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Brothers and Sisters? Q. I know that the Church believes in Mary’s perpetual virginity, but what are we to make of the passages in the Gospel that refer to Jesus’ brothers and sisters?Rose, via email A. There are a number of places in the New Testament (see Mk 3:31-34; 6:3; Mt 12:46; 13:55; Lk 8:19-20; Jn 2:12; 7:3-10; Acts 1:14; and 1 Cor 9:5) where Jesus’ kinsfolk are mentioned using terms such as “brother” (adelphos), “sister” (adelphe) or “brethren” (adelphoi). But “brother” has a wider meaning both in the Scriptures and at the time they were written. It is not...

Solving the marriage equation is easy --it resolves itself when you simply use the proper term:holy matrimony. All indications suggest the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to miss this connection in its decision due any day now. Marriage has always essentially been a function of “the church” (figuratively speaking). It is not a function of the state—and in fact the state is specifically precluded from any activity whatsoever here—by the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” Seen from this vantage point, the correct and inalienable vantage point, it...

Back to Basics: A Summary of the Teaching of the Catechism on Holy Matrimony By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere’s an old story told about the legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi. At one point he was so concerned that the players on his team had lost any sense of the basics of the game that he summoned them all into a classroom and had them all sit down at desks. Most of them expected a detailed review of the playbook, with diagrams on the board of X’s, O’s, and arrows. But to their surprise, the blackboard was empty and no playbooks were in sight. Lombardi walked in...

In the wake of the supreme decisions of this week, I would like to return to a question I have Asked before: Are we coming to a point where we should consider dropping our use of the word “marriage?”It is a simple fact that word “marriage” as we have traditionally known it is being redefined in our times. To many in the secular world the word no longer means what it once did and when the Church uses the word marriage we clearly do not mean what the increasing number of states mean.The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines “Marriage”...

Senator Rob Portman has made the same fatal mistake as many Neo Christians have, just as his fellow Methodists have by admitting: "I wrestled with how to reconcile my Christian faith with my desire for Will to have the same opportunities to pursue happiness and fulfillment as his brother and sister. Ultimately, it came down to the Bible’s overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God...." Portman's  Methodist "faith" has been embracing homosexuality, for years, as part of God's "Overarching themes of love," which might have anyone believe that adultery, murder,...

Former first lady Laura Bush, who is one of three prominent Republicans featured in a new ad supporting same-sex marriage, has asked the spot's creator to remove a clip of her espousing support for equal marriage rights. "Mrs. Bush did not approve of her inclusion in this advertisement nor is she associated in any way with the group that made the ad," Anne MacDonald, a spokeswoman for the former first lady, wrote in a statement Thursday. "When she became aware of the advertisement Tuesday night, we requested that the group remove her from it." The ad, from the Respect for...

Fundamentals of Catholicism by Father Robert Altier Lesson 21: Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders In this lesson, we are going to look at the last two of the sacraments that have not been covered yet: Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders. These two sacraments look to the spiritual welfare of Christians. Matrimony is that sacrament in which a baptized man and a baptized woman enter into a permanent communion of life and love by mutual agreement for the generation and the education of children, and in which they receive God’s grace to help them to grow in holiness and to fulfill...

What It Means to Love Friday May 18, 2001 Fifth Week of Easter Reading (Acts 15:22-31) Gospel (St. John 15:12-17) In the Gospel reading today, we hear one of the most famous passages of the Gospel: our Lord telling us that we must love one another, and that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends. What a wonderful thing that He calls us no longer servants, but He calls us friends and He lays down His life for each one of us. He tells us at the same time that we will be...

How America can end its divorce epidemic Posted: April 7, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern By David Kupelian © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com When 32-year-old Paul and his 17-year-old fiancee Anna walked into the Norristown, Pa., courthouse to apply for a marriage license, the justice turned them down flat when he learned they had known each other for only one day. Yet after much pleading and persuasion, the judge reluctantly granted them their license, and Anna and Paul were married three days later. The wedding, held at Paul's brother's house, wasn't much – only four people in attendance, no wedding gown, no flowers,...

A new Vatican instruction on annulment is not expected to change existing practice in the United States dramatically, but it falls short of reforms that many American bishops and canonists hoped for which would have made an annulment faster and easier to obtain. Those reforms were contained in a second draft of the document, which seemed on the brink of publication in 2003. After debates within the Vatican, however, the draft was sent back for revision, and in the end several significant provisions sought by Americans were eliminated or watered down. The instruction, titled Dignitas Connubii, was issued Feb. 8...

On Monday, March 8, at 8:30 a.m., I opened the doors at the King County licensing counter to six loving same-sex couples courageously seeking marriage equality. Although I could not issue them licenses, I worked with these couples, the Northwest Women's Law Center and Lambda Legal Defense to file suit in King County Superior Court for the marriage rights denied to them. Why did I choose the judicial path to equality? Because we must use the law to change the law. The Book of Common Prayer says matrimony is a holy and honorable estate, and "therefore not to be entered...

After a steady stream of mostly flattering headlines, Conservative leadership candidate Belinda Stronach received some unwelcome attention Friday in the form of a supermarket tabloid front page that blared: Hillary Screams Divorce Over BILL'S NEW BLOND. The headline in the Globe weekly, a reference to Stronach's friendship with former U.S. president Bill Clinton, is accompanied by a full-page photo of the two walking together into a Toronto charity event last year. The innuendo-filled article suggests Hillary Clinton, a New York senator and the wife of the former president, is upset that rumours of an amorous liaison between her husband and...

Forty years ago, a study called the Hammond Report analyzed the smoking habits of half a million people. Its conclusion: Smoking is dangerous to one's health. It was a warning that ended up on every pack of cigarettes sold. Ten years later, a researcher took another look at the Hammond Report and found something that had been overlooked -- something just as hazardous as a pack-a-day cigarette habit -- that is, divorce. As Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher write in their book, THE CASE FOR MARRIAGE, an enterprising Surgeon General might wish to slap a warning label on divorce decrees,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A Taiwanese man learned a big lesson: Make sure you check your bride's name before you marry her. A matchmaker arranged a marriage between Taiwanese construction worker Hsu Tse-han and Filipino bride Mary Canque, court officials in the northern county of Taoyuan said Tuesday. But when Hsu went to the Philippines to meet his bride for the first time, he was mistakenly set up with another Filipino woman, Jenny Danouze. The couple quickly got married in March in a group ceremony arranged by the matchmaking agency. When Hsu...