Religion Sacraments Chapter 7: Matrimony

The main sins against chastity are __________________________________.

impure thoughts and desires, or actions with oneself or another.

What did Paul VI warn would be results of accepting artificial birth control?

Adultery would become more common, accompanied by a weakening of the family, and divorce . The general level of sexual morality would be lowered. There would be a dramatic increase in sexual promiscuity. Pre-marital sex would become widespread. Respect for the human person and especially of women would be diminished as the body would be viewed as an object of selfish enjoyment. Governments would impose artificial birth control on segments of the population. All these predicted bad effects occurred.

What is the conjugal act?

Also called the marital act, it is sexual intercourse between husband and wife.

How is an annulment different from a divorce?

An annulment is a declaration that no valid marriage ever took place. Divorce seeks to dissolve a valid marriage.

What is an annulment?

An annulment is a judgment by the Church that a valid marriage never occurred.

Why does the Church teach that artificial birth control is wrong?

Artificial birth control renders the conjugal act sterile. When artificial birth control is used, the couple, by a positive act of the will, intentionally removes the procreative meaning of the marital act, thereby corrupting its meaning. By intentionally withholding the complete gift of one's entire being and by refusing to accept the gift of the other in his or her totality as a human person, the couple distorts both the unitive and procreative meanings for which the marital act was intended.

How is the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony similar to the Sacrament of Holy Orders?

Both are Sacraments of Service, both entail a specific vocation, and both require preparation.

What is the effect of denying the meaning of the conjugal act?

Denying either the unitive or procreative meanings of sexual intercourse is gravely sinful. Artificial birth control denies the procreative meaning of the conjugal act, is gravely sinful, and opens the way for a variety of other evils.

Why do all dioceses have marriage preparation programs?

Dioceses have marriage preparation programs so that couples will understand the responsibilities they are undertaking. A second reason is to provide time so that each can see whether the person he is engaged to is really the one he wants to give himself to for the rest of his life.

What is the domestic church?

Each Christian family is a domestic church, a place in which the spouses and their children receive grace and develop their spiritual lives.

What is the supernatural effect of the conjugal act?

Each time the spouses express their love in the conjugal act, they renew their marital covenant and receive graces from God to love each other and God more.

Why is the age requirement important?

Extension: People are able to have children long before they are old enough to be responsible for caring for them.

What is NFP?

For serious reasons, spouses may morally practice periodic abstinence (NFP) to avoid conception.

What is the general attitude toward children that God expects from Christian spouses?

Generosity.

What are some situations that invalidate a marriage?

If one of the partners was forced into the union; if one of the partners never intended to have children; if one of the partners was suffering from an unrecognized mental illness that made consent impossible

How is the Sacrament of Matrimony an example of limitless love?

In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the spouses give themselves completely, body and soul, in unending fidelity.

What is a vocation?

It is God's call to an individual about what he wants him to do with his life.

Why is the Christian home called the domestic church?

It is a community of grace and prayer, and a school of human virtues and Christian charity for the children.

What is Holy Matrimony?

It is a life-long covenant, created by God, which joins a man and woman.

What is a vow?

It is a solemn promise made to God in the presence of witnesses.

Why is the marital act eminently human?

It is an act of human persons that incorporates the mind, the will and the body.

How serious is the sin of separating the unitive and procreative meanings of the conjugal act?

It is gravely serious.

What is Humanae vitae?

It is the 1968 encyclical of Pope Paul VI that reaffirmed the Church's constant teaching on artificial birth control.

What is the vocation to marriage?

It is the call to make a complete gift of self to one's spouse and to one's children.

What is the unitive aspect of the conjugal act?

It is the complete and exclusive love between the spouses that unites them body and soul.

What is the annulment process?

It is the investigation by the Church about whether a valid marriage took place.

What is disparity of cult?

It is the marriage of a Catholic and a non-baptized person.

What is the goal of every marriage, whether natural and sacramental?

It is the total gift of self to the other spouse.

What is the form of the Sacrament of Matrimony?

It is the vows the spouses exchange publicly and the consummation of their marriage.

What is CCC 1665 about?

It is what the Church teaches in regard to validly married Catholic spouses who have divorced and remarried outside the Church.

What does ratification mean?

It means the couple's vows must be made in the presence of an ordained minister of the Church (deacon, priest, or bishop) and two other witnesses.

What does conjugal mean?

It means to join together.

What is marital love?

