Catholic Fire

Thirteen married couples will speak on their experiences during the Synod. They come from various countries such as Australia, Italy, Chile, Rwanda, the Philippines and Brazil. Among the themes that the couples will discuss are the day to day struggles of a family, educating children and relationships. Ron and Mavis have already shared the experience of their 55 year marriage. MAVIS & ROMANO PIROLA "Most couples cohabitate before marriage and there's a whole difficult pastoral questions around the divorced and remarried. These are issues that hopefully will be discussed at the Synod.” To prevent broken marriages, one of the ingredients is a good preparation during the time of courtship. It is one of the issues that will be addressed during the Synod thanks to these experts. LUCIA & PEPPINO PETRARCA "It's about showing youth the value of the body and sexuality to help them understand that "forever” is not impossible. That the indissolubility...

I teach a workshop for couples engaged to be married called “God’s Plan for a Joy Filled Marriage.” From our registrations we know that roughly half of these couples are already living together. In fact, in the United States, 60 percent of all marriages are preceded by cohabitation, according to a year 2000 study. In 2004, more than 5 million Americans were cohabiting, that is, living together in a sexual relationship without marriage, compared to 500,000 in 1970, according to a 2005 study. There are a variety of reasons couples choose cohabitation before marriage. Convenience, financial savings and companionship are some of the reasons. There is another reason that is also understandable. Many couples believe that the familiarity that cohabitation provides will lead to a more informed decision of whether or not to marry, thereby lowering their risk of divorce. Since many coming into marriage now are children of divorce or have family members or friends who have experienced divorce, th...