Catholic Church needs a new plan to revive chastity and marriage

[Jack4]

32 minutes ago, CountrySteve21 said:

 

7 hours ago, Norseman82 said:

If we're worried about the Church changing for people, let's direct our focus on those - including clerics and Cardinals - who want to allow the divorced and remarried (without annulments) to receive Communion.

Indeed. Clergy cannot change Church teaching either. All of us need to continue growing in holiness and a part of that is embracing all the Church's teaching, including the difficult part of her message.

Now that this topic has come up, ...

I find some "interventions" by certain Bishops to be more fulfilling reads than the post-synodal document itself. 

Anyone think as I do?

 

[little2add]

 Fundamentally altering  practice  of holy matrimony will not change anything and  would be a  disservice  to my mother and father and  my grandparents before them who married for life   

I think it would be disrespectful and unwise at the very least 

[WhiteLily]

On November 18, 2016 at 4:10 PM, little2add said:

 Fundamentally altering  practice  of holy matrimony will not change anything and  would be a  disservice  to my mother and father and  my grandparents before them who married for life   

I think it would be disrespectful and unwise at the very least 

Not only a disservice to generations before us, but this will do God a grave injustice - the creator of this beautiful sacrament. 

[polskieserce]

On 11/18/2016 at 5:10 PM, little2add said:

 Fundamentally altering  practice  of holy matrimony will not change anything and  would be a  disservice  to my mother and father and  my grandparents before them who married for life   

I think it would be disrespectful and unwise at the very least 

And I never proposed fundamentally altering the practice of holy matrimony.  I am merely proposing a restoration of the incentives that drove people towards marriage, kind of like the ones your parents and grandparents had.  Most people living in industrialized nations, regardless if they are raised in a devout household (of any religion) aren't going to get married solely because their religion says so.  Heck, even in ancient times, people didn't do it purely for religious purposes.

[little2add]

 Why do they call it the sacrament of holy matrimony, then?

  Not to sound  redundant  but I religiously believe in The sanctity of marriage 

[little2add]

It wasn't that long ago that sleeping together without being married was concidered immoral 

thanks to birth control, the value of marriage has less meaning

if anything old school religious values need to be stronger not weaker!

[Norseman82]

On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 7:03 AM, little2add said:

 

if anything old school religious values need to be stronger not weaker!

Judging from what I've read in his past posts, maybe that's ultimately what he's getting at - especially when it comes to rewarding good and punishing evil.

[polskieserce]

On 12/5/2016 at 2:21 PM, little2add said:

 Why do they call it the sacrament of holy matrimony, then?

  Not to sound  redundant  but I religiously believe in The sanctity of marriage 

 

On 12/10/2016 at 8:03 AM, little2add said:

It wasn't that long ago that sleeping together without being married was concidered immoral 

thanks to birth control, the value of marriage has less meaning

if anything old school religious values need to be stronger not weaker!

Just because something is holy, doesn't mean that people will pursue it in the absence of earthly benefits.  Birth control is a prime example of this.  People didn't all of a sudden become less religious the day that birth control was invented.  Most people were in compliance with the Church because Catholicism was a practical way of doing things, not because they were super religious.  Waiting until marriage to have sex was more common back then due to the risk of pregnancy.  Now that a lot of the earthly incentives to be Catholic have disappeared, Catholicism has become much less relevant in everyday life.

People are hedonistic by nature.  They seek pleasure and try to avoid pain.  If that wasn't the case, then humanity would be inherently socialist instead of capitalist.  What Earthly incentives does a guy have to be Catholic?  If he decides to get married, it will most likely be to a non-virgin under a predatory family law system where he could be ruined financially and in a culture that treats women like an endangered species.  Some of you have criticized me for being utopian because I believe in socialism.  But socialism, with future advances in technology, is much more realistic than a religion that doesn't reward proper behavior with Earthly rewards.  You really have to have your head in the clouds to not see this.

Edited December 17, 2016 by polskieserce

[little2add]

10 hours ago, polskieserce said:

People didn't all of a sudden become less religious the day that birth control was invented. 

Wrong 

[little2add]

Many are invited, but few are chosen."

[Jack4]

18 hours ago, polskieserce said:

What Earthly incentives does a guy have to be Catholic?

IMHO as a Catholic guy, Heavenly incentives are more than enough.     

[little2add]

You know that:

Dear  polskieserce

its not aBout religion, 

It's about family

[Norseman82]

19 hours ago, Jack4 said:

IMHO as a Catholic guy, Heavenly incentives are more than enough.     

In order to get to heaven, we first have to navigate through this life.

[JazzCleo]

On 8/22/2016 at 0:37 PM, Nihil Obstat said:

It is all part of the same old problems. The teachings of the Church have to be presented to Catholics in their entirety, no watering down. And Catholics, especially young Catholics, have to be encouraged and sometimes pushed a little bit into living a consciously, intentionally Catholic culture. We are not just Catholics for a couple hours on Sundays.

In my experience, the majority of Catholics do not have strong guidance of this sort. But the ones who do actually follow it.

Like most other issues, this one depends on a revival of Catholicity.

I'm in the process of learning the faith and couldn't agree more. Most Catholics I talk to (all cradle) don't know or understand what the Church teaches about sexuality and marriage. One recently engaged told me the Church isn't strict, so it will be easy for me to convert. Nice kid, but he is cohabiting with his wife and uses contraception. I doubt he knows they are both wrong. 

I think part of the problem is when people are schooled on what is true it's presented as more about morality from up on high and less about why it is beneficial to people. I naturally came to my own conclusions recently as a 37 year old single woman. I was delightfully surprised to read encyclicals that supported my views. But me coming to these conclusions ituitively was based on me seeing the spiritual and emotional health of viewing sex as a sacrament and wanting to not share it again until marriage. It wasn't shame, fear of cosmic retiribution or the cliche of "purity" that did it. It was the common sense that society is acting one way and it's not working. 

[Nihil Obstat]

As a good priest I know has said before, sin darkens the intellect. As we allow God to pull us out of sin by His grace, as we understand the sins around us in our society, we see more and more clearly how counter to virtue and reason our culture really has become.