Modern day family and relationships

• reasons for marriage

  • it's loving
  • it's lifelong
  • it's exclusive
  • it's fruitful
• 'be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth' Genesis 1:28
• premarital relationships 


  a relationship before marriage
• co-habitation 


  living together before marriage
• same-sex relationship 


  two women/two men
• extramarital sex


  sex outside of marriage (adultery)
• 'you shall not commit adultery' Exodus
• 'God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality' Thessalonians
• agrees with sex outside of marriage

  • express ones love for another
  • it's okay if it's in a loving long-term relationship
  • not all people want to get married
• disagrees with sex outside of marriage

  • a child should be brought up in a secure environment
  • it can 'cheapen' it
  • it would stop STI being spread
  • should be saved for someone special
  • it saves you and others from getting hurt
• all christians say adultery is wrong
• Quakers and Methodists accept cohabiting couples
• evangelical christians have a silver ring thing where teens are able to understand abstinence until marriage is the best way to live and they have a silver ring that is only replaced by their wedding ring
• reconstituted family 


  a step family
• there are more single parent families

  • more divorces
  • more pre-marital sex
  • medical advances such as IVF allow women to have children on their own
• many parents are unmarried

  • more divorces
  • more pre-marital sex
  • more co-habitation
  • women are less dependant on men for money
• some families have same-sex parents

  • there is more tolerance to homosexuality
  • same-sex couples can have a civil partnership
  • adoption agencies must accept them as possible parents
• more people get divorced and married more than once

  • changes to divorce rules
  • it is easier and cheaper to get divorced
• people have sex before they are married

  • contraception means there is no risk of getting pregnant
  • co-habitation is more acceptable
• fewer people follow religious teachings about family life

  • media shows the nuclear family isn't the only family type
• support for the family

  • family worship
  • classes for parents
  • family group movement
  • groups for children
  • counselling
• 'parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and discover their vocation as children of God' CCC 2226
• family worship

  • children's liturgies encourage attendance
  • an opportunity for a family to be together weekly outside of busy lives
• classes for parents

  • offer specific training on how to bring up children in the faith
  • how to be a good parent
  • catechist programmes for the sacraments
• groups for children

  • 'children's liturgy' allows parents time to worship and children to grow their faith
  • mother toddler groups, girl guides, scouts
  • allow children to socialise with other young catholics
• counselling

  • the parish priest is trained in counselling
  • natural family planning is promoted and a part of marriage preparation courses
  • marriage care provides free counselling for couples
• family group movement

  • family groups are parish groups which have monthly meetings to encourage low-cost activities and enjoy time together as a family or couple
• 'I hate divorce says the Lord' Malachi 2:16
• divorce


  the legal ending of a marriage by court (not accepted by the church)
• annulment 


  a declaration that a marriage was never valid and therefore never existed (still have to get a legal divorce)
• remarriage


  when you get married again after being married before (only accepted by church if it's because of annulment or death)
• why are catholics against divorce

  • a valid catholic marriage can't be dissolved because God has joined man and women together
  • Jesus taught divorce was wrong
  • the needs of the family and children come before the needs of the couple
  • matrimony is a sacrament and should be preserved
• non catholic christian views on divorce

  • allow divorce if a marriage is broken down (pick the lesser of the two evils)
  • allow remarriage if you repent because the church is built on forgiveness
• natural family planning


  the catholic church allows the rhythm method as a form of contraception (timing sex around the phases of a women's menstruation)
• the church is against artificial methods of contraception
• 'every sexual act should be open to pro-creation' Pope Paul VI
• the church teaches the purpose of sex is to procreate within a marriage
• contraception


  something that allows sex to take place without procreating
• reasons the church is against artificial contraception

  • not natural and goes against the will of God
  • the value of life is reduced
  • can lead to broken promiscuity and broken families/divorce
  • sex should be to create life
  • if sex is in a marriage there are no STIs
• 'all forms of artificial methods of contraception are evil' Pope Paul VI