Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Marriage is Forever - or how I spent my Sunday afternoon

Sunday was our Marriage is Forever class. It was definitely NOT what I expected! There were 5 segments: Sacrament of Marriage, Theology of the Body parts 1 and 2, Medical and Moral Issues, and Communication.

First of all, had we not just taken RCIA last year, the Sacrament part would have been a LOT more interesting. However, the guy who taught it to us last year spent a ton of time focusing on it, knowing that David and I were engaged. So this felt like review and not a very good use of time. I can see why they do it though, so it was ok.

The Theology of the Body.... I can see how this would be very interesting. And I am intrigued to learn more. I just walked away from it unsure of what I was supposed to have learned (if that makes sense)

The Medical and Moral Issues was actually presented by the parents of some of my students!! At first, I was slightly horrified, thinking how embarrassing that might be. But when they started talking, it was SO comfortable! Not that they made light of things, but they did things in a very light manner. It was very open and enlightening. They shared a lot of personal stories that I won't repeat, but I definitely respect them even more!
He also talked about the medical dangers of birth control and some of the things that he sees within his office (he's a doctor). It was kind of frightening when he said that estrogen etc. have been placed on the FDA's list of known carcinogens (where have I been?). He talked about how effective NFP can be, etc. He mentioned a lot of things from a MEDICAL standpoint that just happen to coincide with the Catholic ideals. He was presenting things more to strengthen relationships than to say "Catholics are the only ones who are right."

The last presentation was about Communication. They made a LOT of good points - I'm going to try to paraphrase the notes before too long to make them into something useful for other people too :)

3 comments:

Angela said...

That's really cool. You should check out this site http://tobinstitute.com/page.asp?ContentID=5
to learn more about Theology of the Body.

Halsey said...

Very interesting, did you take the class at church?

Princess Christy said...

eliza - thanks for the site. I appreciate it!

Halsey - Yes - they are put on through our local deanery. It was an experience for sure!