Verghese V Joseph – On the occasion of the media launch of the Family Global Compact, the Holy Father Francis lent his support to the Family Global Compact, an initiative promoted by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, together with the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, with the collaboration of the International Center for Family Studies. Speakers who dwelled the project were Rev. Sr. Helen Alford, OP, President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences; Prof. Gabriella Gambino, Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life; and Prof. Pierpaolo Donati, soci ..read more

By Monsignor Francisco Vinaixa – Book Name: Right of Defence in Marriage Nullity Trials Author: Rev. Dr Merlin Rengith Ambrose Place of Publication and Publisher: Germany, LIT Verlag. The Year of Publication: 2022. Pages: 364. ISBN: 978-3-643-91509-2 Available at: https://www.lit-verlag.de/isbn/978-3-643-91509-2. The book that the reader has in his hands, Right of Defence in Marriage Nullity Trials – A Study Based on CIC 1983, DC and MIDI, by Rev. Dr. Merlin Rengith Ambrose, Professor of Canon Law at St.P eter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore and the Executive Secretary of Commission for Cano ..read more

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on January 3 observed that all religious conversions cannot be presumed by a State to be illegal while agreeing to hear a Madhya Pradesh government appeal against a High Court decision freezing a mandatory provision requiring a person who desires to convert to another faith to give 60 days’ prior intimation to the local District Magistrate. Supreme Court agrees to hear Madhya Pradesh Government’s plea against High Court order. A Bench led by Justice M.R. Shah issued notice but refused to order an interim stay of the High Court order even as Solicitor General Tushar ..read more

By Fr. AVS Pradeep – The Catholic Church understands marriage to be an enduring and exclusive partnership for the mutual giving and receiving of love and the procreation and education of children. Marriage is much more than a legal contract; it is a sacred bond in which a man and a woman totally commit themselves to the good of each other for their entire lives. A sacramental bond can be dissolved only by the death of one of the spouses. What is a valid Catholic Marriage? In the Catholic Church, a marriage is considered valid when: It is celebrated in a ceremony which is legally acceptable in ..read more

By Lorraine & Leon Bent Count yourself blessed, dear Marriage Encountered Couples, because you have within your grasp one easy secret to a healthy-leading-to-a-great, marriage: Affirmation! Take complete control of it. We will keep our Sharing succinct as we offer you this golden nugget of relational wisdom. What is Affirmation? It is emotional support, recognition or encouragement from a spousal other, or others, in general. It enriches emotional connection and is verbal and non-verbal enhancement; an exuberant, buoyant, nourishing and powerful tool for emotional bonding. LORRAINE: Congr ..read more

By Lorraine & Leon Bent – Continuing from where we left off, let’s examine how we  invariably hurt the one we love. Conflict is an inescapable, integral and inevitable part of a marriage relationship. Until we accept this and put our conflicts to creative use, our chance of ever achieving enduring love in marriage is slim. Unless we face our conflicts realistically, and resolve them, true joy in marriage will only last as long as we fool ourselves, by sweeping our differences under the carpet. However, it won’t be long before cracks appear in a conjugal alliance. Conflict brings to th ..read more

By Lorraine & Leon Bent – World Marriage Day is an observance sponsored by Worldwide Marriage Encounter, which is observed on the second Sunday of February each year. Its purpose: “World Marriage Day honours husband and wife as the foundation of the family; the basic unit of society. It salutes the beauty of spousal faithfulness, sacrifice and joy in daily married life.” This piece of writing flows meanderingly, and with subtlety, from our own lived experience. “A Journey of a thousand miles,” says an old Chinese proverb “begins with a single step.” And that ..read more

By Lisa Joseph – I still remember the thrill and joy of being able to introduce my husband as “My” husband right after my wedding. It was also a joy to hear my husband introduce me as “his” wife. Having taken on the commitment of marriage gives a spouse the freedom to claim that the other belongs exclusively to him/her. That is the beauty of this relationship. In fact, come to think of it, marriage is the only relationship which calls for an exclusive belongingness to each other. In every other relationship there are others who could share the same relationship with the same person. For e.g ..read more

By Mary Irene – I would have lost heart, unless I had believed; That I would see the goodness of the Lord; In the land of the living. Psalm 27:6 The pain of childlessness Childlessness! It’s an awful, unexplainable psychological numbness. It’s beyond any describable emotion under the sky. It is an emotional blockage, stress, with physically drained life of number of treatments for infertility. This is not just with one person but two!! Childlessness affects both men and women equally. Both come across the issues together often leading to misunderstanding, marital conflicts and what not. And st ..read more

By Abhishek Prasad – The Catholic Church cares deeply about marriage because it is a foundation of human existence, fundamental good in itself and a blessing from God. Each marriage forms its beginning in the foundation in- waiting of a new family and each marriage- based family is a basic ‘cell’ of the society. The traditional view of marriage, which the church has always supported, is different. It sees marriage as about connecting the values and people in our lives which otherwise have a tendency to get fragmented: sex and love, male and female, sex and babies, parents and children. The vi ..read more