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Roman Catholic bishops have begun an initiative designed to strengthen marriages and encourage people to give more attention to their spouses, with 30- and 60-second public service announcements on television and radio nationwide.
Small Acts of Random Affection
The ads, part of the bishops' National Pastoral Initiative on Marriage, offer relationship advice in the form of small examples, such as:
Response to Divorce and Cohabiting Rates
The ad campaign was launched this month in response to both the high divorce rate in the U.S. and the skyrocketing rate of couples living together without getting married. Nearly 50% of first marriages in the U.S. end in divorce, and the number of cohabiting opposite-sex couples has gone from 1.6 million in 1980 to 5.4 million in 2006. The Catholic Church has long provided pre-marriage counseling but hasn't offered any programs to strengthen existing marriages, as is done in many Protestant denominations.
Risky Timing
Critics have already pointed out that the scandals involving thousands of accused child molesters in the Catholic Church make the new initiative somewhat suspect. As John Grabowski, an associate professor of moral theology at the Catholic University of America pointed out, "These guys are plagued by scandals involving sexual misconduct — how come they're telling other people what to do? That's the obvious, cynical reaction."
Marital advice from a group of single men sworn to celibacy may or may not go over well, but the ads and the initiative's website, ForYourMarriage.org, offer plenty of well-meaning and useful advice to couples who may have lost the spark in their love life.
Practical Advice from Real People
Real couples were interviewed for the TV spots. They described how they found small ways to nurture their marriages, such as keeping a regular weekly "date night," sending loving e-mails, and cleaning the house without being asked.
One woman says in an ad, "I flirted with my husband like when we first got married…and it made him happy." In another spot, an elderly gentleman offered: "I've done today what I usually do. And that is: Obey."
(Source: Los Angeles Times)
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