Commitment for Life: Love is the
strongest emotion anyone could feel.
Institution and Sacrament of Marriage:
• It is the product evolution of 3 cultural
traditions. (Jewish, roman, German)
The Jewish Tradition:
• It insists on the two-fold meaning,
procreation, and union.
• The welfare of offspring is of central
importance.
• Children are essential for the survival,
expansion, and strength of chosen
people.
• Theodore Mackin says that the main
reason Jews marry is to preserve the
husband’s family name from dying out.
• It was to honor the ancient covenant
commitment of Israel and God.
• Since, infant mortality was high and life
expectancy was low, the childbearer
(women) needed to marry onset at
puberty (12 years old and 6 months)
• Boys, instead got married at 13, but for
male who chose not to yet male aged
18+ is compelled by the court to do so.
Jewish Marriage:
a. Solemn engagement (Kiddushin)
It’s as good as marriage and can only be
broken off by divorce. The boy and girl were
dedicated to one another and held off sexual
fidelity.
b. Wedding Proper (Nissuin)
The feast lasts a week. The core of the
liturgical part was a series of 7 benedictions
read by groom’s father. It has no Levite,
priest, or rabbi. The ceremony ended and
climaxed with the groom leading his bride in
procession to his home, if he was young then
to his parent’s home.
The Roman Tradition:
• Has undergone several phases of
evolution
• 1st was the ancient religious ceremony
called confarreatio. Which consisted an
elaborate sacrificial to Jupiter.
Roman Marriage:
a. Contempio
5th century B.C.E. A fictious purchase of the
bride by the groom. Transferred from the
power of her father to her husband.
b. Matrimonium Liberium (Free)
2nd & 3rd centuries B.C.E. The women
ordinarily took her husband’s name, she was
regarded as his equal. Their home was as
much his as hers. This equality extended to
her right to dissolve the marriage. This form of
marriage has 3 requirements:
1. Capacity of man and woman to marry.
2. Desire to marry.
3. Expression of desire.
c. Matrimonioum Clandestium (Secret)
The mutual exchange of marital consent
between man and woman was enough to
create a marriage even if there was no
witness. Caused problems because it could
easily be denied; their word against the other.
Usus is a roman law regarding the consent.
The church ended matrimonium clandestium,
at the council of trend (1545-1563 C.E) with
its decree concerning the reform of marriage:
Tametsi (Nov. 11, 1563). Authorized by parish
priest or local bishop to marry.
Germanic Tradition:
• Romans focused of exchange of
marital consent.
• Germans insisted on a series of acts
1. Betrothal or Engagement - The mutual
exchange of promise to marry.
2. Desponsatio - The exchange of
wedding pledges

3. Wedding proper - Exchange of martial
consents
4. Consummation - First sexual
intercourse of couple after the wedding
St Augustine of Hippo (354-340 B.C.E had to
defend marriage from its detractors.
Manichaeism believed all matter was evil,
marriage is also evil. Procreation for
manichees was providing a body or the
immortal soul. In the defense of St Augustine,
he claimed it was essentially good. Due to the
fruits of marriage which he called Bona
Matrimonii
a. Primary Goods
1. Bonum prolis – good of offspring
(priestly account)
2. Bonum fidei – good of fidelity
(Yahwistic account)
3. Bonum sacramenti – good of
indissolubility (Paul’s letter to
ephessians)
b. Secondary Goods
1. Amicitia coniugalis – marital friendship
2. Mutuum aditorioum – mutual
assistance
3. Remedium concupiscentiae – remedy
for non con-cupiscene
Marriage become a sacrament when Christ
died on the cross. The love of husband or
their wives has only one standard: the love of
Christ for his church. Husbands should love
their wives unconditionally, even sacrificing
themselves.
Threats to Marriage
• Code of canon law of the catholic
church
• Canon 1056 states that the essential
properties of marriage are unity and
indissolubility.
• The threat to the unity of marriage is
infidelity, while the threat to the
indissolubility is divorce,
Infidelity
•
• Refers to the loss of faith in the spouse
due to betrayal of nuptial vows.
• Has its boundary violations.
Divorce is another threat to the indissolubility
of marriage. Though Moses allowed divorce in
Deuteronomy 24;1, it was unclear.
Edward Schillebeeckx:
• A dominical Scholar says that there
were 2 rabbinic schools on the thought
of the matter.
1. The School of Rabbi Shammai
Regarded adultery and misconduct as the
only acceptable grounds for divorce.
