Mothers Union Report from Lesley Sandes:
In June I attended a seminar organised by the MU entitled “Marriage and the MU: Moving On”, along with approx 200 others from Britain,
We looked at marriage from a theological, cultural and policy perspective and concluded that “Jesus points us to the ideals in marriage, but he also meets us where we are.”
Some conclusions reached were:
1) It is not our responsibility to judge but to encourage the ideals of marriage where we can.
2) It is easier for governments to support failing marriages than to initiate policies to support and sustain happy marriages.
We also had presentations and discussion on the different types of marriage preparation that are available, including our own COMAC, which compares well with the best available in other dioceses.
Good preparation should equip a couple for: “their journey through life in the company of their partner, meeting challenges and negotiating milestones along the way.”
Other questions we considered were:
- What kind of support is it appropriate for the MU to offer to couples?
- Is this support already available in our diocese?
- Can we improve the training and resource material for any support we offer?
All in all it was a most informative course, even though much of what was discussed applied more to marriage in the UK.
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Diocesan Tour 30th April to 4th May 2007.
Diocesan Tour Re-union Lunch Tuesday, 6th February 2007 in the Ormonde Hotel, Kilkenny.
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