How Sacramental Is Marriage? Wills and Manson Offer Perspectives ...

Jamie Manson

Garry Wills

Inside and outside the church, the debate on marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples has provided some interesting discussion about the institution of marriage generally.? Two recent articles by prominent Catholic thinkers and observers, Garry Wills and Jamie Manson, are two exceptionally good examples.

In ?The Myth About Marriage,? published in The New York Review of Books, Wills focuses on whether or not marriage has any religious significance:

?Why do some people who would recognize gay civil unions oppose gay marriage? Certain religious groups want to deny gays the sacredeness of what they take to be a sacrament. But marriage is no sacrament.?

In examining the scriptures used to support a religious view of marriage?such as the Creation story, Jesus? comments on divorce (Mark 10:8), and the wedding at Cana (John 10:1-11)?Wills finds no evidence of the institution of marriage as a Christian sacrament.? He quotes Fr. Raymond Brown, the renowned Scripture scholar on the Cana story:

?Neither the external nor the internal evidence for a symbolic reference to matrimony is strong. The wedding is only the backdrop and occasion for the story, and the joining of the man and woman does not have any direct role in the narrative.?

Wills also relies on Joseph Martos, who wrote the classic text on the history of the sacraments, Doors to the Sacred, for a history of the sacrament of marriage, which begins only in the 12th century, and culminates in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. (An accessible summary of Martos? scholarship on marriage can be found in Marriage Equality: A Positive Catholic Approach,?chapter 8.)? Wills concludes his argument:

?Those who do not want to let gay partners have the sacredness of sacramental marriage are relying on a Scholastic fiction of the thirteenth century to play with people?s lives, as the church has done ever since the time of Aquinas. The myth of the sacrament should not let people deprive gays of the right to natural marriage, whether blessed by Yahweh or not. They surely do not need?since no one does?the blessing of Saint Thomas.?

While I appreciate Wills? point, I think he is throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath water.? Marriage does have both civil and religious dimensions to it.? Many marriage equality advocates strongly support this dual dimension to the institution, but equally as strongly advocate for a separation of the dimensions to their proper authorities:? the secular, political realm governs civil marriage, while the religious realms govern religious marriage.

Wills is accurate in relating Martos? history of marriage, however, I came away with a different perspective from Martos than he seems to have done.? In my reading, Martos? history shows that, indeed, marriage is an institution which has evolved over time.? It changes with different understandings of human beings, their relationships to one another, their sexuality, and the ?contract? that society has with its members in terms of conferring rights and responsibilities.

Marriage also changes with evolving religious understandings of love and its symbolic roles and messages.? Religious people and institutions do have the right to determine those roles and messages?within the confines of their institutions.? More importantly, those roles and messages, even in religious settings, evolve and change over time, as new understandings emerge.

Marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples is being considered by society now precisely because our society has come to realize the value of the love and commitment between couples who share the same gender.? And as polls continue to show, for many Catholics, their is a religious dimension to the quest for securing marriage equality for these couples:? Catholics want equal justice for all couples whose love and commitment contribute to the common good.

Jamie Manson, in a National Catholic Reporter column entitled, ?Sacramental Marriage Beyond Anatomy,?? explores this religious dimension of marriage (applying it to same-gender and different-gender couples).? She first recounts her personal experience, first in witnessing difficult marriages, and then witnessing marriages that were life-giving:

?It wasn?t until I attended graduate school, where many of my classmates were married, that I began to see that two people could flourish in a relationship. I realized that the same couples share a love so deep it actually can inspire hope and faithfulness to their larger community.

?Watching these couples, I began to understand what sacramental marriage means. If a sacrament is a sign of God?s grace, it follows that relationships that are signs of God?s love, mercy, forgiveness, and faithfulness are sacramental. These signs of grace are part of the new life that married couples are called to bring into the world, with or without children.

?I was well into my graduate studies when I realized that I was not heterosexual. I was grateful to have had so many married friends to show me the marks of a good and holy marriage. It helped me to know what to aspire to in my own relationships with women. I also met many same-sex couples during my studies and through them I was able to see that God was present in their relationships in the same way God was manifest in the relationships of my straight friends.?

Manson continues this line of thought by making the sacramental dimension to marriage explicit in her argument, pointing out that anatomical gender is less important that quality of relationship as an indicator of sacramentality:

?What made my straight friends? marriages sacramental wasn?t the fact that their anatomies matched up in a particular way or that they could procreate. As I learned from my childhood, complementing genders and an ability to reproduce in no way guarantees that a marriage will be graced or sacramental. Their marriage was good and holy because it helped both partners to grow in generosity, compassion, mercy, and faithfulness. . . .

?To make procreation and gender complementarity the criteria for marriage simply does not do justice to the Catholic sacramental imagination. To believe that a sacramental marriage cannot happen between two people of the same sex is to place limits on God?s power to work within the relationships of God?s beloved children.

?If we take seriously the Catholic notion of sacramental love, then our concerns shouldn?t be over the anatomies of a couple, but whether or not the couple, through their commitment, brings the life of God more fully into our world. Is their relationship inspiring others to greater faithfulness? Are they a sign of the power of forgiveness and unconditional love? Are the sacrifices that they make for one another an incarnation of the selfless love to which Jesus calls us? . . .

?Rather than concern over the anatomical reality of a couple, the sacramental nature of marriage should be judged by whether there is equality and mutuality between spouses, whether the relationship helps both spouses to flourish individually and as a couple, and whether their relationship brings the love, mercy, and faithfulness of God more fully into our world.?

