sábado, 19 de agosto de 2017

A prenuptial for indissoluble marriages | August 18, 2017 | MercatorNet |

A prenuptial for indissoluble marriages

August 18, 2017 | MercatorNet  |







A prenuptial for indissoluble marriages

For couples aiming at ‘forever’.
Patrick F. Fagan | Aug 18 2017 | comment 3 



“Divorce? Never. Murder? Maybe.” So said an Irish wife in 1986 when Ireland was debating divorce law.  Divorce was unthinkable for her generation, particularly for Catholics.  “Prenups” were a waste of time and thought.  Today is very different – even for devout Christians and for couples who seem to have everything going for them.  No one has the culture “going for them”.
Today’s culture accepts pornography, divorce, cohabitation, one-night-stands, deliberate single parenthood, materialism, and pleasure seeking.  (Just yesterday in Union Station in Washington DC I saw a millennial wearing a cap that said “Sex, drugs and money.”)  American culture today rejects chastity, prayer and religious worship, the Ten Commandments, God, and even children.  Marriage thrives on the flip side of all these.
The prenuptial I propose is not about preserving wealth but preserving the marriage to come.  It is a vaccination against that divorce which will be a high temptation even for those who have good marriages.  Our toxic environment guarantees this.
There are issues a couple should clear up before saying “I do” because there are  marriage-destroying habits they may need to drop before they set out on their life-long expedition or else they will later find out they were never really “together”.
This prenuptial inoculation should be agreed to at least a year before the marriage so that there is time to “clean out the garbage” before the great day.  If the garbage does not get cleared out then better to call the wedding off than destroy the lives of their children with a divorce later on.
Here is the prenuptial to fill in and sign after discussing the contents.  This discussion itself will be a great eye-opener for many couples, even before they embark on fulfilling the terms.
Marriage preparation is much more than taking in ideas.  It involves starting to make the changes needed to build a good marriage.
Pat Fagan is the director of the Marriage and Religion Research Initiative at The Catholic University of America. He is publisher and editor of Marripedia.org. Republished from the MARRI blog with permission


MercatorNet

August 18, 2017

In the wake of the violence at Charlottesville at the weekend Confederate monuments have been toppled or removed in some American cities and more are slated to follow. White nationalists are going to lose this battle, it seems, but they are probably not the only ones to feel resentment at their local history being consigned to oblivion. There must be many ordinary people who feel sore about it.
Where I live the nearest equivalent would be pulling down the statue of Queen Victoria in Albert Park, since she presided over the colonisation of New Zealand. Although her representative Governor Hobson made a treaty with Maori chiefs, British settlement brought wars with local tribes and confiscations, so that the Crown is now involved in an ongoing process of compensation. Still, the injustices of the colonial era in this country were as nothing compared to the history of slavery in the American South and effort to defend it.
Besides, historical figures like Victoria and Hobson mean nothing to the average Kiwi citizen, and removing their statues would be regarded as, at least, art vandalism and at worst the equivalent of cutting down an ancient tree. It is quite a different story with some Americans, according to one MercatorNet reader. He writes:
Having lived in the South for a short period of time years ago,  I understand the sentiment. There is kind of cultural nostalgia for the old South and its traditions. It is kind of infectious when you are around it -- a consciousness of losing touch with one’s roots and regional character. Not everyone feels that way about the culture, though, because they have a more realistic perspective on the history and its consequences.

Looking at it objectively, what culture celebrates "heroes" of a failed and discredited ideology? Is this not unique? The statues were erected by a defeated people who defended the great indignities and suffering inflicted on the human person that slavery involved, and afterwards developed a system of segregation and discrimination. I understand some of the statues were erected in the 1970s in protest against civil rights.

Sure, many of the civil war heroes did think they were serving the nation and had substantial personal achievements that could be admired, but they cannot and should not be held up as role models for the entire community.

Taking the statues down is not trying to erase history -- history is in books, in schools and in popular media and should be taught and remembered. We need to teach and learn from it.

What happened at Charlottesville is, in a sense, the last battle of defiance of the Civil War. It is about time that the war be declared over and we get rid of the symbols of an ideology about which we should be feeling shame.

The South has changed a lot, demographically and culturally. It is time to rebrand the South to reflect the dynamic place it is today. After the statues are moved to confederate cemeteries or put in museums where they belong, it would be a great opportunity for the community to come together to discuss the figures we do want to honour in our towns and city parks and squares. Heroes who have served the common good.
One is tempted to say, “Good luck with that,” in an America which appears so divided. Yet pessimism is a cop-out. There really is no alternative to “coming together to discuss” what affects the common good, and, as the article below by Christopher Love argues, there is one place we all can -- and should -- be practising how to disagree civilly about contentious issues: in our own extended family. If we can do that -- and not just avoid awkward topics -- it should be easier to have those public discussions about history and monuments, and more important things, without anger, and, least of all, violence.


Carolyn Moynihan 
Deputy Editor, 
MERCATORNET



‘It’s about people like me’: disabled and dead against euthanasia
By Liz Carr
Assisted suicide laws are at their core about disability.
Read the full article
 
Total eclipse, partial failure: Scientific expeditions don’t always go as planned
By Barbara Ryden
Maps, locals, weather have all threatened to foil eclipse hunters.
Read the full article
 
‘God has a good ear for music’: the Catholic response to Reformation music
By Chiara Bertoglio
Polyphony was never in real danger from the Council of Trent.
Read the full article
 
A prenuptial for indissoluble marriages
By Patrick F. Fagan
For couples aiming at ‘forever’.
Read the full article
 
Religion and politics at the dinner table: challenging the old maxim
By Christopher W. Love
Families are uniquely able to foster civil dialogue.
Read the full article
 
European childlessness is on the rise
By Marcus Roberts
But does it mean total fertility rates are dropping?
Read the full article
 
The inspiring life of Ruth Pfau, leprosy doctor
By Carolyn Moynihan
The death of a nun who worked for 50 years in Pakistan closes a life of Christian service.
Read the full article
 
Will Australia crack open the seal of confession?
By Michael Cook
The Royal Commission into child sex abuse wants to break an age-old tradition
Read the full article
 
Back to the future… or the end of the road?
By Michael Kirke
Neo-Marxist ideology has Christianity in its sights.
Read the full article
 
Modern Day Slavery
By Marcus Roberts
More profitable and more widespread than ever.
Read the full article


MERCATORNET | New Media Foundation 
Suite 12A, Level 2, 5 George Street, North Strathfied NSW 2137, Australia 

Designed by elleston

No hay comentarios: