Sexual difference: Going back to the "beginning"

Today’s post is the third in a series about sexual difference.

Previous posts:

• Sexual Difference: Shedding light on popular claims (part one)
• Sexual Difference: Shedding light on popular claims (part two)

In this post, we will examine Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) on the subject of sexual difference. (more…)

Sunday Pope Quote: Benedict XVI on being "re-created" in love

Pope Benedict XVI: “…in love the human person is ‘re-created’. Incipit vita nuova [a new life begins], as Dante said, (Vita Nuova I, 1), the life of the new unity of the two in one flesh. The true appeal of sexuality is born of the vastness of this horizon that opens up: integral beauty, the universe of the other person and of the “we” that is born of the union, the promise of communion that is hidden therein, the new fruitfulness, the path towards God, the source of love, which love opens up. (more…)

A prayer in thanksgiving for marriage

Almighty God,
source and sustainer of all good things,
by the workings of your grace,
on this Thanksgiving Day,
inspire married couples with a spirit of gratitude
for the love that originates in you. (more…)

Sexual difference: Shedding light on popular claims (II)

Today’s post is the second in a series about sexual difference.

In Monday’s post, we shed light on two popular (but misleading) claims about sexual difference: that it is a wound or curse, and that it is a societal construct. In this post, we’ll look at two more popular ideas about sexual difference.

———————————————————————————————————-

Is sexual difference an unbridgeable chasm? (more…)

Sexual difference: Shedding light on popular claims (I)

Today’s post is the first in a series about sexual difference. Stay tuned for more!

—————————————————————————————————-

First, let’s clear the pathway, so to speak, by thinking about popular notions about sexual difference and where they fail to capture the full truth.

Is sexual difference a wound or a curse? (more…)

Sunday Pope Quote: JPII on communion and complementarity

Bl. John Paul II: “The first communion is the one which is established and which develops between husband and wife: By virtue of the covenant of married life, the man and woman ‘are no longer two but one flesh’ and they are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total self-giving. (more…)

Married Saints: St. Elizabeth of Hungary

The basics:

• Born in 1207 in a castle in northern Hungary
• Married in 1221 to Louis of Thuringia
• Mother of three children
• Died November 17, 1231 in Marburg at the age of 24
• Feast day: November 17 (more…)

"Made for Life": an introduction

Pop quiz: What is the “supreme gift” of marriage?

If you answered “children,” ding ding ding ding! Children are the “supreme gift” of marriage and its “ultimate crown” (Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, nos. 50, 48). Put another way, the procreation of children is one of the two ends, or purposes, of marriage: (more…)

"Made for Each Other": an introduction

Do a man and a woman really matter for marriage?

Some today might not even think to ask this question. Others might answer a resounding “no” to this question. “What does being a man or being a woman matter?” they might say. “All you need is love…”

But is this true? (more…)

Welcome from Archbishop Cordileone

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Marriage: Unique for a Reason website.

As the chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, as well as the archbishop of San Francisco, California, I am happy you are visiting this website, the latest project in the ongoing work of the bishops to strengthen marriage and the family, and particularly to promote and defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman. We are excited to establish this latest online presence for the Subcommittee’s work. (more…)