Why Not Use Covenant Marriage?

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I don’t understand the question.

Civil law on marriage is not relevant to the sacramental theology of marriage.
 
Archbishop Chaput has raised the idea of The Church ceasing to be an instrument of The State when it comes to marriage. Thus, The Church would perform the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony entirely independent of the civil contracts. This is appropriate since the civil requirements impose requirements antithetical to Church Teaching.

If the couple wished to have some kind of civil contract they could then go to city hall and fill out whatever legal paperwork that The State deems appropriate.
 
This is how the Church marries in most of the world. Legal is a secondary concern.
 
Ignatius said:
Archbishop Chaput has raised the idea of The Church ceasing to be an instrument of The State when it comes to marriage. Thus, The Church would perform the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony entirely independent of the civil contracts. This is appropriate since the civil requirements impose requirements antithetical to Church Teaching.

If the couple wished to have some kind of civil contract they could then go to city hall and fill out whatever legal paperwork that The State deems appropriate.
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Which state requirements for marriage are antithetical to Church teaching? Being 18, having some form of ID, presenting a social security number, a blood test, a waiting period, not being legally married to another party, etc.?

Not seeing the problem.
 
Ignatius said:
Then you are not paying attention. Take a look at the Superior Court Dockets for the last few years.
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Care to expand?

What requirements for civil marriage does the state impose that are inappropriate?
 
Xantippe said:
Which state requirements for marriage are antithetical to Church teaching? Being 18, having some form of ID, presenting a social security number, a blood test, a waiting period, not being legally married to another party, etc.?

Not seeing the problem.
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I don’t think that there is a problem now but I can see down the road that there may be. I hope that I am wrong but due to possible law suits stating discrimination because the Church will not officiate at same sex marriage the Church will be denied the right to officiate for any civil marriage.

At that time it will make sense for there to be a civil “marriage” at a court house and then for those who wish to be married in the Church a separate ceremony.

I am of two minds about this. I really don’t know if it will be a good thing or not.
 
Xantippe said:
Right.

It’s normal in much of the world to have dual ceremonies–church and civil.
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Isn’t that how we do it in the U.S.? Maybe not. I have no idea.

We went to the county courthouse, got from a clerk a paper that stated we were clear to get married, got married in church, the priest did his paperwork, and we got a marriage license from the state.

If worse comes to worst, people will have to spend an extra five minutes at the courthouse while the clerk says, "You two want to get married? You both sober? Raise your right hand and repeat after me, “I, your name, hereby marry, their name. O.k., you’re married. Sign here and here.”

Then you get on with your happily ever after: Go to the church and get married, or go to Vegas and do it up proper, or go back to work before the boss realizes you took too long at lunch.
 
I looked at the Wikipedia stuff on Covenant Marriage and the following thoughts come to mind:
  1. US Catholics already do marriage prep and usually have a 6-month “cooling off” period, so a Catholic wedding in the US already has some of the stuff that a Covenant Marriage has. In fact, on the premarital end, I think that a standard US Catholic marriage is already at least as good as a Covenant Marriage.
  2. Only a handful of states offer Covenant Marriage and apparently only 1% of couples go for the Covenant Marriage option there.
So, not really seeing the advantages.
 
on_the_hill said:
Isn’t that how we do it in the U.S.? Maybe not. I have no idea.
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US Catholics don’t normally do dual civil and religious ceremonies–we just use civil paperwork for Catholic weddings.

(Of course, a fair amount of US CAFers have probably done both a civil and a religious wedding, but it’s not the preferred route.)
 
Xantippe said:
I looked at the Wikipedia stuff on Covenant Marriage and the following thoughts come to mind:
  1. US Catholics already do marriage prep and usually have a 6-month “cooling off” period, so a Catholic wedding in the US already has some of the stuff that a Covenant Marriage has. In fact, on the premarital end, I think that a standard US Catholic marriage is already at least as good as a Covenant Marriage.
  2. Only a handful of states offer Covenant Marriage and apparently only 1% of couples go for the Covenant Marriage option there.
So, not really seeing the advantages.
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  1. The difficulty getting divorced with Covenant marriages is closer to the churches ideal it would seem to me.
  2. If more people got Covenant marriage then perhaps the divorce rate would drop some, and at least we would have more contrast with common law and marriages with little commitment and longevity to them.
If the church wants to promote an ideal form of marriage, why not suggest covenant marriage to couples getting married instead of practically disposable marriage licenses that we currently have?
  1. Also it would allow the church to adapt to the oncoming universal homosexual SSM marriages by having a form of marriage distinct from what most pop culture people would bother to imitate.
Win, win, win it looks like to me.
 
RGCheek said:
  1. The difficulty getting divorced with Covenant marriages is closer to the churches ideal it would seem to me.
**Can’t people just go to a different state with different laws and get divorced there?

Even when US divorce law was much stricter, people with means would go to Nevada for quickie divorces.

people.howstuffworks.com/question741.htm**
  1. If more people got Covenant marriage then perhaps the divorce rate would drop some, and at least we would have more contrast with common law and marriages with little commitment and longevity to them.
**For practicing Catholics, divorce is already plenty unattractive.

A practicing Catholic that divorces (unless there are very clear grounds for annulment) has to face the possibility of never marrying again. **

If the church wants to promote an ideal form of marriage, why not suggest covenant marriage to couples getting married instead of practically disposable marriage licenses that we currently have?
  1. Also it would allow the church to adapt to the oncoming universal homosexual SSM marriages by having a form of marriage distinct from what most pop culture people would bother to imitate.
Win, win, win it looks like to me.
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Catholic marriages are already quite distinct from standard US marriages, which is reflected in the substantially lower Catholic divorce rate.

ncregister.com/daily-news/catholics-continue-to-have-lowest-divorce-rates/
 
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