Catholic Church and the Methodist Church

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 hardne

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delivered me at the same moment from her image and the idea of marriage." Thus, while "an early leader of Methodism saw marriage as a threat to his discipleship," nowadays "Methodists have tended to see marriage as the preferred state for clergy and laity alike." There are more changes in the church's operations. In a survey quoted at the end of their article, Lawrence and Marsden note that most pastors expressed disagreement with "7. The church can best strengthen the family by tightening and/or expanding its laws regarding marriage and divorce." There was a "uniformly high level of disagreement" with "8. The pastor is responsible for seeing that prospective candidates for marriage will have a successful marriage." Also, the statement "9. The pastor should only bless marriages of couples who are members of the church" was answered with "We can consider this statement vetoed!" Thus, the Methodist view on marriage is much looser than that of Catholic clergy. Morality and faithfulness, at least to the specific denomination, while crucial to marriage in the Catholic church, are not required in the Methodist church. Likewise, divorce, practically disallowed in the Catholic church, but replaced with "annulment," is acceptable in
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Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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