Daily Archives: December 25, 2021

Perhaps the most unique sacrament of the Catholic Church is marriage. For it is an institution that is often associated more with the secular world than the religious or spiritual realm. To be sure, marriage as an institution is inclusive of law, anthropology, and history.

Nevertheless, in the following discourse, I will seek to survey the different forms marriage has taken in history, and how the Bible views marriage. Lastly, I will discuss marriage as a sacrament of the Catholic Church.

As is often the case, the secular and the religious are in conflict, which is true even when attempting to define a subject. Perhaps the model secular definition of marriage was provided by the Finnish sociologist Edvard Westermarck, who defined marriage as a relation of one or more men to one or more women that is recognized by custom or law. (See The Future of Marriage in Western Civilization). This definition is helpful within an anthropological setting.

Historically, marriage has taken many forms, from a legal contract to a social union, to a religious covenant. More often than not, marriage in the ancient world had little to do with God or romance and much more to do with economics and the propagation of bloodlines. Indeed, marriages were often arranged along purely economic grounds and tocreate bonds between families. This practice of arranged marriages remains part of the milieu in various parts of the world today.

While marriage is usually between a single man and a single woman, it has also taken place between two men, between two women, a man and multiple women (polygyny), and a woman and multiple men (polyandry). (See Dartmouth College, Department of Anthropology, Course 50:17).

God said, it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him. (Genesis 2:18). This suitable helpmate was formed from the very rib of man, and thus woman was flesh of his flesh (Genesis 2:22-23).

If one contemplates the fact that the Bible begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of the wedding-feast of the Lamb, then the significance that the authors of the Bible placed on marriage comes into relief.

Nevertheless, marriages in Biblical times were quite different from the marriages of the modern world. Very often, marriages were arranged and it was not uncommon for a young woman to be given by a family member in marriage, often by her father.

However, the most striking characteristic of marriages in the Old Testament was that of polygamy. Indeed, several prominent men of the Old Testament had multiple wives. In 1 Kings 11:3, we read that King Solomon had seven hundred wives. Still, this practice of polygamy, very often like marriage in general, had economic considerations at its heart. The inferior economic status of women of the ancient world often necessitated that women find a husband that could support her as well as her children.

Suffice to say that marriage within the Biblical world was very much influenced by culture and economics and very often seemed to be one of a contractual obligation.

Contrary to the concept of marriage as a contractual obligation, Catholicism asserts that marriage is a sacrament. Indeed, Saint Paul compares the marriage of a man and a woman to the relationship of Christ and His Church. (See Ephesians 5:23-32).

The Catholic Church describes marriage as a mystery instituted by God. (See Part Two, Section Two, Chapter Three, Article Seven of the Catechism of the Catholic Church).

To understand why this is so, we must understand that Catholicism asserts that God created man out of love and, in turn, mans most fundamental and innate vocation is to love. Moreover, as man is created in the image and likeness of God, and God is Himself love, marriage is intended to reflect the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man.

Still, it would not be until the Council of Verona in 1184 that marriage would rise to the level of a sacrament (See Systematic Theology by Francis Schussler Fiorenza and John P. Gavin). As sacraments are defined as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace (as defined by Saint Augustine), then it is the words of Jesus Himself that gave marriage its sacramental state. For we read in Matthew 19:4-6, Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.

Put another way, The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1601).

So although the modern person tends to view marriage within a strictly secular framework, a comprehensive understanding of marriage must admit that the author of marriage is God Himself.

See the article here:

Marriage and Sacrament | David Schloss - Patheos

One of the wealthiest people from Utah said he is officially resigning from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saying the church has "hindered global progress in women's rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights."

Jeff Green, the CEO and chairman of the online advertising company The Trade Desk, will also reportedly donate $600,000 to LGBTQ rights group, Equality Utah.

Green, who is believed to beworth more than $5 billion, wrote a scathing letter to Mormon Church President Russell Nelson and requested the LDS church, as it is also known, to remove his records, admitting he had not been part of it for over a decade. The letter, first published by the Salt Lake Tribune earlier this week, was obtained by CBS News.

