The Church in the 21st Century Center

Fall 2007: A Marriage Proposal

c21 resources

Catholic perspectives on marriage

 

 

For couples entering, sustaining, or struggling in marriage

The following titles are accessible readings for couples, to foster conversation about how to view marriage through the lens of Catholic faith.  This list is meant to be representative, not exhaustive.

 

  1. Bosco, Antoinette.  Growing in Faith when a Catholic Marriage Fails.  Resurrection Press, 2006.
  2. Foley, Gerard.  Courage to Love…When Your Marriage Hurts.  Ave Maria Press, 1992.
  3. Gaillardetz, Richard R. A Daring Promise: A Spirituality of Christian Marriage. New York: Crossroad, revised edition, 2007.
  4. Hahn, Scott, and Regis J. Flaherty.  Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life.  Emmaus Road Publishing, 2007.
  5. Johnston, Catherine, Daniel Kendall, SJ, and Rebecca Nappi.  101 Questions and Answers on Catholic Married Life.  Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2004.
  6. Nappi, Rebecca, and Daniel Kendall, SJ.  101 Questions and Answers on Catholic Marriage Preparation.  Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2005.
  7. Popcack, Gregory.  For Better…Forever!:  A Catholic Guide to Lifelong Marriage.  Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 1999.
  8. Robinson, Geoffrey.  Marriage, Divorce, and Nullity: A Guide to the Annullment Process in the Catholic Church.  Collegeville: Liturgical Press, revised edition 2000.
  9. Two Churches, One Marriage website, hosted by Dr. Lee Williams of the University of San Diego
  10. Retrouvaille, a program to help couples heal and renew their marriages.
  11. West, Christopher.  Good News about Sex and Marriage: Answers to Your Honest Questions About Catholic Teaching.  Servant Publications, Revised edition 2004.
  12. Yzaguirre, John, and Claire Frazier-Yzaguirre.  Thriving Marriages: An Inspirational and Practical Guide to Lasting Happiness.  New City Press, 2004.

 

 

Magisterial teachings

 

The Holy See

1.      Pius XI, Casti Connubii (“Chaste Wedlock”), 1930.  Written the year after the Anglican communion’s Lambeth conference which indicated that the question of birth control ought to be decided by married couples themselves, Pius XI issued this encyclical reaffirming that God is the author of marriage and of its laws.

2.      Fathers of Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes (“Joys and Hopes,” better known as the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 1965.  This, the second of the two constitutions on the Church that emerged from the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), deals with the Church’s relationship to the modern world.  There is an extended treatment of marriage in sections 47 to 52.

3.      Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (“On Human Life”), 1968.  The encyclical reaffirms the basic positions of Casti Connubii on artificial birth control.  The controversy over the document was due in part to the fact that Paul VI convened a panel of experts in marriage, including married people, whose recommendations Paul rejected.  The response to the encyclical in the United States had to do with questions of both sexual morality and authority in the Church.  The divide over the issue continues to this day.  See below for theological treatments of the topic of birth control.

4.      John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (“The community of the family,” 1981).  The late pope’s apostolic exhortation on the family, which has influenced a good deal of pastoral initiatives toward marriage and family life in recent decades.

5.      John Paul II, Gratissimam Sane (“Letter to Families,” 1994), written in celebration of the Year of the Family.

6.      The Code of Canon Law.  There are more canons on marriage than on any other single subject in the Code.  The 1983 version updates the 1919 Code in small but significant ways.  For example the opening canon (1055) describes marriage as being ordered toward “the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.”  This language is a softening of the earlier description of marriage (following St. Augustine) as having the “ends” of offspring and faithfulness of spouses, which suggested that all real marriages were for the sake of offspring.  The more recent language reflects the growing influence of personalist philosophy on the magisterial theological framework, particularly that of Pope John Paul II.

7.      The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992).  The structure of the Catechism is similar to that of the Code of Canon Law, both having been revised under the pontificate of John Paul II.  The focus in the catechism is not on a theology or spirituality of married life, but rather on the question of how matrimony is a sacrament and contributes to the life of the Church community.  This approach reflects the ways that Church doctrine on marriage developed over the first millennium; it was not included as a sacrament until the 13th century.

8.      Pontifical Council for the Family, Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage (1996).

9.      Pontifical Council for the Family, The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality: Guidelines for Education Within the Family (1995).

10.  Pontifical Council for the Family, Family, Marriage and ‘de facto' Unions (2000).

 

Bishops’ conferences

  1. U.S. Bishops’ statements on marriage, 1980-2005.  The Secretariat for Family, Women, Laity, and Youth of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference has compiled an excellent annotated list.  The site also links to the Bishops’ committee on marriage, with information on the process leading to the pastoral letter to be released in 2008-9.
  2. Canadian Bishops conference statements on marriage (2003-2006), written in response to debates around same-sex marriage.
  3. Bishops of England and Wales, statements on marriage and family.  Includes three documents issued by the Bishops, as well as links to further resources from the Holy See.
  4. Australian Catholic Bishops, Marriage in the Catholic Church (2006).  An accessible pastoral resource using question-and-answer format directed toward young people considering marriage in the Church.

