The Archbishop of Westminster has affirmed marriage as providing the “best place” for raising children, commenting that marriage gives children an opportunity to develop a sense of their identity and experience the nurture and love of both their natural mother and father.
Speaking at an annual mass for married couples in Westminster Cathedral on 26 May, the Most Revd Vincent Nichols criticised the increasing trend towards defining marriage “without any reference to children”, and warned that severing the vital bond between marriage and child rearing could have “damaging consequences” for society. He stated:
“We know that the context of a marriage is the best place for children to be reared, providing them with a framework of love, within which they are sure of their biological heritage and not deprived, without grave reason, of the experience of being loved and raised by their natural mother and father.
“The Church’s teaching holds together marriage, sexual relationships and the generation and raising of children.
“When separated from the bonds of this interconnectedness, these three powerful aspects of human living are driven further apart from each other, with damaging consequences.”
More than five hundred couples attended the annual homily to renew their commitment and celebrate their 10th, 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th or even 60th wedding anniversaries, having a combined total of 31,850 years of marriage between them.
A witness to society
The Archbishop described the marriages of those in attendance as a “witness” to society, highlighting that love and commitment in marriage were both representative of God’s unfailing love for humanity. He said:
“Marriage provides the framework for stability in relations between men and women. The sexual complementarity of male and female finds its correct place and expression in marriage. There, sexual relations properly express both the mutual love of husband and wife and the inherent openness of their love to children who are so often a blessing, a fruit of that love.
“Marriage is the place which can model the way in which men and women depend on each other, recognising the equal dignity of the other and their beauty and value as they seek the good of each other in all things. This too is an important witness that you give today, to the true nature of marriage. I thank you for it.
“The permanence of your love is a sure and certain sign of the unfailing love of God for each and every person. This loving commitment of God to us is made visible in Jesus, God’s Son, who took on our flesh so that we could understand the depth and reality of that love.”
Sources
Read the Homily in full here >
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