"While most members are good people trying to do right, I believe the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world. The church leadership is not honest about its history, its finances, and its advocacy," he said.

In the letter dated December 23, he attributed his exit in part because of how church leaders have created "unhealthy paradigms around gender roles (exacerbated by canonized doctrines on polygamy)."

"This paradigm, coupled with the sex-negative teachings and policies, has a series of immeasurably negative impacts on nearly all participating members and their neighbors and communities," he wrote.

He said most Mormons are "good people" and many are born into the religion, saying the decision to leave is "difficult." Ultimately, after years of reflection, he said he made the decision to leave because he wanted to live a "life of honesty, morality, truth, and a desire to pursue a more socially just world."

"I feel deep empathy for those who have been ostracized from the Mormon community or who choose to leave because of their beliefs, values, or even just who they are," he added. "Leaving almost always means losing some amount of family harmony."

The 44-year-old tech executive said he hopes the church becomes more inclusive for "different views and beliefs among Mormons" in the future, saying it will benefit "the lives of millions of people."

Because of his views on LGBTQ rights, Green donated $600,000 to Equality Utah, a nonprofit that leads efforts for LGBTQ civil rights at the state and local levels. The group acknowledged the donation on Twitter on Tuesday.

"We are tremendously grateful to Jeff Green for believing in our work. We are firm believers that despite our political differences, we always must seek common ground. Thank you Jeff, for supporting our work," the organization tweeted.

In his letter, Green also took aim at the LDS church's wealth, which he alleges owns more than $100 billion in assets. He criticized them for not doing enough to "help the world and its members with its wealth."

"This money comes from people, often poor, who whole-heartedly believe you represent the will of Jesus... Instead, I think the church has exploited its members and their need for hope to build temples, build shopping malls, cattle ranches, fund Ensign Peak Advisors investment funds, and own mortgage-backed securities, rather than alleviating human suffering in or out of the church," he wrote.

The church did not immediately respond to CBS News' request for comment.

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Christopher Brito is a social media producer and trending writer for CBS News, focusing on sports and stories that involve issues of race and culture.

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Billionaire resigns from Mormon church, says it is "actively and currently doing harm in the world" - CBS News

It was a stark reminder of how easily the peace-loving people of the Pacific can suddenly be overwhelmed by political passion, recrimination and revenge.

In their Pastoral Letter for the year 2022, the Bishops of our two countries wrote, Since its beginnings in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands the Catholic Church has contributed to the betterment of society by shedding light of the Good News of Jesus Christ on destructive cultural practices (sorcery, polygamy, warfare, and the suppression of women).

They did this by promoting positive cultural practices and providing social, educational and health services to all without discrimination.

The Catholic Church has also taken a clear and public stand on more modern destructive trends, all belonging to what Pope Saint John Paul II once termed culture of death; corruption, bribery, the death penalty, abortion and Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV).

In recent times, the Church have attempted to provide the best possible advice on what the Gospel has to say about refugee crisis, the current pandemic, SARV, the move to changing the Constitution to declare PNG a confessional state, and how the Christian should respond to these challenges using these principles.

Today on Christmas day, those suffering human beings are in our thoughts and in our prayers, particularly those who have lost everything in Honiara fires. The women and children tortured in the PNG Highlands and elsewhere due to senseless sorcery accusations, the victims of COVID-19 and their families with the young left to fend for themselves, the Church says.

A sad celebration of Christmas also awaits about 100 asylum seekers and refugees in Port Moresby. They are the remnants of the more than one thousand men housed first in Manus Island since 2013 by the Australian government.

By January 1, 2022, they will be under the full responsibility of the PNG government until a solution is found at least for some of them.

With all these pockets suffering in our midst and the pandemic, a Christmas of joy and happiness is hard to wish. Still, we do so on behalf of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands since the weak child in the manger turned out to be the most powerful source of hope, encouragement and strength.

He is our Saviour and Redeemer and as far as we decide to listen, to stop damaging people and convert. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2022.

Originally posted here:

Christmas Of Tears and Hope - Loop PNG

New Delhi: The contentious bill to raise the marriage age of women from 18 to 21 years Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 may have been sent to the Parliaments standing committee but its political intentions are becoming clearer by the day.

