Two obscure synod topics: Marriage prep, forced unions

[gilliam]

ROME — On the eve of the Synod of Bishops on the family, battle lines have been drawn on hot-button issues such as divorced and remarried Catholics and annulments. Yet little is being said about two reasons that often cause a marriage to fail in the first place: lack of preparation, and forced marriages.

cruxnow.com/church/2014/10/03/two-little-discussed-synod-topics-marriage-prep-and-forced-unions/

 

[Arrowood]

The press only cares about a couple hot-button topics, but the synod is a different story.

If you read Instrumentum Laboris, you’ll actually see that lack of marriage preparation is a huge topic.

I don’t know about forced marriages - I’ll have to re-read the document with an eye out for it.

Instrumentum Laboris is one of the primary documents driving the synod.

 

[JimG]

Preparation for marriage may indeed be a difficult issue. The problem is that in the current secularized culture, couples presenting themselves for marriage, even Catholic couples otherwise well versed in their religion, may have a nearly impenetrable culture-induced incapacity to see marriage as the church sees it: a permanent lifelong unbreakable bond, marked by absolute fidelity and openness to life, a sacrificial vocation ordered to the good of the spouses and the generation of families.

 

[fencersmother]

A much more important topic facing the world is polygamy (though could come under the context of forced marriage). I think the divorce/remarriage issue is most important in the West, particularly the US, where marriage has been endangered for several decades.