Private Vows: Good Idea or Not?

With a son and two nieces presently engaged, there’s a lot of conversation about weddings in our household. One of the things that has come up is the idea of ‘private vows’ which, according to popular blogs, is trending.   The phenomenon of eloping to avoid the drama and cost of a big event is not…

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What’s in a vow?

A few years ago we had a ‘date night’ at West Side Story. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening even though we had seen it before in a youth group version. This time, all the performers completed the show intact, unlike the youth group which had to transport one of its members to the hospital with…

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Ain’t Marriage Grand!

What makes for an epic marriage? A marriage that faces and transcends challenges and obstacles, that has an interior resilience and grace that comes from the God who is always ready to encourage us. We recently attended two weddings of close family friends. This time, a different part of the ceremony really stood out for…

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The Daily ‘I do’ When You’d Rather Not

At a recent business conference, a speaker made an offhand remark about having to recommit to her marriage vows every day. It was in the context of a discussion about the challenges of change management and how reforming a company culture requires persistence and recommitment in the face of setbacks and resistance. It was an…

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Commitment

In his book, ‘The Power of Commitment‘, Scott Stanley (USA) provides some very useful insights into the nature of commitment. He identifies two types of relationship commitment: constraints and dedication. Constraint Commitment Constraint commitment refers to the ‘forces’ that resist the separation of a couple even when one or both partners would prefer to leave…

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Making the Wedding Vows Stick

It’s common for married couples celebrating a significant wedding anniversary to have a renewal of vows ceremony. The truth is, most couples in long-lasting marriages are renewing their vows a lot more often. Recently the Weekend Australian Magazine featured a couple who had just married on Bondi Beach. But it wasn’t their first wedding. In…

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The Marriage Kit: Why Marry?

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Couples marry for all sorts of reasons, but one of the almost universal expectations of couples is that marriage will make them happy. It is after all a dominant emotion of the romance experience. But is this really what marriage is for? In this short video we explore happiness and the true purpose of marriage.…

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Engaged Couples Ask Pope Questions

On the feast of St Valentine’s Day, Pope Francis answered the questions of three engaged couples in St. Peter’s Square, with an audience of 20 000 other young engaged couples. Here are their questions: Question 1: The fear of the “forever” Holiness, so many today think that to promise faithfulness for the whole of life…

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A How To Guide for Your Catholic Wedding

Your Catholic Wedding Ceremony will be a rich and wonderful celebration, based on universal traditions, and flavoured with your own unique personality. At least one fiancé must be a baptised Catholic in order to marry in the Catholic church. A Catholic wedding can take place within holy Mass (called a Nuptial Mass) or with the…

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