“What other people think” isn’t what the Church means by scandal. But scandal exists and it is grave matter against the fifth commandment:All this "appearance of scandal’ business is pretty much out the window in a society where the vast majority of couples live together before marriage and society no longer bats an eye
No, that isn’t correct. Scandal is a sin against the fifth commandment and has nothing to do with the “image” of the Church.The whole “appearance of scandal” thing was concerned with the public image of the Church
Have you considered taking in the dog and having your fiance live elsewhere?I let my fiance move in because he was being forced out of his place and being a small business owner, couldn’t afford much of anything else, plus he has a dog and not too many places take his breed.
I don’t think it’s necessarily right whether you sleep with your partner or live like roommates prior to marriage.What if it is a room mate type situation; separate beds and NO relations of any kind what so ever, trust me that was a must.
I let my fiance move in because he was being forced out of his place and being a small business owner, couldn’t afford much of anything else, plus he has a dog and not too many places take his breed. I rationalize my decision saying that we’re engaged and planning a wedding soon.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513X15622236Consistent with diffusion theory and recent conceptual work on the deinstitutionalization of marriage, we found that the relationship between union type and relationship quality is now bifurcated with direct marrieds reporting the highest relationship quality and cohabitors without marriage plans reporting the lowest marital quality. In the middle were the two largest groups: marrieds who premaritally cohabited and cohabitors with plans to marry.
Talk to the priest who is going to marry you. From my experience with pre-marriage couples, it can depend on the priest concerned. What I am saying, you may get a different advice from different priests.What if it is a room mate type situation; separate beds and NO relations of any kind what so ever, trust me that was a must.
I let my fiance move in because he was being forced out of his place and being a small business owner, couldn’t afford much of anything else, plus he has a dog and not too many places take his breed. I rationalize my decision saying that we’re engaged and planning a wedding soon.
I don’t think it’s okay to sleep together before marriage, and last time I checked, I was included in “everybody.” I think it’s sinful. I also think it’s very wrong to live together before marriage, and I think a priest should be consulted.I don’t think you set a terrible example in this situation. In fact, if you tell everybody the truth, you will actually set a good example, because everybody assumes it’s okay to sleep together before marriage, and you’re making all sorts of efforts to show the better way. This involves putting yourself forward in conversations and essentially revealing private things for the benefit of others to learn a better way. It can’t be easy.
I know priests who have said the sterilization is okay and that masturbation is okay. Priests can make mistakes!I know of such a situation and the priest said it was okay.
About social situations, one will not get consistent answers from different priests, which can be expected. However, unfortunately we have priests who are also wrong on some basic situations, perhaps attributed to their seminary training and outloook.And I know a priest, and he was an otherwise very good, kind, and loving priest, who said abortion was okay in some instances. Priests are generally good counselors, but they are human and can make mistakes.