2. The School of Rabbi Hillel
All kinds of reasons, even trivial ones were
insufficient grounds for divorce.
The second interpretation was practiced
during the time of Jesus. It allowed Jesus to
re-state God’s original Intention on the issue
of marriage and divorce. Marriage was
indissoluble, and there was no legal ground
for divorce. God instituted marriage, and no
human authority could dissolve it.
Divorce
• Breaks up a marriage.
• There was no love.
Annulment
• Marriage is invalid.
• Defective since the beginning.
Reasons for Annulment
1. The Issue of Porneia:
Found in Matthew 19:9. Bible enumerates
relationships where no marriage is allowed.
Such marriage should be dissolved as it
never should have been celebrated. (Incest)
2. Pauline Privilege
Drawn from 1 Corinthians 7:12-16. It
concerns the marriage of two unbelievers,
one of who later gets converted to the

Christian faith while one stays in his or her
beliefs. (Religious Differences)
3. The Petrine Privilege
Refers to the intervention of the pope. Papal
prerogative was an expansion of Pauline
privilege. (Conversion)
4. Populis ac Nationibus
Slave trade in America.
The Pre Vatican-Teachings of the Church:
• The Vatican church came out in 2004
with a compendium of the social
doctrine of the church.
• Goes back to pope Pius XI
• Pope Leo’s rerum Novarum still marks
the beginning.
Pope Leo XIII (1878-19030
• Connected with the industrial
revolution.
• These social changes raised severe
problems of injustice and posed the
great first social question - social
questions.
• Solve the conflict between capital and
labor, between employer and
employee. Between rich and poor.
• These new things or res novae in Latin
prompted the church to get involved in
a way.
Published in May 15 1891. In his
encyclical letter, the pope examined
the conditions of the workers.
• It listed errors that gave rise to social
ills.
• Rejected socialism as a remedy to
these social problems.
• The pope examined the questions of
work, right to property, the principle of
collaboration instead of class struggle.
The rights of the weak, the dignity of
the poor, and the obligations of the rich.
The perfecting of justice through charity
and right to form professional
association or labor unions.
•
• Rerum Novarum became a truly
inspiring document.
Pope Pius XI (1922-1939)
• Following the economic crisis of 1929,
pope Pius XI published his encyclical
Quadragesimo Anno, commemorating
the 40th anniversary of rerum Novarum.
• It was post world war I period.
• Totalitarian regimes were being
imposed in Europe, like Hitlers Nazism,
and Mussolini’s fascism.
• The class struggle between social
classes were also increasing in
bitterness.
• The encyclicals warned against the
failure to respect the freedom to form
associations or labor unions.
• It stressed the principles of solidarity
and cooperation to overcome social
conflicts.
• Quadragesimo Anno, confirmed the
principles that salaries should be
proportional to the needs of the
workers, and those of the worker’s
family. (principle of subsidiarity)
• The encyclical rejected liberalism.
• It reconfirmed the value of a private
property and taught its perennial social
function.
• On June 29 1931, he had protested
against the abuse of power by the
totalitarian fascists regime in Italy. With
the encyclical letter Non Abbiamo
Bisogno
• He also published Mit Brenneder Sorge
on the situation of the catholic church
under the german reich.
• Young hitler’s movement, he
implmeneted more coercive and
repressive measures in 1939.
• In 1938, he said we are all semites due
to the spreading of anti semitism.
• Divine redemtoris – encyclical for
atheists.
Pope Pius XII (1939-1958)

• In his Christmas radio messages, he
reflected on a new social order.
• His pontificated covered the terrible
years of 2nd world war and the difficult
years of reconstruction.
• He published no encyclicals but
constantly shown his concerns for the
international order.
• His attention to the professional and
business class.
• He insisted on the notion of natural law
as the soul of the system to be
established.
Pope Paul IV (1963-1978)
• Guided by morality and law.
• Focused on peace and justice.
Pope St John XXIII (1958-1963)
• The recovery after the devastation
• The beginning of decolonization
• The first timid signs of thaw in relations
between the soviet and Americans.
• Matter et Magistra
• The keywords in his encyclical were
community and socialization: the
church is called in justice truth, and
love to cooperate in building with the
men and women an authentic
communion.
• Pacem in Terris, heighted the problem
of peace in an era marked by nuclear
proliferation.
• Dwelt on the role of public authority in
the world community.
