Preparing for the “Other” Sacrament at “The Service of Communion”

Holy Orders and Matrimony, are directed towards the salvation of others. . . They confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God (CCC 1534).

In addition to living at a midpoint between New York City and Philadelphia, the largest cities of their respective states, I live directly opposite New Jersey’s state capitol.

The governors of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey are advocates of abortion (cf, 1, 2, 3) and same-sex marriage (cf, 1, 2, 3), as well as “novel” ideas about gender (cf, 1, 2, 3).  That such positions are strong in the political leadership of the Northeast Corridor may not surprise the rest of the country.  What may surprise people is that my section of the Northeast Corridor has a substantial Roman Catholic population and that two of our three governors identify as Roman Catholic (cf, 1, 2, 3).

Roman Catholic Leadership in this Geographic Area

 In addition to the archdioceses of New York (NOTE: The NYC boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens fall separately under the Diocese of Brooklyn.) and Philadelphia, Roman Catholics in New Jersey fall under the Archdiocese of Newark or the dioceses of Patterson, Metuchen, Trenton, or Camden.  Yet not since New York’s late John Cardinal O’Connor (a Philadelphia native) can I recall a Roman Catholic bishop in this area with such fervor for the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human life.

While I may envy areas with bishops like Joseph Strickland, my area – particularly within 15 miles of my home – has been home to staunch and prominent Catholic lay defenders of the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human life:

• The late Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court
• Justice Samuel Alito of the U.S. Supreme Court
• S. Representative Chris Smith – longtime head of the pro-life caucus in the House of Representatives
• Professor Robert George’s – while his name may be least well known, he is arguably the leading Catholic intellectual in the United States:

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He has served as chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and before that on the President’s Council on Bioethics and as a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He has also served as the U.S. member of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST). He is a former Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award. A graduate of Swarthmore College, he holds J.D. and M.T.S. degrees from Harvard University and the degrees of D.Phil., B.C.L., D.C.L., and D.Litt. from Oxford University. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (politics.princeton.edu/people/robert-p-george).

Children’s Rights

Professor George wrote the foreword to Them Before Us.  While there are certainly serious situations which necessitate interventions such as foster care and adoption, the organization of that same name maintains that children have a right to be raised by their biological moms and dads, who are married to each other.  Yet the rights and welfare of children have been overlooked while adults have pulled “rights” out of thin air, pushing for such things as:

• “easy” marriage dissolution/new partners for adults
• same-sex marriage/parenting
• “donor” eggs
• “donor” sperm
• “surrogacy”

As per Them Before Us, “Children’s rights before adult desires.”

Divorce, Declarations of Marital Nullity, and Children

Comparing annual addresses to the Roman Rota of the last three Holy Fathers, Pope Francis APPEARS least concerned about trying to salvage/preserve (attempted) marriages (cf, Buyer’s Remorse? Marriage, Divorce, and Declarations of Nullity).  Yet, the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (2021) does offer a more optimistic tone:

On 21 January, Pope Francis addressed the Roman Rota (the highest ecclesiastical court of the Holy See) on the occasion of the inauguration of the new judiciary year. In his speech the Holy Father called for a new catechumenate for marriage in view of improving marriage preparation and accompany couples throughout their marriage.

Pope Francis considers that there are too many null and inconsistent marriages, due not only to our culture, but also to an inappropriate preparation for marriage. Nowadays one needs great courage [to]marry and those who are ready to commit themselves in marriage should receive more support from the Church, argued the Pope.

The Holy Father suggested two ‘medicines’ to tackle the current situation. The first one concerns marriage preparation, which should be a path leading young people to ‘rediscover marriage and family according to God’s plan’, contributing not only to their development as persons but more importantly to the growth of their faith and their insertion in the life of the Church. This preparation should be an integral part of the marriage process, like the catechumenate that adults go through for baptism.

The second medicine consists of pursuing this path after the wedding, inviting the spouses to deepen their understanding of marriage progressively and to consider how their everyday life is ‘a signal and an instrument of God’s love’. The Christian community is also called to accompany the young couple, especially during the first period of family life, and to be present through prayer groups and groups for married couples.

Preparation for Marriage Starts in the Family of Origin

During the pontificate of Saint Pope John Paul II, the Pontifical Council for the Family (1996) produced  Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage, a magnificent document to which the Church should return.  It says that the groundwork for marriage preparation begins with “remote preparation” in earliest childhood, followed later by “proximate” and “immediate” stages:

in many cases, we are witnessing an accentuated deterioration of the family and a certain corrosion of the values of marriage. In many nations, especially economically developed ones, the number of marriages has decreased. Marriage is usually contracted at a later age and the number of divorces and separations is increasing, even during the first years of married life….

Christian marriage always expresses the truth about married love and is like a prophecy that clearly proclaims a human being’s real needs: that man and woman are called upon from the beginning to live in a communion of life and love and that this complementarity will lead to strengthening the human dignity of the spouses, the good of the children and of society itself, through ‘…the defence and promotion of life…everyone’s task and responsibility’ (EV 91). [link added]….

Anyone can take note that herein some elements are proposed for an organic preparation of the faithful called to the sacrament of Marriage. Especially in the first five years of married life, it would be desirable to follow up the young couples through post-marriage courses, to be carried out in parishes or deaneries, according to the norm of the Directory for the Pastoral Care of the Family, mentioned earlier in nos. 14 and 15, in connection with the Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, 66.” [link added]

I pray that this magnificent document will not be overrun by “reinventing the wheel” tendencies.

Last Word

In keeping with Canon 212, I believe that married Catholic couples have a duty to witness to the sanctity of lifelong, indissoluble marriage between one man and one woman and the many blessing which come with it – to themselves, the Church, and society.  We need to make ourselves heard to our pastors, bishops, and the Holy Father.