Francis' Address to Bishops at World Meeting of Families | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: As one who is in the middle of ending a marriage, I can testify to the truth of the Pope's words. It is likely the parents who provide ecouragement to the children they love and want to see happy - but happiness is not the absence of pain but the satisfaction of working through it. The rise of the destructable marriage is not a product of the current generation - it came about with last one - the one right after the Greatest Generation which had been deprived young but saw plenty and knew the difference (unlike the modern day American middle class). Because everything is never perfect all the time, indeed, with the recent economy and slow recovery (where wages have not caught up), there is more pressure on families then ever and less resources for family members in trouble - due to low taxes by you know who.
Can a pastoral situation work? It depends. Are our pastors up to it? This would seem like a good time to have married priests to provide more direct and experiential counseling. That kind of thing works with alcoholism (even for priests) - it should work for troubled marriages. Of course, the pastoral situation is not enough - Francis' beautiful words aside - economic justice turns out to be the best thing for marriages (as well as the Gospel of Life). It's all related.
No comments:
Post a Comment