Greetings! This November update contains links to the resources on marriage available for use in bulletins during December. The Future Depends on Love is an initiative of the four bishops of Massachusetts through the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which is the public policy arm of the Catholic Church in Massachusetts.
"Parish Resources for Marriage" ring binders continue to be distributed throughout the state this fall. We all recognize the need for the faithful of Massachusetts to be better educated and catechized on the nature of lifelong, life-giving marriage, so we encourage you to utilize these resources. Your assistance in this work of service is greatly appreciated!
Three bulletin inserts (in PDF format) are downloadable through links given below; possible use dates are also given. In addition, it is suggested that you run a weekly The Future Depends on Love box in your bulletin ("bulletin brief"), containing a quote from a Church document. Those quotes are given below, and you can also access JPGs of these "bulletin briefs" through the links in this email. Homiletic aids are also included for each weekly theme, also linked from this email.
All these documents are available online at www.MassCatholicMarriage.org. Click on "Parish Resources." Please note the other announcements below concerning exciting events going on with The Future Depends on Love!
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For the Upcoming Weeks:
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Suggested weekly themes and bulletin items for the upcoming month are the following: Week #16 (December 7): Justice in our sexual relationships requires indissolubility.
The Future Depends on Love (FDOL) box in the bulletin: Week 12 JPG
"[Jesus'] unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy ... By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, He Himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God." Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1615
Bulletin insert: "God will not leave us: How Lifelong Married Love Shows God to the World"
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| Week #17 (December 14)
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Week #17 (December 14): Our hunger for God is filled by His faithful and fruitful love, which gives us joy.
FDOL
box in the bulletin: Week 17 JPG: "Christ inscribed in the human body-in the body of every man and of every woman-a new dignity, because he himself has taken up the human body together with the soul into union with the person of the Son-Word. From this new dignity, through the 'redemption of the body,' a new obligation was born at the same time, about which Paul writes in a concise but very moving way: 'You were bought at a great price' (I Cor 6:20)." Pope John Paul II, 2/11/1981
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| Week #18 (December 21)
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Week #18(December 21): Openness to life and the use of natural family planning. FDOL
box in the bulletin: Week 18 JPG"Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and educating of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents." Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et spes, #50
Suggested bulletin insert: "The Benefits for Marriage of Cherishing Fertility"
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| Week #19 (December 28)
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Week #19(December 28): God created families.
FDOL
box in the bulletin: Week 19 JPG "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, in which each can be 'helpmate' to the other, for they are equal as persons and complementary as masculine and feminine. In marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming 'one flesh,' they can transmit human life: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.'" Catechism of the Catholic Church, #372
Suggested bulletin insert (if not used in the fall): "What the Church Teaches, Social Science Confirms: Marriage is Good for Husbands, for Wives, and for Their Children"
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Sincerely,
The Future Depends on Love
Massachusetts Catholic Conference
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Weekly Homiletic Aids
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Weekly homiletic aids corresponding to these themes can
be found here. and will also be distributed near the
end of the initiative around January 2009.
It can be downloaded at here. |
Upcoming Events
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Do you want a speaker on marriage in your parish?
Please contact the Massachusetts Catholic Conference at 617-367-6060 or at kathymagno@macathconf.org to schedule a speaker! See the attached flyer concerning the speakers' bureau program.
Parish Resource Binders will be handed out throughout the fall to parishes that did not have personnel at a Resource Seminar in the spring. Look for us coming to your area soon!
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Free Resources For Your Parish!
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Obtain free copies of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' statement "Between Man and Woman." Click here to see how! |
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