Changing Face of Marriage

As my 'domestic church' experience, I have seen the heard of love, forgiveness, and trust grow and flourish. In my own life I have experienced a great Church Family within my own family. Not only are my parents practicing catholics and have raised their three children as practicing and sending them through catholic schooling, my parents are active christians in that each and every day they live out the mission of Jesus Christ. On television and in movies I have seen that marriage can be tough. In one of the videos I watched today they talked and discussed the financial income between and married man and women. I have seen on television that many men become offended and embarrassed even when their wife makes more money than him. A man and a women should be equals in a marriage, one is better than the other and together they are compatable. I think that who ever, man or women, brings in the most income should not matter in a relationship, just that they love each other.
The idea that came from the study is that those with a college degree are less likely to experience divorce and multiple marriages than those without a college degree. This give me great hope for my marital future. One of my cons to getting married is the idea of divorce. I do not want to get divorced, ever. But I also don't want to live my life with my husband and I hating each other. This new statistic gives me hope and confirms that marriage is not 50-50 but 100-100. One day I would love to establish the domestic church in my home. Growing up in that type of household has been better than anything I could ever imagine and I wouldn't change it if I could. I hope to one day have a husband and family and to establish my own domestic church.

Papal Conclave

After visiting the Villa today and discussing the candidates for the new pope with the sisters, I think that some of the important issues to discuss are interacting and relating with today's youth, the sex abuse scandal, allowing women and even married men to be priests and leaning away for more traditional values. I think the Church needs to understand that the world is changing and that the traditional values from before need to be let go or just evolved into something more modern. As a women in the church, I think it is important to express our desire to become priests and show that we are capable of leading the church as well or even better than a man. If I could I would allow women and dedicated sisters to become priests and help out in the church with a more hands-on approach then they are able to now. One thing the cardinals pray for is that the Holy Spirit guide them in making the right decision. I think that not only the cardinals but every single member of the Catholic Church needs to pray to the Holy Spirit in asking for guidance.

Dating: What's the Point?

Referring to the assumption that dating is 'essentially practice for divorce', I do not agree. I believe that dating is a good way to get to know yourself as well as the type of person you wish to spend the rest of your life with. With my parents, they dated for many years before they decided to get engaged. Right now, many of my friends and my sisters are dating different people. Even though some of them don't even see themselves marrying and spending the rest of their lives with the person they are with right now, dating is still a good way for them to have a better understanding of who they are as a person and what type of qualities they desire in their partner. My sister is currently dating her 3 very serious boyfriend at the age of 25. Her first boyfriend was her high school sweetheart that followed her through college. In their senior year at PSU, they decided to take a break and see if there was something else out there for either of them. A few months later both of them had new partners. 

Relating to the hook-up culture, dating is different. Hooking-up is regarding to sexual encounters, where dating is simply hanging out if you will. I believe that two people can get to know each other, themselves, and who they want to spend the rest of their lives with by just hanging out and experiencing the people around them.