Marital love is the expression of the exclusive, life-long covenant between a man and woman, willed by God, which involves the whole person, body and soul, and which is ordered to the procreation and education of children. It is one of the most powerful expressions of divine and human love on earth.

What kind of preparation should a couple have before marriage?

Marriage requires preparation to understand one's responsibilities.

How is a ratified and consummated married dissolved?

Only by the death of one of the spouses.

What are the three traditional vocations the Church has recognized?

Priesthood and the Religious (or consecrated) Life, Marriage, and the celibate (or single) life.

Why is it appropriate that a person suffering from a serious mental illness not be able to marry?

Such a person would not understand the rights and duties of marriage that he or she is obliging himself or herself to.

What are the requirements for a dispensation to allow a Catholic to marry in a mixed marriage or in a marriage of disparity of cult?

The Catholic party declares he will do everything in his power to remove the dangers of his falling away from the faith and to raise his children in the Church. The other party is to be informed of these promises and both parties are to be educated about the essential ends and properties of marriages, which neither party can disregard. Finally, the marriage should take place in the Catholic Church.

What are some of the reasonable requirements for a valid Sacramental marriage?

The Church has stipulated requirements for a valid marriage, which include free consent, proper rites, and lack of impediments.

What is the connection between Jesus' restoration of marriage and the institution of the Sacrament of Matrimony?

The Sacrament gives a married couple the grace, or supernatural help, they need to live the way God intended marriage to be in the beginning.

What is the second Sacrament of Service?

The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

What vocation does every person have?

The call to holiness.

In what sense is God's plan for each marriage a mystery?

The circumstances and events of each marriage are different and in some ways incomprehensible to us.

What is the conjugal act and its two purposes?

The conjugal act is the highest expression of marital love, and it has two intrinsic and inseparable purposes: the unitive and the procreative. The unitive purpose is the one-flesh expression of love between husband and wife. The procreative purpose is the generation of new life and its education.

What is the domestic church?

The family is a domestic church in which children learn to live their Catholic faith.

What is the relationship between the marital bond and the marital act?

The marital bond is not complete until the marriage has been consummated, that is, until the couple performs the conjugal act. Extension: A marriage that is not consummated can be annulled for that very reason.

What is a mixed marriage?

The marriage of a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic Christian.

What are some of the everyday situations in married life that spouses are called to sanctify?

The marriage union, the care and education of children, the effort to provide for the needs of the family and its security and development, the relationships with other persons who make up the community the family finds itself in.

What is the matter of the Sacrament of Matrimony?

The matter is the words the spouses exchange expressing their commitment and their bodies given to each other in the consummation of their commitment in the conjugal act.

What is the matter, form, and minister of Holy Matrimony?

The matter of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is the spouses themselves. The form is the public vows the spouses make and the ratification of those vows when the spouses consummate the marriage act. The minister is the spouses themselves who mutually confer the Sacrament on each other.

According to CCC 1661, what is the model of how Christian married couples should love one another?

The model for how Christian married couples should love one another is the love that Christ had for the Church. The Sacrament of Matrimony gives the couple the grace to love this way.

What are some serious reasons that spouses might have to postpone having children?

The physical or psychological condition of either spouse, the particular needs of the family and existing children, and the family's financial situation.

What happens in the situations in which a validly married Catholic divorces and remarries?

The remarriage of a spouse who is already validly married is a serious sin. Some spouses are called to heroic sacrifice in difficult situations. In some instances, separation or even legal divorce may be appropriate.

Who is the minister of the Sacrament of Matrimony?

The spouses are: they administer the Sacrament to each other.

What change came over Adam and Eve as a result of their disobedience toward God?

The unity between each other and their union with God became disrupted, and rather than loving in a selfless, self-giving way, their love became selfish, seeking the fulfillment of their own desires.

What is the special calling that God gives to most individuals?

The vocation of Marriage.

What are the sins against marriage?

There are many sins that violate the unitive or procreative purposes of marriage.

What can spouses do if, for serious reasons, they believe they should not have a child at this time?

They can practice Natural Family Planning.

What are the obligations and prohibitions for a person who has entered a second marriage while still validly married to their first spouse?

They may not receive the Sacraments, except Reconciliation. They still have the obligation to educate their children in the Faith. To be able to return to receiving the Eucharist, they must commit to a life of complete continence (live as brother and sister), not give scandal and go to Confession.

