Changing Face of Marriage

The domestic church for me has been my parents constantly reinforcing the values of a good Catholic by doing what they preach. I will always follow the example of my parents and follow their teachings, both of which coincide with the Christian morals they wished to instill in myself. Teaching me about God outside of school in every day things such as kind strangers, nature, new life and death, and my friends has helped me see Jesus and God in the little things in life. Their domestic church has made me an incredibly better person than if I did not have them, I now know that God is always watching. Some pros of the changing family structure/marriage composition is the new available opportunities to marry for homosexual couples in some states, and the new acceptance of these marriages by the majority of Americans. Some cons of the changing structure of family/marriage is that more divorces are occurring, and the bond of marriage is not kept sacred by infidelity and affairs. I was very happy to learn about the low divorce rate of college-educated peoples mainly because there are some very alarming divorce rates as years pass, and I would not like to get divorced. I do feel compelled to establish a domestic church in my household one day because I think it's important to teach your children to be good people in all sectors of their life, especially giving them a role model such as yourself or Jesus. I will make sure to follow the examples of my parents and practice what I preach to my susceptible children.

Papal Conclave

I think some issues that are important for the next Pope to address are women's roles in the Church, the debate of birth control, modernizing the Church's teachings, and gay rights. I think the future of the Church needs a young (ish) Pope to lead the youth of the Church back into believing in it's teachings. I feel as though the Church seems so foreign and outdated to the young people, and I wish that the younger generation would be as fervent about the Church as our parents and grandparents are. The future Church will face many problems if these issues are not addressed, such as the disappearance of the youth from the Church and the anger of women wishing to have a stronger role. Being a woman in the Church sort of makes me feel like I'm unequal to my male counterparts, even though it has been long established in history that women are just as equal in men in every sector of life. I think women in the Church need support, confidence, and progress. I would change the strictness of the Church's teachings and it's traditional view of almost everything, because I think that the world has changed so much that the Church needs to adapt it's teachings. I do think there is room for democracy within the hierarchy, there is always room for democracy! The Holy Spirit invokes the Pope and the priests by enlightening them about his teachings.