"It is a love which is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner's own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself."
This basically discusses the sanctity of marriage and how a marriage should basically consist of self-sacrifice, and should be an enriching experience for both partners. The Pope reiterates how important it is to give and receive in a marriage. The Pope's position on how a marriage should be, is confirmed and backlashed against in our society at the same time. The much discussed Kardashian-Humphries marriage, or lack there of, displays how public figures backlash against what the standard of marriage is set by the Pope. However, our society seems to agree with the Pope's standpoint of the selflessness of marriage by all the negative feedback given through the media. I think it's very interesting to watch Kim Kardashian's marriage on television because they contradict what the Pope says the key components of marriage are, and I feel wrong watching it. This is weird for me because I have not been raised very religiously, and somehow I still inherently have the same position as the Pope of what a marriage should be composed of. This causes me to think that the Pope's position is either influenced by what the general public thinks in a way, or if even unreligious people are somewhat swayed by the Pope and his moral grounds in some way.
I agree with your argument that even if you’re not religious or agree with The Pope on most issues there are some ideas presented by The Church that seem to transcend other things. Another paragraph describes how the ideas of The Church are consistent with a neutral law that all humans share, although I don’t really agree with this whole heartedly, I think that some of the ideas presented by The Church are good and should be felt by all people. This is probably why we see lots of similar ideas in different religions. Regardless of your religious stance the concept of being linked to another person and putting them before you is something that I think most people would agree with. The biggest issues with The Church’s stance on this is it’s feeling on with whom one can make this bond.
ReplyDeleteI also was not raised very religiously, but I agree with many of the statements given by the Pope. The natural forces of how things "should be" in our society seem to have an overwhelming impact on our personal opinions. I really liked that you used the Kardashians as an example. The Kardashians definitely go against all things documented by the Pope and The Church. From the lack of commitment and sacrifice in Kim's wedding to Kourtney having a baby prior to marriage are two ways in which our society has developed and gone against themes presented by The Church.
ReplyDeleteI was not raised religiously in any way; my mother was a Catholic and my father was an agnostic, but both of my parents were very lenient on enforcing any sort of religion on the lives of my siblings and me. What the Pope seems to be saying in paragraph nine essentially creates a moral obligation among spouses to love and care for one another. While that is all important, there is a strong sense of hypocrisy involved within many marriages such as with the Kardashian-Humphry wedding and specifically with the Pope's earlier statements about gay marriage; the idea is summed up within this photograph: http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/316523_2107784894964_1255823697_31874769_1591627366_n.jpg
ReplyDeleteI agree with the popes view on relationships as well. Unfortunately in today's society I do not think people feel the need for give and take in relationships and expect everything to work out perfectly and if it isn't perfect people will get divorced. I think without putting someone else first and caring about someone else more then yourself then what you have can't really be a marriage in the first place. The khardashians actually make me sick because I can't believe the things they do and say that make it apparent that there marriage being successful is far from there priorities.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my family claims to be religious, we do not really go to church often but we still mostly believe in what the Pope says. There is not one person in my family that I can think of that went through divorce. I still catch my grandparents holding hands every so often. I believe marriage is something that people need to seriously consider before going into it, especially since the divorce rates now are so high. It's sickening that people are choosing to spend their lives with others only to realize it wasn't worth it. Being engaged or dating for a while shouldn't be a problem if you truly do love someone. There should be no rush. I'm actually a fan of the Kardashians' show, but I believe this did happen because of publicity. They both got a lot of money out of it and their wedding is still probably on the cover of every tabloid out there.
ReplyDeleteI agree with The Pope on this one. I mean, looking at divorce rates of today, 64% of divorces happen between the ages of under 20-24 years old...that is HUGE! I think in todays society people tend to follow the fashion of celebrities. Kim Kardashian for example. So many of my 23 year old sisters are getting married right now, posting pictures of their rings and status updating like crazy how he asked her, etc. Then she gets a gazillion messages from everyone she knows congratulating her, and all of a sudden everyone who sees that gets jealous and wants the spotlight to be on them. I think the IDEA of marriage has become way more appealing to people in a superficial way than it ever has been.
ReplyDelete