What do the sacramental graces of Matrimony contribute toward this goal?

They provide the strength to make the gift of self possible.

If the Church declares that no valid sacramental marriage ever took place, can the parties get married to another person?

Yes.

What does the Church teach about every conjugal act?

Every conjugal act must be open to new life.

What is the best environment for a child to be born into?

Extension: A marriage in which husband and wife love each other completely and resolutely carry out their responsibilities toward the child which, with God's help, they have brought into the world.

Why is the possibility of taking on the duty of educating children inherent in every act of sexual intercourse?

Extension: Any act of sexual intercourse could result in the procreation of a child and human children require a long and careful upbringing or else the child will go badly astray.

Why is it important for each spouse to be free from coercion when they marry?

Extension: Every covenant must be freely entered into for it to be valid. God wants our free cooperation with him.

What are some unfortunate situations in which a separation or even civil divorce might be appropriate?

Situations involving physical abuse, alcoholism, psychological problems, or unfaithfulness.

What should spouses in difficult marriages do?

They should seek all the human and supernatural help available to work through their difficulties.

How many parties are there in every marriage?

Three: a man, a woman, and God.

What does Christ say about marriage and divorce in Matthew 19:8?

According to God's original plan, divorce was not allowed. Moses permitted it because of man's hardness of heart.

Why is it good to receive Confirmation, Reconciliation, and the Eucharist in preparing for marriage?

All three Sacraments give graces to the persons preparing from Matrimony. Confirmation gives one the graces of Christian maturity and Reconciliation takes away sins that might weigh one down.

What are some of the effects of Original Sin on marriage?

Disordered passions and desires, selfishness and self-absorption, and adultery, which resulted in the tolerated practice of divorce.

What is God, according to St. John's Gospel?

God is love

What does Christ declare about divorce in Mark 10:6-9?

God joins together husband and wife. What God has joined, man should not separate.

Why is grace needed in marriage?

Grace is needed to overcome the effects of Original Sin, which can make marriage fall into discord, jealousy, and disunion.

How does God involve the married couple in his own creative work?

Husband and wife are co-creators, with God, of a new human being.

How does adultery violate the unitive aspect of marriage?

It is fraudulent because it expresses a physical and spiritual unity that does not exist. It also violates the sacred bond of marriage which (at least) one of the adulterers has with another person.

How does premarital sex (fornication) violate the unitive aspect of marriage?

It is fraudulent because the couple have not completely given themselves to the other by uniting in a love-long covenant.

How is the vocation to marriage a call to holiness?

Marriage is a vocation from God to pursue holiness through life with one's spouse and children.

What is Natural Family Planning (NFP)?

NFP includes several methods in which the wife's fertile times can be very accurately predicted. The couple abstains from the conjugal act during the fertile times and may have recourse to the conjugal act during the wife's infertile times.

Does the nature of marital love demand that every marital act have conception as its primary or explicit intention?

No. Extension: The spouses do not have to "think" about conception occurring. They must simply engage in the marital act according to its nature, that is, as a gift of self that is open to procreation.

Does either a separation or legal divorce mean the spouses are no longer validly married in the eyes of God?

No. They are still married.

What is the connection between the Eucharist and Matrimony?

The Sacrament of Matrimony is most fittingly celebrated within the context of Holy Mass because the Mass is the perfect expression of God's love, a love which the spouses are called to live toward each other and the children God may bless them with.

What are the two aspects of the marital act in marriage?

The unitive and procreative.

Why does the Code of Canon Law detail conditions for getting married?

To ensure the validity of the Sacrament and the good of those seeking marriage.

What is God's greatest wish?

To give himself entirely to us and for us to give ourselves entirely to him, in love.

What are―or should be―the most fundamental goals of a Christian married couple?

To help each other get to Heaven and to raise their children in such a way that they join them there someday.

The main sins against marriage are _______________________________________.

divorce, adultery, artificial birth control, artificial insemination, and in vitro fertilization.

Persons with homosexual inclinations deserve our ___________________________. Same-sex attraction is ________________________________.

respect, compassion, and sensitivity; objectively disordered but not in itself morally culpable, while homosexual acts are.

What did Jesus Christ do for marriage?

• In prohibiting divorce, Jesus Christ restored to marriage the indissolubility God willed for it from the beginning. • In raising marriage to a Sacrament, he provided the graces a baptized couple needs to achieve the ends of marriage in total, self-giving love.