The Catholic Church’s view of marriage
July 31, 2012 by Ronald Ayers
The Catholic Church views marriage as not merely a necessary union in order to create more humans, but in fact as a holy covenant between a man and a woman which mirrors the relationship of Christ and His Church.
The Catholic Church’s views marriage as permanent and only between a man and a woman, and divorce as an abomination.
The importance of the teaching & Scriptural support
Many people do not view marriage as essential or even important; it is viewed as a means to avoid sexual sin and provide for the procreation of the species, but is not actually thought to be a means by which a person can be made holy. Of course, this is not the case – the sacrament of matrimony is a source of grace and is the natural state for mankind. In the early chapters of Genesis (before the Fall) marriage is present as the right and correct state for men and women. Finally, the closing passages of the Bible in the book of Revelation speak of the marriage of Christ and the Church. Marriage is not only a source of emotional strength, but a conduit for grace and a mirror of Christ’s relationship with His Church (Ephesians 5:22-32)
The Church teaches that a man and a woman who are married are “one flesh” following Matthew 19:5-6. This is connected with Genesis 1:27 and 2:21-24 which is the prototype of marriage. These passages should be enough to show that marriage is very important indeed and is not merely an afterthought or anything of the sort.
Marriage as only between one man and one woman
In the modern world there are many notions of sex outside marriage, marriage between people of the same gender, open marriages, sexual relationships between three or more people and various other perversions of God‘s clear commandment.
Open to the transmission of new life
Similarly, a number of people maintain that they are “all for traditional marriage” but engage in the use of contraception. This is in defiance of God’s clear commands – not only is contraception opposed to the moral law but the use of contraception has knock-on effects on the rest of morality.
Marriage as a spiritually good thing
In addition to simply being the way God wants people to have children and the only way to have a sexual relationship which is not a sin, marriage and childbearing is a spiritually good thing. In Hebrews 13:4 it is made clear that marriage is to be honored by everyone – this book of the Bible is concerned with spiritual things, and so it is entirely reasonable to assume that marriage should be considered as a spiritual good. In addition, in I Timothy 2:11-15 it says that woman are saved by bearing children – this does not mean that only mothers can enter Heaven, but it means that faithfully bearing and raising children is a source of grace. In addition, it is obvious that educating children correctly and bringing them up to be a faithful Christians is a good thing. Only a family can do this effectively – further demonstrating that marriage is a good thing.
Divorce and remarriage
A number of people today consider that divorce is acceptable to God. This is clearly not the case. When speaking of marriage and divorce in Mark 10:2-12 Jesus makes it clear that man and wife are put together by God and that man should not seek to divide that. This shows that not only is marriage ordained by God but that divorce is condemned by Him. This passage is a very clear example of the teaching concerning the permanence of marriage – but it is not the only one.
Folio 31r – David Foresees the Mystic Marriage of Christ and the Church (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Malachi 2:14-16 makes it clear that God hates divorce. Matthew 5:32-33, 19:4-9, Mark 10:11-12 and Luke 16:18 make is clear that divorce and remarriage is adultery. Romans 7:2-3 and I Corinthians 7:10-11 also contain clear teaching about divorce. How anyone can argue – based on these verses which equate divorce and remarriage with adultery – that God is somehow “okay” is a mystery to the Catholic Church. Many of those who hold these views, however, have simply not read these verses – merely presenting the verses to them is often enough to prove the Catholic viewpoint.
Annulments
A number of non-Catholics (and even Catholics) are of the opinion that the Catholic Church is hypocritical, condemning divorce but allowing annulments (a similar view exists among some people concerning contraception and NFP). This is based on the faulty understanding that an annulment is a Catholic divorce and breaks the marriage bond.
In the first place, the word annulment is misleading and slightly inaccurate – the correct term is a “decree of nullity”. The word annulment implies that the Church makes a choice and decision to actively annul (i.e. make void) the marriage – this is not what happens. A decree of nullity is a declaration – not that the marriage is now void – but that there never was a marriage in the first place.
The process of obtaining a decree of nullity is designed to test and see if the marriage was correctly celebrated and entered into – if it was not, then no marriage existed in the first place. The tribunal seeks to determine if there are any defects in the sacrament – were the people who entered into the marriage entering into it with full consent and knowledge of what marriage entailed? Did they hold the Catholic view of marriage? Were they psychologically capable of making the vows? Was there any deceit in the marriage, or were there things such as pre-nuptial agreements which pointed towards an acceptance of divorce? Were the two people actually able to marry (or were they already married?)
As can be imagined there are many things which can happen which would make a marriage void – that is, prevent there from being a marriage in the first place. Marriages never “become void” but it can be discovered that what people thought was a marriage was not.
In order to minimize the potential for prospective spouses to enter into a marriage which is not valid (and also to strengthen the marriage bond) the Catholic Church encourages and requires those wanting to get married to go through various courses and retreats in order to better understand what is required for them. Some couples – after learning the great commitment and devotion required for marriage – choose not to get married at that time, or indeed ever, as they feel they are incapable of it. While this can seem sad, this is much, much better than couples who are not suited being joined together in marriage.
Marriage after death
A very popular phrase spoken by lovers is “I will love you forever” – which is hopefully true, as all people want their spouses to get to Heaven, where everyone loves everyone else! But what many people mean is that they will be married forever – something which is not supported by Church teaching, although is believed by the Mormons.
Marriage is a physical joining of two people into “one flesh” and lasts only until death. It is for this reason that both men and women are allowed to marry again after being widowed – the marriage bond is dissolved on death.
This teaching – in addition to being common sense based on the fact that marriage is a physical union of man and woman (through sexual activity) which makes them one flesh, and we will not have bodies in Heaven until the resurrection of the body – follows the Scriptures. In Mark 12:18-27 Jesus is tested by the Sadducees (who denied the physical resurrection of the body). Here Jesus makes it very clear that men and women are not married in Heaven. Not only is Jesus correcting the Sadducees’ false notions about the resurrection of the body, but is also giving us very important teaching concerning the nature of marriage after death – something that most Mormons conveniently ignore.
Source: Catechism of The Catholic Church