Development of the Doctrine on Marriage in Christian Tradition

Three Significant Shifts: 1.Fathers of the Church “three goods” of marriage –St. Augustine St. Thomas Council of Trent Casti Conubii - Pope Pius XI 2. “ends of marriage Pope Pius XII 3. personalist dimension of marriage and the act – Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II

Fathers of the Church Ambiguities in their understanding and teaching on marriage and sexuality 1. Sexual perversion in the Graeco-Roman Empire 2. The influence of some spiritual movements of early Christianity inspired by : - Platonism ( spiritual / ideal = real ; matter/flesh/body = a falling away from the purity of existence)

- Gnosticism ( spirit = good; matter = evil) - Stoicism ( subordinating all emotions and passions to rational ends) Reaction: Marriage was good for it was instituted by God and sexuality was willed by God for the propagation of human race. 3. exegesis of the First Fall - sexual appetite was wounded by sin - man lost his rational control over sexual appetite

The Goods of Marriage in St. Augustine 1. Proles ( offspring ) as good is - not merely the procreation of children, - but the receiving of them lovingly, the nourishing of them humanely, and the educating of them religiously 2. Fides ( fidelity) - debt that the couple owe to one another - means not only exclusivity but also rendering the marital debt( act) to the spouse - mutual service – sustaining each other’s weaknesses

3. Sacramentum ( sacrament ) - refers to indissolubility - marital union as symbolized by the relationship between Christ and the Church On At. Augustine: 1. Procreation was an excuse (a reaction to the dualist movements). 2. Reasons for negative bias against sexual act a. personal struggle b. his association with the Manichaeism c. exegesis on the First Fall concupiscence – new impulse - regarded as evil

St. Thomas Aquinas 1. Context: - desexualized love (rendering marriage and the act evil) - ge-genitalizing love (purifying it from its genital dimension) 2. Officium Naturae ( natural institution) - natural among human beings to enter into a lasting relationship for procreation - principal end – offspring ; secondary end –partnership - consent – a free and internal act of the will of man and woman 3. Sacrament - Marriage - denotes a sanctifying remedy against sin, offered to man under sensible signs. - confers grace for the couple to achieve its ends.

4. Marital Act - as integral to marriage, not to its essence but to its operation - without conjugal act – no offspring 5. Fides - rendering the act honest – the paying of debt – in response to the requesting spouse 6. Love of Friendship in marriage

Council of Trent 1. Marriage is a divine institution (willed by God) and was later elevated to the level of the sacrament (grace to help and strengthen the couple in the their road to holiness). 2. The unity and indissolubility of marriage (during the reformation which sought the polygamous relationship and divorce) 3.The power of the Church over the sacrament of marriage ( to safeguard its dignity and holiness). 4. The requirement of the canonical form as determined by the Church

Pope Pius XI and Casti Conubii (1930) 1. A landmark in the development of the theology of marriage 2. A reaction to Anglican bishops – to separate the procreative and unitive ends of marriage by allowing contraception 3. FIDES – not only as mutual exclusion, but also mutual inclusion (blending of life)

Pope Pius XII and Personal Dimension of Marriage 1. Co ntext: hierarchy of ends predominated 2. Marital act as the personal action of the spouses – an expression of mutual giving which results in the union in one flesh 3. Stressed on the inseparability of procreation and the sexual act – led to the rejection of artificial insemination

Vatican II on the Partnership of Life and Love (Gaudium et Spes) 1. Defines marriage as: - the intimate partnership of married life and love established by the creator, qualified by His laws and is rooted in the conjugal covenant of irrevocable consent 2. Focuses on the following: a. sanctity of marriage and family b. the value of conjugal love and the conjugal act “ Marital act is noble and worthy insofar as it signifies and promotes the mutual self-giving by which spouses enrich each other with joyful and thankful will GS 50) c. the fruitfulness of marriage d. the conjugal act with respect to human life e. the promotion of the good state of marriage and the family

Pope Paul VI and the Sign-Values of Marriage (Humanae Vitae) 1. mutual gift of self –in collaboration with God in the generation and education of new lives (HV, 8) 2. The characteristic marks and demands of conjugal love: human, total, faithful, exclusive and fecund (fruitful) 3. Responsible parenthood (context where conjugal love finds its fulfillment) 4. Conjugal act – not only produce something - but saying something: act expresses and perfects married love (unity)

Pope John Paul II’s Vision of Marriage and Sexuality 1. Man and woman are called to express the mysterious “language” of the body in all truth proper to it. 2. Conjugal love is a task and mission – a love that goes beyond union in one flesh but leads to the forming of one mind and heart (FC, 13) and also to the vocation of parenthood.

Christian Dimensions of Marriage

Marriage as a CONTRACT A special contract “ A special contract of permanent union between man and woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation by the spouses.” ( Family Code of Philippines) Not merely an ordinary contract written on paper Not determined by the contracting parties, but by some laws and regulations A permanent union Exclusively between a man and a woman ( same sex marriages)

ordained to the propagation of human species A natural institution and must be seen in reference to God “ Matrimony was not instituted or restored by man but by God; not by man were laws made to strengthen and confirm and elevate it, but by God, the author of nature, and hence these laws cannot be subject to any decrees or any contrary pact even of the spouses themselves.” (Casti Conubii, Pius XI) Independent of the free will of man, but made possible through the free consent (an indispensable element that makes marriage- the internal act of the will by which man and woman, by an irrevocable covenant, accept one another for the purpose of establishing marriage) “A point of no return” The reality of broken marriages ST. Thomas – considers the bond as the source of rights and obligations of the husband and wife ( vinculum obligatorium)permanent union