Understanding Marriage and Family within Social Doctrine
Individualism and Hedonism in Marriage
Individualism views marriage as a comprehensive partnership encompassing sexual, emotional, and commitment aspects. Spouses should ideally be best friends, fostering strong communication and trust. Joint planning is essential, recognizing that decisions are made together as a unit. Hedonism, however, impacts not only marriage but daily life. This philosophy prioritizes pleasure, enjoyment, and happiness while rejecting pain and suffering. It can lead to objectifying people and valuing them based on their usefulness. In marriage, as in friendships, this can manifest as a focus solely on self-interest. Today’s hedonistic tendencies within marriage mean that while things are comfortable and enjoyable, problems often lead to separation.
Education According to Social Doctrine
9.2 Education
9.2.1 Social Doctrine’s View on Education
Teaching refers to primary, secondary, vocational, and university levels of education. It has a defined beginning and end, focusing on theoretical knowledge acquisition. Education, on the other hand, is a lifelong process starting at birth, encompassing habits, behaviors, and the development of the whole person. While teaching specializes, education addresses the entirety of a person’s being. Proper formation requires both teaching and education.
Levels of Personal Education
- Human and Civic Education: Learning to be a person, respecting elders, listening, and practicing civility, primarily within the family.
- Moral Education: Discerning right from wrong and developing a propensity for goodness and justice.
- Physical Education: Similar to teaching, this involves sports and physical activity, promoting valuable habits like friendship, sacrifice, effort, and discipline.
- Life Education: The transmission of moral and edifying knowledge and experience from parents to children.
- Spiritual Education: Nurturing a child’s spiritual side through prayer and religious practice, recognizing their connection to God.
Parents have a crucial duty to educate their children across all these levels. Schools primarily focus on teaching, not the broader scope of education.
Marriage and Family (Treaty Item 9)
Defining Marriage
Marriage is the union of a man and a woman characterized by:
- Indissolubility: No human authority can dissolve it.
- Perpetuity: It lasts until the death of a spouse.
- Oneness: It is exclusive to the two individuals involved.
Children need both a father and a mother for healthy psychosocial and emotional development. Marriage serves two purposes: unitive and procreative.
Unitive Purpose
This involves mutual support between spouses, helping each other navigate life’s challenges. It requires sharing a life plan and moving forward together, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful courtship. From a Christian perspective, marriage is about mutual support on the path to heaven. Maintaining strong relationships within the household is vital.
Procreative Purpose
Equally important is the procreative purpose, which centers on children. Marriage is the natural environment for children to grow and mature, as they are the fruit of love between spouses. This includes their lifelong education, which cannot be solely delegated to schools.
Goods of Marriage
- Fidelity: Infidelity is a grave harm to both the marriage and the individual who commits it, often leading to separation.
- Offspring: Children are a blessing, not a burden. Openness to life is essential, moving away from selfishness.
- Sacramental: The Church elevated marriage to a sacrament, where God bestows a special grace upon the couple to face life together.
9.1.4 Errors Affecting Marriage and Family
These errors, constantly present in married life, can undermine the relationship between spouses. The Social Doctrine of the Church emphasizes that every sexual act should be open to life, avoiding artificial methods that block procreation. The unitive and procreative purposes of marriage are inseparable.