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Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
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Marriage and Family


A family on Pilgrimage

A Message from the Editor

Thanks to Francis Etheredge for recommending that we feature an issue on Marriage and Family, his articles addressing this topic. and his family photo which highlights this issue.


There were several reports on the recent Rome conference on sexual abuse of minors. Some were positive. but many were critical such as A case study in how the Vatican’s abuse reform efforts have failed by Elise Ann Allen in Crux. No substantive changes can be effected unless there is an effective test to determine child and teen pedophilia. Thousand are leaving their parishes globally. Many churches are filing for bankruptcy. There are other challenges such as in New York, the Archdiocese lays off workers to pay for Catholic Church sex abuse scandal .


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A Quote to Remember


“Marriage is also an everyday task, I could say a craftsman’s task, a goldsmith’s work, because the husband has the duty of making the wife more of a woman and the wife has the duty of making the husband more of a man. Growing also in humanity, as man and woman. And this you do together. This is called growing together. This does not come out of thin air! The Lord blesses it but it comes from your hands, from your attitudes, from your way of loving each other.”

by Pope Francis


Prayers


Prayer for Marriage and Family


“Lord of the New Wine”

 

Out of the mystery of an unbegotten beginning, you

Turned inward and created outward, a sign of your being

And, from the beginning, you promised your faithful love

To a people, often unfaithful, enabling, eventually, that

You will be able to give yourself to your bride, the Church

“Who” lives out of love for you, her one bridegroom.

 

Lord, you did not consult me about myself, but gave me

To begin through relationship, my parents co-creating

With you who give personal existence, calling me into

Relationship with them and with you: both of whom lead

Me to begin to know who I am and what my life is about.

 

What is will out, while taking in what is about, you gave us

Life from within, unfolding it outwardly, through an inner,

Personal, genealogical history of being who I am and my

Wife being who she is, opening into the past and across the

Present, even as the light of the universe travels, day and night

To an end you can envisage even if, for most of us, it is clearly

Out of sight’s reach: a goal of gathering us wholly into Life.

 

And so we come to my wife and I whom you, Lord, spoke to

Make us one in the making of an insoluble ;ove open to life:

A life both individual and together, both born of a community

And called to be one: An event upon which to thread, as it

Were, our lifelong clinging to each other and to the word

Of beginning to be wed, as the dud and the gem, the joy and

The pain, along with the word which illuminates them and

Makes a history of salvation with us, as each other’s helper.

 

We celebrated the gift of yourself to your Church, as we

Married, taking between us your one gift to both of us:

Communion: A gift ever to help us to go beyond ourselves

In being more like you, the servant,

who calls us to be in the Service of life, whether in action or in word,

drawing on the Word from the wedding feast of

Cana: That even if our wine runs dry yours is ever an undaunted,

plentiful abundance!

 

A woman wed, smiling, beautiful in passing, bringing prayer,

a Red car, memories already of being a sweeping beauty, visiting,

But now bearing our children, ten in all, two of whom passed to

Your Father too soon to be known but not too soon to be noticed,

Named, and remembered,

if not by others certainly by my bride.

And I, a man, wed almost too old to be young, suffering the silent,

subtle strangulation of years of inexplicable weariness and then,

With the work of damp days in a laundry, lying in fitful sleeps

Until, striking with force, the clots cling and combine and block

And undermine the health of one that thought he was still young.

And seven more of the children you have given, each a gift, yet

So from us, and the life we go on living, loving, have come one,

And seven more of the children you have given, each a gift, yet

So different from ourselves, are yet identical: each no less an “I”

Than the other and all called out into life, sharing and helping en Route,

searching out as they go the meaning and purpose of life.

And so over the years, years long and short, the gift of marriage

Shows the wisdom of love to be about calling us out of affliction,

Loneliness, blighted as we were, yet each counterbalancing the Other,

with the practical and the spiritual weaving across our

Differences, creating a whole both textured and beyond our telling

Of living life to the full, as promised, one long past pilgrimage

Across the world ago, followed by many others, taking us out of

Ourselves, announcing the gifts of your faithful Love, ever calling Us to more:

to be vulnerable and, if possible, to help to heal hearts.