The proposed law, it now appears, is one more logical step in the Modi governments well-thought-out and one-move-at-a-time strategy to push India towards a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) without actually needing to enact one.

The arguments by the ruling and Opposition party members around the proposed law are ranging from womens health and career, their right to choose, their familys socio-economic conditions and so on.

However, a deeper look into the chain of events chronologically, since 2019, gives the context about how the government has been planning and taking baby steps towards a bigger change central to the key political goals of the ruling BJP.

Also Read: Same family laws for all faiths whats Uniform Civil Code, and what courts say about it

In its 2019 sankalp patra (manifesto), the BJP spelled out a few central, and ideologically loaded, promises: The abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu & Kashmir, the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the prohibition of triple talaq and the introduction of a UCC in place of a variety of personal laws that govern matters such as marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance within different religious communities.

The party has managed to meet each of these promises since then except the last, which happens to be the trickiest of all.

The BJPs quest for a uniform civil code, of course, is not new. Even in the 1998 general elections, the partys manifesto included a promise to formulate a UCC based on progressive practices that would benefit women across religions by giving them property rights, removing discriminatory clauses in divorce laws, and putting an end to polygamy, among other things.

This conception of gender justice carried forward to the partys 2004 vision document, and also the manifestos for 2009, 2014, and 2019.

In June 2016, the Modi government delegated the Law Commission to examine matters in relation to uniform civil code, the result of which was an August 2018 consultation paper on reform of family law.

The Law Commissions reflections and recommendations, which ran to more than 180 pages, were perhaps not what the government might have hoped for, but it provided something of a road map.

The paper noted that discriminatory laws needed to be addressed but a UCC was neither necessary nor desirable at this stage.

Instead, it suggested that making piecemeal changes to laws wherever necessary would be a better strategy. The BJP seems to have taken this to heart, especially since it understands well that trying to bring about blanket changes in personal laws will likely lead to massive protests across communities.

That doesnt mean that nothing can be done to work towards the greater goal, albeit one small step at a time.

Within about two months of the BJP being voted back to power for a second term in May 2019, Parliament approved a bill criminalising triple talaq, an Islamic law that allows a husband to divorce his wife instantly.

The wheels were set in motion for the next gender justice project in June 2020, when the Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD) constituted a 10-member committee to look into womens age of marriage, through the lens of health, maternal mortality, nutrition, etc.

Modi, meanwhile, started doing the groundwork. In his Independence Day speech last year, for instance, the PM spoke at length about womens empowerment, and announced that a committee was deliberating over raising the legal age of marriage for women.

A few months later, in December 2020, the panel headed by former Samata Party leader and activist Jaya Jaitly submitted its recommendation that it would benefit women if the minimum age for marriage was increased.

The result is the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill. With it, the Modi government is not just taking on child marriage but is also on its way to introducing some uniformity in the personal laws of several different communities including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Parsis at least when it comes to a womans marriageable age.

The question now is, what next?

Also Read: Modi govt has been working for a Uniform Civil Code and we didnt even notice. Until now

Even though the decision to raise the legal age of marriage for women is not directly linked with the UCC, it is being seen as a systematic progression towards it.

The government has never wavered in its rhetoric about the UCC.

In March this year, for instance, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in a speech at the BJPs Uttar Pradesh state committee meet that the party is still committed to fulfilling its promise on the UCC. Whenever we talked of Ram Mandir, people poked fun at us we fulfilled that promise. We also fulfilled our promise on Article 370 and triple talaq. We will do what we have said about the uniform civil code also, Singh had said.

How the fulfilment of this promise might be rolled out is not certain, but there are clues.

Talking to the Print, a top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary said that the government now needs to amend the personal law that permits polygamy a clear reference to the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.

The functionary also expressed outrage over issues in Sharia law such as the lack of rights and compensation afforded to divorced women. Other personal laws, including the Hindu Marriage Act, allow the woman to demand her right on property, he said.

