Abstract

The foundation of the Catholic marriage tradition is deeply Christological and ecclesiastical. The tradition today continues to stress that spouses must be joined in Holy Matrimony, wherein newlyweds are married in a religious ceremony held in a church and exchange the sacrament of marriage. The appeal of the Catholic marriage tradition, however, has become strained among both Christians and non-Christians in the contemporary Western world. Marriage is now a private social or legal contract between consensual partners, and the sacramental model of marriage that chiefly encouraged indissolubility, heterosexual unions, and childrearing is largely ignored in current civil marriage laws. Marriage practice has also developed many secular alternatives in favor of individualism. While some might rightfully argue that there is an ongoing need for reform within Catholic churches regarding its enduring marriage customs, there is, on the other hand, a legitimate concern for the protection of the values embedded in Catholic marriage theology and law. The challenge becomes how to appropriate such biblical and ecclesiastical traditions into the more fluid contemporary Western age.