Catholic married layman, father of 11, 3 of whom are in heaven and an author.


Prayer for the Children in Gaza in Need of Medical Care


Good and Gracious God,

Jesus in the Gospel stories always relates to those in need whether a blind man, a woman hemorrhaging or a child who died. Jesus responded as always by reaching out to help. In recent days, UNICEF has highlighted the dire situation faced by children in Gaza who are in critical need of medical care. Lord, help us all to reach out and help those in need.


According to the organization’s spokesperson James Elder, out of the 2,500 children requiring urgent medical attention, less than one child per day is being evacuated from Gaza. The evacuations give them hope of healing. Our doctors reach out to help and give their time and talent for the medical emergencies. In a press briefing, Elder expressed serious concern over the slow pace of medical evacuations, stating that at the current pace, it would take over seven years to evacuate all the children in need of medical attention. May UNICEF and other agencies give their time and talent to this cause? The delay is worsening an already desperate situation, with hospitals in Gaza struggling to cope with the overwhelming number of patients and dwindling supplies. Please, reign down generosity on all who read this prayer. We ask you this in the Name of the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit.

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for Those Who were Affected by Spain's Floods


Lord, we find ourselves in grief over the death of so many. Be merciful to those who died. Console those who grieve.

Enable those in power to prepare in the future for such a catastrophe.

Help all of us to come to terms with the enormity of our loss.

This we ask through Christ our Lord

Amen

by Father John O'Brien, OFM Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer to Prevent Antisemitism


Lord God, through the covenant you established with the Jewish People, we Christians have been grafted into this covenantal tradition according to St. Paul.  But very often throughout history, we have shown ourselves ungrateful for this gift given us through Jesus who imbued in his teachings this Jewish covenantal tradition through acts of antisemitism.  We join with Popes St. John Paul II and Francis in confessing our sins of antisemitism past and present.  Through this prayer, we commit ourselves to the elimination of any remaining anti-Semitic teachings in the Catholic community and pledge to add our public voice in denouncing any manifestations of antisemitism in contemporary society. We ask your blessing so that we may have the strength to fulfill this pledge we make in your presence.

by John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for Those Who Have Suffered Abuse by the Clergy

 

God, in your providential love you comfort those who are wounded and afflicted. Hear our prayers for those who have suffered abuse by those in their families or by those entrusted with their care .In a special way, we pray for those who suffered abuse by clergy who betrayed a sacred trust and who were meant to stand for your loving presence in their lives. May those who have been hurt find support and encouragement in communities of faith, hope, and love. May they discover healing in genuinely loving and caring relationships. May they reclaim hope for themselves. May they be strengthened and confirmed in their resolve to set things aright. May they rest in you who make all things work for the good. Amen

 

by Father Louis Cameli Profiles in Catholicism.

 

A Prayer for Our Country After the Election


Help us, God, to unite our great country

In this contentious time.

Teach us to listen to one another,

To heal our divisions and restore hope.

The days that lie before us are ours to shape.

Let them be days of repair,

Days when we join together

To build a new future.

For some of us the results of this election were a deep blow,

For some of us they were a cause for great celebration.

Our charge today must be to work through our differences

And find common ground,

To listen and to speak with caring and empathy

As we wish others to listen and to speak to us.

Bless us God, with ears to hear,

Hearts to love,

And hands to reach across party lines,

So that we can ensure liberty and dignity for all.


Land of opportunity and dreams

We vow to protect our blessed democracy

And treasure the freedom that is our birthright.

We pledge our allegiance

To every soul in need

And every child praying for a better tomorrow.

Bless America, God,

With peace, prosperity, and with justice for all. Amen.

 

Marriage and Family Interviews



General Interviews



Marriage and Family New and Noteworthy



General Articles and Commentates



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Film Reviews and Commentaries



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Theater Reviews and Commentaries


  • Groomed Commentary by William Schmitt Our Sunday Visitor


Help Save Lives


Videos



The Principles of Catholic Marriage (Free, Total, Faithful, Fruitful)



What’s the importance of marriage?



Bishop Barron on Gay Marriage & the Breakdown of Moral Argument



ALETEIA EXPLAINS: Understanding the Sacrament of Marriage

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