Re-introducing Marriage to the Culture
Bill May on "Catholic Answers Live" On EWTN affiliate stations or Listen Live Repeated for Western listeners of |
SAN FRANCISCO, October 2, 2014 -- Please tune in to Catholic Answers Live radio Friday, October 3rd as Bill May discusses the need to reintroduce marriage to the culture with host Tim Staples. It should be a lively discussion as they take calls from people across the country and Internet listeners. Check with your local EWTN affiliate radio station for the local broadcast times or use the links below.
People are arguing about the qualifications for marriage, but there is no common understanding of what it is. How can we help people rediscover the truth and beauty about marriage as an integral part of God's plan for creation? Taking a page from the thought of Pope Benedict XVI, the New Evangelization is not about going back to the past, but back to the beginning. This means starting all over by re-proposing what marriage is to the culture — re-proposed in a way that correlates with common human experience, can be shared in non-religious language, reflects Scripture, and even confirms the infallible teachings of the Church. How can this be done?
The secret lies not in Church teaching about marriage per se, but in social doctrine and the teachings of St. John Paul II, but first we must heed Luke 10:21. We must have the humility to recognize that we are the wise and learned that must become childlike to see and witness reality. Bill will explain the startling fact that trying to define marriage is folly because marriage is a relationship and relationships are simply undefinable. Sacred Scripture and the Church never define marriage, they describe it in the most beautiful and profound ways that are difficult for many to understand today. How it is understood depends on how it is described. If marriage is truly a universal reality, it must be described in a context that is indisputably true and can be confirmed by lived experience.