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Men and women clearly need each other and naturally gravitate towards arrangements of mutual support and lives of shared intimacy.
Because women are frequently the immediate guardians of the next generation, they have a particular need to ascertain if there will be steady support from a man prior to giving themselves sexually to him. The bond of marriage is ordered towards securing this critical element of ongoing commitment and support.
In recent years, I have written about the struggles of the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide the kind of health coverage that respects their faith and moral values.
I’ve also written about a car dealership in Minnesota that did not want to provide abortion-inducing drugs to its employees. “It has long been my conviction to run my business according to the teachings of my faith,” said Doug Erickson of Hastings Chevrolet.
These are just two instances where religious freedom has been imperiled.
One way to protect religious freedom is for President Donald Trump to sign an executive order promoting religious freedom.
STOUGHTON — Worldwide Marriage Encounter is hosting a square dance on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 6:30 in the St. Ann School gym, 323 N. Van Buren.
There will be a potluck dinner (no nuts/peanuts) and drinks followed by two hours of guided square dancing by an official square dance caller.
MADISON — Married couples, the Diocese of Madison needs your help.
If you want to share the blessings of your marriage or are looking for a way to help strengthen the marriages of couples just starting out, think about and pray about joining the Diocese of Madison Marriage Preparation Team.
Dear Friends,
If you weren’t certain before, after this current election season, I hope you’ve now come to understand and believe that we are not in heaven!
I love the United States of America. I truly believe that our Founding Fathers had it right in so many ways, and that we have enjoyed a country that has provided — albeit still imperfectly — levels of freedom and opportunity for more people than any other in history. Nevertheless, I never made the mistake of thinking that this was heaven, or that some perfect candidate or party was ever going to usher in God’s Kingdom here on earth.
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| Veronica Arntz |
Part three of a four-part series
Having established a clear understanding of the Church’s teaching on marriage and family, let us now turn to the situation of the divorced and remarried.
St. John Paul II recognized the difficult situations that arise from divorce: “Loneliness and other difficulties are often the lot of separated spouses, especially when they are innocent parties” (Familiaris Consortio, 83).
Yet, both St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, 29) affirm that those who have been divorced and remarried without receiving a declaration of nullity cannot receive Communion.
MADISON — John Joy recently started in the position of marriage and family coordinator in the Diocese of Madison’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.
Joy comes to Madison from northwestern Indiana where he had been teaching ethics at a high school.
Prior to that, he studied graduate level theology at the International Theological Institute in Austria for five years.
“What a joy it is to be here with such fine witnesses of fidelity,” said Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison.
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| Veronica Arntz |
Marriage and family are clearly under attack in many forms in our secular society.
Thus, as Catholics, we must clearly understand the Church’s teaching on marriage and family.
Yet, even in the Church, there is disagreement surrounding marriage and family (including how to help the divorced and remarried), especially since the publication of Pope Francis’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.
MADISON — “Natural Family Planning: Love, Mercy, Life, Opening the Heart of Marriage” is the theme of this year’s Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, a national educational campaign of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to celebrate God’s vision for marriage and promote the methods of Natural Family Planning.
Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an umbrella term for the safe, natural, and effective methods of both achieving and avoiding pregnancy. NFP methods teach couples how to observe and interpret the woman’s signs of fertility and infertility.
