I came across an interview with Cardinal Dolan a couple of days ago.  He was speaking about challenges that will await our next Pope.  He says we have a “major problem with vocations  and not just with the priesthood and religious life. … [w]e have a vocational shortage to the sacrament of marriage.”  Cardinal Dolan added that Catholics are marrying at the same low rate as the general population and are divorcing at close to the same rate as well.

Faced with these facts and this obvious reality what are we as Catholics to do? The whole idea of shifting a cultural perception about something as common as marriage can seem insurmountable.  Have we ever been at a time in human history where we more desperately needed to spread the beautiful message of Theology of Body?

This Lent I’ve been reading Kimberly Hahn’s book, Life-Giving Love  Embracing God’s Beautiful Design for Marriage.  She does a wonderful job of explaining the beauty of the sacrament of marriage, and she does it in a way that recognizes the day-to-day challenges of married couples.  I’ve learned a lot from her simple wisdom and would definitely encourage you to read her book.  Even though the book is several years old it is very relevant.  Her advice is timeless.

You can’t read Kimberly Hahn’s book and not come away with a greater respect and appreciation for the sacrament of marriage.  If more people, married and unmarried, understood the true beauty that can come from living the sacrament the way God intended we would not be in the middle of a vocational crisis.  We can save marriage from the attacks of a secular world.  The change begins with you.  With me.  One marriage at a time.  That’s where we have to start.