It is also instructive to look at recent statements made by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. In October this year, Bhagwat made an interesting reading choice during his Vijayadashami speech: a resolution that the all-India executive committee of the RSS had passed back in 2015.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivering his Independence Day speech, in New Delhi on 15 August 2019 | PTI

This resolution spoke of the need to address the purported demographic imbalance in India, namely an increase in the ratio of Muslims in the population. The resolution articulated anxieties around Muslims outnumbering Hindus and the need for a new population policy, even though the fertility gap between Hindu and Muslim women has been shrinking rather than increasing, according to a Pew report released this September.

Prime Minister Modi also described having a small family as a sign of patriotism in his 2019 Independence Day speech, and, earlier this month, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena brought up the need for a population control bill during the winter session of Parliament, despite the fertility rate in India dipping below the replacement rate.

Also Read: How RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat dusted off a 6-year-old document to set new agenda for Modi govt

Ram Madhav, a member of the RSS national executive, told ThePrint that it was time for everyone to start thinking of the girl child and her education and career rather than being in a rush to marry her off.

He denied that the proposed new law had any direct connection with the UCC, although he said it remained a desirable goal.

The government banned regressive laws like triple talaq. These are all progressive steps towards a balanced inclusive society. As far as the UCC is concerned, it is good for the country and there are several judgments on the need for it. The courts, starting from the 80s, said that the government must consider a common code in the country for all communities, Madhav said.

According to him, it is wrong of Opposition leaders to make the issue about Hindus and Muslims.

Left parties and some other Opposition members are saying that if a girl can choose the government at 18, then why not a partner? Is it the same? Madhav asked, adding that arguments that some families make girls marry young for socioeconomic reasons do not hold water either. They are trying to say that girls are commodities and they just need to be married off? Is that their argument? he said.

Mohan Bhagwat releasing a report on the status of women in 2019, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman | PTI

Several Muslim leaders and members of the Opposition told ThePrint that they believe the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill is an attempt to covertly implement the UCC.

Others said they objected to the lack of consensus-building before tabling the bill, while some claimed the move appeared to be aimed at winning political points ahead of the assembly polls in UP.

According to E.T. Mohammed Basheer, an MP who belongs to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the new bill reflected a trend towards encroaching on religious personal laws. The Modi government has already tweaked the divorce law of Muslims and now it is targeting marriage, he said, adding that inheritance and adoption may be next on the agenda. This is surely a step-by-step way forward to the uniform civil code, he said.

Basheer told ThePrint that the IUML has already spoken to like-minded parties, including the Left and the Congress, and might explore seeking a legal remedy.

Asaduddin Owaisi, Hyderabad MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief, said the decision was unilateral.

To bring UCC, the government has to amend all personal laws including the ones of tribal people According to the Law Commission, implementation of UCC is not practical. So, we do not know what the government is up to, he said.

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid also pointed out that the lack of consensus-building was problematic and there needed to be more debate and deliberation. This may be a signal to the minority that there would be another diktat coming. It outweighs an individuals right, the Congress leader added.

When asked for his views, former Union minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram said his party would ask for the bill to be referred to the select committee, and he preferred to reserve his opinion for now.

It was later the same day that the bill was referred to the standing committee.

On Twitter, he expressed support for the age increase, but said it should be preceded by a year-long educational campaign on the benefits of the move.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi listed out several things that he thought wrong with the proposed law and what it sought to accomplish.

Firstly to believe that merely passing laws amounts to substantive and lasting social change, is to live in a fools paradise. Secondly, these reform measures must be debated in standing and select committees of Parliament, he said.

Thirdly, unless a lot of work goes in to reform mindsets, all that will end up, is criminalising large chunks of the female population between 18 and 21 years. Fourthly, the measure may not be bad if accompanied by solid, supportive, nutritional, dietary, educational, and employment reforms for women between 18 and 21 years, Singhvi added.

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury linked the bill to the UP elections. I think this is another ploy to polarise people along communal lines before the UP election. They might now say that they will bring UCC and portray this as a precursor, he told ThePrint.

(Edited by Asavari Singh)

Also Read: How Ambedkar, Munshi & Krishnaswamy Ayyar argued for Uniform Civil Code at Constituent Assembly

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Why raising marriage age of women is another step towards BJPs pet goal of uniform civil code - ThePrint