http://thesmediolanumlif.com/?p=3951 Thes - Old English for "this", neuter of thes, of West Germanic origin: Mediolanum - old name for Milan: Lif - Old English for "life", of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lijf, German Leib 'body' Fri, 16 Nov 2018 07:21:49 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.41 http://thesmediolanumlif.com/?p=3951#comment-9987 Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:52:04 +0000 http://thesmediolanumlif.com/?p=3951#comment-9987 You’re right and I don’t think our society requires it either. But that’s the debate in the UK at the moment. The highest member of the Catholic Church in the UK made the comments and, as I point out at the bottom, he can’t be all that bright to misinterpret something that is plain.

]]> http://thesmediolanumlif.com/?p=3951#comment-9984 Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:14:05 +0000 http://thesmediolanumlif.com/?p=3951#comment-9984 I agree with you, not only emotionally (what do I care what other people call and celebrate their relationships?), but intellectually (marriage is a hoary old institution, like prostitution).
Nazinger speaks from “holy family” theology that is no older than the 19th century; so even if one accepts his particular brand of Christianity, it’s by no means a word dropped from the heavens and its very much subject to dispute.
The family of parents and children is a social and biological phenomenon that need not, and was not, connected to marriage for most of human history. A male and female mate and children are born. What happens after is half biology, half sociology. There is no straight line from the biological to the legal marriage, much less to the canonical. Marriage is an economic institution that has changed over time as societies have changed.
I question whether there ought to be any such thing as lifelong marriage at all, for anyone. Certainly, our society does not require it.

]]>