Both the Catholic Church and the Methodist Church are denominations of Christianity. As Christians, they recognize two very important ceremonies: marriage and baptism. However, as with any established spiritual concern, time and participation have developed rituals and fixed attitudes regarding these events. Thus, these two denominations look at and commemorate these two events differently.
The Catholic catechism begins a definition of marriage with defining the condition of man and woman. "Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman." Later on the same page the catechism further explains "God created man and woman together and willed each for the other."Also the catechism explains "Man and woman were made 'for each other'-- not that God left them half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a communion of persons."
Then, speaking of marriage itself, the catechism states "The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage." It also gives the church's position on divorce: "In his preaching, Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning: permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it: 'what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder'."
However, the Catholic church, in recognizing the habits and expectations of the day, prescribes an interesting solution. In speaking of "human readiness for marriage" Donald L. Gelpi notes that "not every man and woman who experience mutual sexual attraction have the capacity to create a ...