The Archbishop of Westminster has affirmed marriage as providing the ‘best place’ for raising children, commenting that marriage gives children an opportunity to develop a sense of identity and experience the nurture and love of both their natural mother and father. Speaking at an annual mass for married couples in Westminster Cathedral on 26 May, the Most Revd Vincent Nichols criticised the increasing trend towards defining marriage ‘without any reference to children’, and warned that severing the vital bond between marriage and child-rearing could have ‘damaging consequences’ for society. He stated: ‘We know that the context of a marriage is the best place for children to be reared, providing them with a framework of love, within which they are sure of their biological heritage and not deprived, without grave reason, of the experience of being loved and raised by their natural mother and father.’
Pray: for the clear Biblical message emphasised by the Archbishop and the Church to be accepted more widely. (Pr.20:7)