreed to have an annulment have recourse through the Catholic diocese to have their sacramental marriage declared invalid.
Divorce - A couple may separate and seek a legal, civil divorce, but such a divorce, in the Church’s understanding, does not dissolve the marriage and so the person is not free to marry someone else.
4.Distinguish the terms covenant and contract.
Marriage is a covenant made within the Church. The civil divorce dissolves the civil contract but not the marriage covenant or sacrament.
Page 325 #1, 2, & 4
1.In the Catholic Rite of Marriage, explain how the following terms are used: consent, love, fidelity, Christ, Church.
Consent - The groom and the bride have made consent with the church and with each other.
Love - The couple promises their love to each other for the rest of their life.
Fidelity - Both partners must help each other to remain faithful to their love.
Christ - He is blessing the couple who are about to be married in the union of the love and fidelity.
Church - The partners are married in the Church and must make a commitment to each forever.
2.At the beginning of the rite, the priest asks the bride and groom three questions. What is the purpose of these three questions?
The purpose of these three questions is to make sure the couples know what they are going into to unionize their marriage and to consent into their marriage.
3.How does a sacramental marriage differ from a civil marriage?
A sacramental marriage is when a marriage is unified in the Church and the Church and God gave consent to their marriage. A civil marriage is when a couple gets married without making a vow to the Lord and the Church.
In a 2-3 paragraphs complete the following:
Talk to your parents or grandparents, or anyone other couple whose marriage you consider solid, and invite them to tell the story of their marriage. What were their struggles? Has it always been easy? What have they learned about communication with one another? What advice would they give a young couple considering marriage?
A couple that I talked to consider their marriage to be pretty solid because they love each other and they hardly ever argue, but on some occasions they have the need to argue. In every marriage there has to be some struggles. For this couple they have only experienced a few struggles, like, when was the right time to have children? Were they financially ready to conceive? With every couple that wants to have children, that is probably the most common struggle. Since they had solid jobs that could support their marriage and children they were financially ready with time. It was not that simple or easy for them in the marriage because they had to consider the children, but also had to make time for them.
They have learned to communicate with one another in respect to their emotions. If one is feeling like talking they just let themselves out to the other and that person helps them deal with it, whether it is by humour or just comforting them with loving words. In my opinion, this couple is probably very healthy and the most happy that I have seen. If a young couple were to get married they would tell them that there may be struggles in the relationship, but only with compassion and love they will overcome the obstacles in their way.
In a paragraph or two answer the following:
What does the Church teach about same-sex marriage and why?
The Church teaches us that same-sex marriage goes against their religion because it was in the beginning of time that God created a man and woman to join together to procreate. When two men or two women join together in marriage they are not only breaking tradition to procreate, they are breaking the tradition of man and women. Adam and Eve were the first man and women to be created and God created them to join together in holy matrimony. Through our lives growing up in a Catholic school, going to a Catholic Church they tell us of the union of man and women. That is how it will always be, but in some cases you cannot help how you feel for the same sexed person.
In 2-3 paragraphs, answer the following questions
What are your thoughts regarding the Pam Stenzel ‘Sex-Ed’ video? What did you learn from it? What was the best part of the message?
I thought that Pam Stenzel’s video was very well put together. The way she told us that sex before marriage is bad, but she is not telling you that you can’t do it. Like she said, we have a choice and in that, choice is what decides who we are. Pam’s message to other teens hit them hard because they are the ones that gave themselves to someone that didn’t love them and outside of marriage. I like how she told us that pregnancy wasn’t the only thing that girls should worry about (or guys). There are many other factors that people should be more worried about. My theory is that if people wait until marriage for sex, then there would most likely be a lower percentage of diseases in the world, like in the fifties and sixties.
What I learned from the video is that Chlamydia has no symptoms. So, if you get it then you can’t tell that you have it until you are pregnant and wondering why you can’t conceive a child. If everyone watched that video they would probably be just as shocked as I was. Even if someone has not had sexual intercourse but has some sort of genital contact, they should definitely get checked out, especially if they sleep around a lot. The best part of the message is when she told us that we have a choice to save our self for marriage.