• Tackle and solve political, social, or
cultural problems.
Post Vatican Teaching of the church:
Vatican II (1962-1965)
• 16 documents
• Gaudium et Spes – Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the
modern world
• Response of the Church to the
expectations of the world
• To make God present in the modern
world
•
• Presented in a systematic manner the
themes of culture, of economic and
social life, of marriage and family of, of
the political community, of peace, and
of the community of the peoples.
• Dignitatis Humanae – Declaration on
Religious Freedom
The council affirmed that religious
freedom was based on the dignity of
the human person and that it must be
sanctioned as a civil right in the legal
order of society.
• E. L. - Populorum Progressio
• Affirmed that development was the new
name for peace.
• It must be an integral development of
the human person and of the human
society.
• Integral human development and
solidarity are the key points in this
encyclical.
• P.C. - Iustitia et Pax – Justice and
Peace
• Pontifical Commission
• The universal church be set up in order
that justice and love towards the poor
might be fostered everywhere, to
promote progress in needy regions and
to work for in ternational social justice.
• 1968 – The World Day of Peace
• A. L - Octagesima Advenience
• On the eightieth anniversary of the
Rerum Novarum
• Urbanization, the condition of young
people, the condition of women,
unemployment, discrimination,
emigration, population growth, the
 • influence of the means of social
communication, and the ecological
problem.
Pope John Paul II (1978-2005)
• E. L - Laborem exercens – ninety years
after Rerum Novarum
• It outlined a spirituality and ethics of
work
• Objective Dimension - Work is good
for what it produces
• Subjective Dimension – Work is good
for what is does to the human person
• E. L – Sollicitudo rei socialis – 20th
anniversary of Populorum Progressio
• Theme: Development
• The dramatic situation of the modern
world, due to the failed development of
the Third World.
• The meaning of development worthy of
humanity
• Opus iustitiae pax (peace as the work
of justice)
• Opus solidaritatis pax (peace as the
work of charity)
• E. L – Centesimus Annus – hundredth
anniversary of Rerum Novarum
• Theme: emphasized the principle of
solidarity that has always been part of
the tradition of the catholic social
doctrine.
1. Leo X111 – friendship
2. Pius XI – social charity
3. Pope Paul VI – civilization of love
Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013)
• E. L – Caritas in veritate
• Caritas – (Love)
• Is an extraordinary force which leads
people to opt for courage and
generous engagement in the field of
justice and peace.
• Justice and Peace are futile.
• Charity is at the heart of the Church’s
social doctrine.
• 6 chapters that discussed the idea of
love and the true criteria; 1 – to give
what is due everyone.
First Chapter
Deepened on the message of Pope Paul VI’s
Populorum progression.
1. The whole Church, in all her being and
acting, is engaged in promoting integral
human development
2. Authentic human development
concerns the whole person
Second Chapter
Viewpoints of human development
Economic – means active participation, on
equal terms, in the international and
economic process.
Social – evolve into educated societies
marked by solidarity.
Political – consolidation of economic regimes
capable of ensuring freedom and peace.
Glaring inequalities, Globalization, World
hunger, questionable respect for life and
Denial of the right to religious freedom.
Third Chapter
Human being is a gift. We are capable of
receiving and giving as it characterizes our
very nature. The poor are not to be
considered as burden but a resource.
Fourth Chapter
Speaks of the development of peoples.
Individual rights detached from duties can run
wild – irrational demands. To consider
population increase as the primary cause of
underdevelopment is a mistake, even from an
economic point of view because many
populous nations were able to rise from
poverty. On the other hand, prosperous
nations are recently passing through a phase
of uncertainty in some cases precisely
because of their falling birth rate.
Fifth Chapter
Necessary cooperation of the whole human
family One of the deepest forms of poverty –
isolation. The development of peoples
depends, above all, on the recognition of the
human race as a single family working
together in true common good
Sixth Chapter
Tackles the development of peoples and
technology. Technological development can
give rise to the idea that technology is self-
sufficient. We have to realize that
development is impossible without upright
man and women, without financiers and
politicians whose conscience are finely
attuned to the requirement of the common
good. Both professional competence and
moral consistency are necessary. Mass
media can truly shape and influence attitudes.
Conclusion - The human person cannot bring
about his or her own progress unaided by
divinity.
Pope Francis (2013-present) 
 Evangelii Gaudium (The joy of the
Gospel)
 Laudato Si’ (May he be praised)