Foreword - Until the last decade it had been generally assumed that no education for marriage was necessary. This belief has lately been challenged, but there are still many who adhere to the old be­lief that such knowledge is gained instinctively. They would agree that training is necessary for other vocations. They would cer­tainly agree that those entering religious life should have special training.

Acknowledgment - The author expresses his deep gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Joanis for continued encouragement; Sister M. Judine, F.S.P.A., for gratuitous assistance in typing the manuscript and offering valuable suggestions; and the many writers and photographers who personally or through their publishers gave gracious permission to use quotations from their works.

01. Vocations - One problem which all young men and women eventually have to face is that of vocations. "What should I be when I get out of school?" "What kind of work am I best suited for?" "What are my real interests?" "What fields are overcrowded?" "Is there any future in the business I'm interested in?" These are a few of the questions which crowd teen-agers' minds regarding the future.

02. Marriage A Success - On February 10, 1939, Pope Pius XI issued his last written document. It was a letter to the bishops of the Philippine Islands. In it he forcibly stated that "the first and most important form of Catholic lay action is the restoration of Catholic family living." Since that time considerable attention has been focused upon family problems in our midst.

03. Bassis - "I want a girl just like the girl that married dear old Dad," so go the words of a popular old song. Whether the song writer knew it or not, he was absolutely correct. Every boy seeks in a girl those qualities he has known in his mother, and every girl chooses a man that reflects her father. "This human process explains why happy marriages repeat themselves from generation to generation and why also, in some families, there is a continuity of unhappy marriages.

04. Sacrament - Without a doubt, the saddest refrain in all the world is the one so often spoken by the unhappily married: "Oh, if I had only known what kind of a person I was marrying, I would never have gotten married!" After one is married, however, it's too late to do anything about this factor. It's do or die. That is why courtship is such an important period. It is during this time that a young man and a young woman determine what they consider most suitable for an ideal life mate.

05. Entering Mariage - A wedding is a beautiful event in the life of a man and a woman. Since the beginning God intended marriage to be just this. Like any of God's creation, however, marriage just didn't hap­pen. It was planned. "To the lonely Adam, God presented a lovely, new human creature called woman. In wonder and awe they looked at each other and took each other by the hand.

06. Marriage Gamble - One of the major problems to arise in this pluralistic society of ours is the problem of mixed marriages. With interfaith dating becoming more and more common, it is becoming commonplace for Catholics to enter into marriage with a non-Catholic partner. Sociologists report that today one out of every three marriages involving Catholics is now mixed.

07. Partners In Living - There is no human act in which a person reveals himself or in­volves himself so totally as in love. In love the best that is in man is brought out to the best advantage. How true this is of marital love! In the sacrament of marriage a man and a woman become one with Love Himself.

08. Family Planning - Marriage as a natural process exists for the procreation and education of children as well as for the good of the spouses and the welfare of society. While this statement is true, it is also true to say that in recent years limiting the natural process or family plan­ning has become a burning issue all over the world. Much atten­tion has been given this problem in our day because of various "population explosions" in various parts of the world.

09. Marital Unrest - The United States enjoys the dubious distinction of having the highest divorce rate in the world. Each year, it is estimated that about a half-million marriages are broken by divorce, separation, desertion, or annulment. Nor does this figure tell the complete story. "No one knows how many unhappily married husbands and wives do not attempt to escape from their union via legal or extra-legal means.

10. Lasting Marriage - Perhaps no one has had the opportunity to observe the charac­teristics of happy lasting marriages as has the Catholic Church. Down through the centuries she has recognized that in a marriage in which husband and wife truly love each other with self-sacrificing love, where both love children, and where children obey, respect, and love their parents in return, lasting marital happiness is maintained.

Review Questions - Have each student interview a religious either personally or by mail; propose suitable questions which would give answers to students' question on the religious life. This will afford a firsthand contact with the religious life. Students may use tape recorders. Wherever possible invite religious to speak to your classes on vocations.

Write to famous religious persons asking them why they entered the religious life. Post letters on the bulletin board for all to see and read.

Footnotes -

1 Ernest F. Miller, "Teenagers and Vocation," The Liguorian, XLIV, April, 1956, pp. 209-210.

2 John A. O'Brien, Marriage a Vocation (Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 1953), p. 18.

3 Quest for Happiness, Book 4 (Chicago: Mentzer, Bush & Co., 1958), p. 199.

4 "The Most Important Question," Vocational Digest, Holy Cross Fathers, Notre Dame, Ind., reprint.

5 Quest for Happiness, op. cit., p. 200.

6 Raymond A. Tartre, S.S.S., "Signs of Priestly Vocation," Emmanual, March. 1959, pp. 116-117.

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