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What Kind of the Preparation is Needed for the Marriage
Miha Žužek
Abstract
The biggest part of human life is determined by the family, let it be the question of family the man comes from, which gave him bodily and spiritual birth, or the family he has made himself. If we really wish to help the modem man on his way towards God, we must take in account the way leading him through the life of family. That is why the preparation of the youth for the marriage makes an essential task in our pastoral work!
But, who is supposed to be prepared for the church-marriage? Maybe all baptised — even if they didn't reach yet the personal and mature faith? Or only the best among them, the elite? This dilemma comprises the whole pastoral work concerning the sacraments, because the sacrament of faith can't be received fruitfully without faith. The practice and the legislation of the Church in the past and still today were going unsteadily. Even today we haven't got a clearness in our views and programmes. Therefore, we must be aware that all our pastoral solutions today are rather for a short time period — until we find better understanding of the current and coming problems. The author concludes: we wish to help and encourage everybody to advance at least one pace more close to God.
This kind of reasoning makes feasible to give quite a flexible answer to our question: What kind of the preparation should be offered to any candidate for the marriage in the Church? The ideal preparation for the marriage should be a permanent process for several years and systematic work with the young people for the biggest task in their lives. But, the period of the immediate preparation, when the courses for the bethroted should be given, seems to be the privileged time, because the young feel the need to connect the experience from the past with a new experience of this moment, and that should be able to give an answer of faith to their existential questions.
Afterwards the author deals with the practical questions concerning the
courses for bethroted, which appeared as the most suitable form in this preparation.
Who is to be invited to attend this course? What the parish priest should do immediately for these people before marriage? What kind of form to pre-ferre: to take all candidates together or to choose a certain number of the people? Should be all of them obliged to attend this course?
Who is supposed to give the course? Who should take care for the course — parish priest, diocesan or interdiocesan factor? What kind of a subject—matter and the themes schedule to propose? In his answers to these questions the author reffers to the concrete experiences from the courses he attended in the different parts of the world, and especially to his experiences in Slovenia.
The great chance and one of the most important tasks in our local church consists of giving the opportunities for the solid preparation for the marriage to all who are willing to put their love at disposal to Christ and Church, and that means to organize and make fit the young people — who have reached the required age (18 years) — for the marriage, and build them in as inte¬gral part in the entire religious education in all its levels — starting from the primary school pupils and farther up. With the sobriety in an experimentation, in mutual cooperation of the parishes and the help of interdiocesan factors, this chance can come true.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
57265
URI
Publication date:
21.12.1977.
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