 

 

Pastoral ministry toward marriage

 

  1. The National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers, the professional organization of those who direct marriage ministry programs in the United States.
  2. www.foryourmarriage.org is the U.S. Bishops’ site directed toward married people, launched in Fall, 2007.  Its aim is pastoral and ecumenical, with specific parts of the site dedicated to exploring the Catholic perspective on marriage.
  3. Home is a Holy Place, a pastoral initiative of the Bishops of England and Wales.
  4. The Hong Kong Catholic Marriage Advisory Council, an ecumenical pastoral website, with services in marriage preparation, marriage counseling, sex therapy, and others.
  5. Worldwide Marriage Encounter, which offers retreat experiences for married people around the world.
  6. Catholic Engaged Encounter, based on the marriage encounter model, developed as a marriage preparation program and is available around the world.

 

 

Studies of marriage online

 

  1. The International Academy of Marital Spirituality, hosted at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), has a journal and is a forum for the exploration of marriage in the Christian tradition.
  2. The National Marriage Project is hosted at Rutgers University, and is a clearinghouse for many of the best current studies on marriage patterns in the United States.
  3. The Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education has a website called smartmarriages.com, and aims to provide opportunities for education about marriage in the U.S.
  4. The Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values is a think tank based in New York which publishes studies about marriage and family in the U.S.
  5. The Creighton University Center for Marriage and Family undertakes research to benefit parishes and other groups.

 

 

Theological perspectives on marriage

The following texts are for academic study of Catholic perspectives on marriage

 

1.     Bourg, Florence Caffrey.  Where Two or Three are Gathered: Christian Families as Domestic Churches.  University of Notre Dame Press, 2004.

2.      Cahill, Lisa.  “Sexual Ethics, Marriage, and Divorce.” Theological Studies 47 (March 1986), pp. 102-117.

3.      Cahill, Lisa, and John Garvey and T. Frank Kennedy, S.J., eds.  Sexuality and the U.S. Catholic Church: Crisis and Renewal.  The Church in the 21st Century Center series.  New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2006.

4.      Collins, Raymond F. Sexual Ethics and the New Testament: Behavior and Belief. New York: Crossroad, 2000.

5.      Deming, Will.  Paul on Marriage and Celibacy: The Hellenistic Background of 1 Corinthians 7.  Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

6.      Evdokimov, Paul.  The Sacrament of Love.  Translated by Anthony P. Gythiel and Victoria Steadman.  Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985.

7.      Himes, Michael J.  “The Intrinsic Sacramentality of Marriage: The Theological Ground for the Inseparability of Validity and Sacramentality in Marriage.”  The Jurist, volume L, 1990, pp. 198-219.

8.      Jeffery, Peter.  The Mystery of Christian Marriage.  Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2006.

9.      Kasper, Walter.  Theology of Christian Marriage.  New York: The Seabury Press, 1980.

10.  Kippley, John F.  Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality.  Cincinnati: Couple to Couple League International, 1991.

11.  Lawler, Michael G.  “Faith, Contract, and Sacrament in Christian Marriage: A Theological Approach”.  Theological Studies 52 (December 1991), pp. 712-731.

12.  -----. Marriage and the Catholic Church: Disputed Questions. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002.

13.  -----.  Marriage and Sacrament.  Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993.

14.  -----.  Secular Marriage, Christian Sacrament. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1990.

15.  Mackin, Theodore, S.J.  What Is Marriage?  New York/Ramsey: Paulist Press, 1982.

16.  -----.  Divorce and Remarriage.  New York/Ramsey: Paulist Press, 1984.

17.  -----.  The Marital Sacrament.  New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1989.

18.  McCarthy, David Matzko. Sex and Love in the Home: A Theology of the Household. London : SCM Press, 2002.

19.  Meyendorff, John.  Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective.  Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984.

20.  Odozor, Paulinus Ikechukwu, ed.  Sexuality, Marriage, and Family: Readings in the Catholic Tradition.  Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, c2001.

21.  Rahner, Karl.  “Marriage as a Sacrament.” Theological Investigations X, translated by David Bourke.  New York: The Seabury Press, 1977, pp. 199-221.

22.  Roberts, William P.  Marriage: It’s a God Thing.  Cincinnati: Saint Anthony Messenger Press, 2007.

23.  Rubio, Julie Hanlon.  A Christian Theology of Marriage and Family.  Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2003.

24.  Salzman, Todd A., Thomas M. Kelly, and John J. O’Keefe.  Marriage in the Catholic Tradition.  New York: Crossroad, 2004.

25.  Schillebeeckx, Edward, O.P.  Marriage: Human Reality and Saving Mystery.  Translated by N.D. Smith.  New York: Sheed and Ward, 1965.

26.  Silbermann, Eileen Zieget.  The Savage Sacrament: A Theology of Marriage after American Feminism.  Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1983.

27.  Thomas, David.  Christian Marriage: The New Challenge.  Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2007.

28.  Vanier, Jean.  Man and Woman He Made Them.  Mahwah and New York: Paulist Press, 1985.

29.  von Hildebrand, Dietrich.  Marriage: The Mystery of Faithful Love.  Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 1997.