Key terms
To agree to something. In marriage, it is an agreement to a lifelong, exclusive partnership with the spouse, and acceptance of the marriage vows.
Consent
One’s calling from God to a particular way of life.
Vocation
Relating to the married state, or the couple in their married relationship.
Conjugal
Faithfulness, trustworthiness, loyalty.
Fidelity
The bringing forth of offspring
Procreation
Discern
To perceive clearly; to distinguish the right from wrong
Sanctuary
A holy place; a place of refuge and safety.
Solidarity
A coming or holding together of individuals into a community of common interest or action.
Compassion
The ability to “feel” for the other; to take a part in another person’s suffering or pain; to be kind and merciful.
Family
A family comes in many configurations. The “nuclear family” includes the mother and father and their children. The “extended family” includes the nuclear family and its blood relations, namely grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and in-laws.
Government by a single person having unlimited power, despotism
Autocracy
Pertaining to a centralized government.
Federal
Permanence. The sacrament of marriage is dissolved only in death.
Indissolubility
Having to do with the acts of living together in community
Political
Promise
To declare that you will do or will refrain from doing something
The power by which one governs
Authority
The marriage bond between two baptized persons
Sacramental covenant
Sojourner
One who stays for a temporary visit.
The married couple is the basic “building block” of society
Social cell
Domestic church
The home as a “little church” where its members find life, are nurtured and formed
Allegiance
The fidelity of a citizen to his or her government, or loyalty to another person or cause.
A person who by birth or choice is a member of a state and pays allegiance to the government
Citizen
A substance, such as yeast, that causes dough to rise
Leaven
Natural family planning
A method whereby a married couple adapts their sexual relations to the rhythms of the woman’s fertility cycle.
A state in disorder and lawlessness due to an absence of government authority.
Anarchy