Manson makes a convincing case for the fact that marriage does have a religious dimension to it.? What I like about her argument is that her view is that the religious dimension?comes from the relationship between the partners, not the anatomy of the partners.? Is this a development in our understanding of marriage?? YES!? And a very good one!? It reflects both our religious and psychological understanding that sexuality and marriage are about more than just human beings? potential for procreation.

Manson?s view of marriage not only aids committed same-gender couples who seek recognition of their relationships, but it also can help us to take a different, more compassionate, approach to heterosexual couples whose marriages are marred by inequality, injustice, and abuse. In effect, by recognizing the importance of relationship as an indication of sacramentality, the discussion on same-sex marriage is helping, not hurting, heterosexual marriage to become a better institution in society.

?Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012 at 6:57 am and is filed under Church Teaching, Marriage, New Ways Ministry, Sexual Ethics, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Crisis Communications 102: What to Say and How to Say It | The ...

In the first of our crisis communication series, I outlined the best ways you can prepare your company for a crisis. By now, you should know who to call, where to go, and what to do if you find out about a security leak, you discover a defect with your product, or your co-founder has suddenly gone AWOL.

But, you?re not in the home stretch yet. Knowing what to say?and how to say it?is every bit as important as the steps you take to quell your crisis. With some careful wordsmithing and good old-fashioned open communication, you?ll ensure that your stakeholders, investors, and those beloved journalists are aware of the issue at hand, while remaining as transparent (and still as protected) as possible.

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What to Say

When a crisis hits, it?s important to arm yourself with an all-purpose response, or ?holding statement,? to get you through the initial inquiries from panicked customers or probing journalists who begin kamikaze-calling your team. A simple, generic statement will help reassure your various stakeholders that you are aware of, and addressing, the issue?while buying you time to prepare a full briefing on the situation.

Imagine you ship out several orders of your blood, sweat, and tears-inspired holiday gift baskets, only to learn they arrived at the doorsteps of your new and returning customers with the crumbled remains of hand soap and broken jars of jam. Although you probably feel like you need an explanation from your vendors or delivery company?your customers will be expecting one sooner than that. The first message you draft should be something along the lines of this:

We understand that a few shipments of our holiday gift baskets were found to be damaged upon delivery. We are looking into the cause of this issue and will keep you informed of our progress.

Not exactly the kind of response that gives you the warm and fuzzies, but if you?re on the receiving end it does let you know the company is aware there?s an issue, and likely dissuades you from calling the company directly to ask, ?WTF??

Then, once you?ve gathered the who, what, where, why, and how, draft a more comprehensive statement, which will replace your holding statement. This should address what happened, when it happened, and include an update on the status of the issue. For example:

On Tuesday, December 15, we learned that several shipments of our holiday gift baskets were found to be damaged upon delivery. In quickly investigating the issue, we were able to pinpoint the cause of the problem?an exceptionally turbulent flight?and are working with our transportation providers to ensure that all of our customer orders are fulfilled before the holiday and that this issue will not happen again.

Finally, draft a note to your customers. Keep in mind that anything you say externally?regardless of your intended audience?has the potential to end up in the hands of a journalist, especially if your issue is particularly juicy.

That said, you?ll likely want to add more of a personal touch to your customer note. Here?s an example:

Dear Customer,

Yesterday, we learned that several shipments of our holiday gift baskets contain damaged goods due to an exceptionally turbulent flight they experienced on their way to you.

We are working around-the-clock with our transportation providers and internal teams to ensure your orders are fulfilled prior to the holidays.

At XYZ, we are always looking for ways to better service our customers. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, and are working tirelessly to ensure this issue doesn?t happen again.

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me at molly@xyzcompany.com.

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How to Say It

While it?s tempting to worry about the media?s response first, always make sure your customers are taken care of. Companies who slack on great service do so at their peril?just ask Ocean Marketing about the power of just one neglected customer.

With that in mind, it?s best to be as proactive as possible with your customers (though be prepared to be reactive as well). Pick up the phone or start sending out emails to as many clients as possible. As painful as some of these conversations can be, deferring your calls to voicemail until the dust settles is not advised. When you do speak with clients, be sure to reiterate the same information you have previously released?you want to be consistent with your messaging.

Remember that there?s one thing an email blast can?t quite communicate, and that?s empathy. Be prepared for some angry calls and frustrated customers. In this case, find a way to connect with your customers while expressing both your regret for the issue and instilling confidence that you?re still the same awesome company they?ve come to know and love. For a bit of inspiration, check out the 2011 Customer Service Hall of Fame. Number one on the list? Not surprisingly, it?s Amazon.

For media inquiries, on the other hand, it?s usually best to deliver your statement on a reactive basis (i.e., when a journalist calls you). You?ll already have the messaging prepared from your initial public statements, however, if you?d like to provide a journalist with more context without having your every word quoted all over the Internet that afternoon, you can ask to speak ?on background? (similar to asking to speak ?off the record?). For example, it might be helpful for a reporter to have more color on how many gift baskets were damaged?as in 100, not 100,000?so she isn?t left to assume the severity of any details you haven?t communicated.

As with your customers, treat the media with professionalism and care. They may not purchase your product, but they can write about it, so their experience with you can significantly impact the tone of the story they choose to tell.

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If there?s only one thing to remember about crisis communications, it?s this: Always be as transparent and honest as possible. Companies are often defined by their communication styles?and especially by their communication in crisis situations. The more your team keeps everyone informed with factual and consistent information, the less time you?ll spend fielding calls and fending off the media. And that will let you focus on getting back to business.

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Photo courtesy of ItzaFineDay.

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Treating pain with transplants

ScienceDaily (May 23, 2012) ? A new study finds that transplanting embryonic cells into adult mouse spinal cord can alleviate persistent pain. The research, published by Cell Press in the May 24th issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that reduced pain results from successful integration of the embryonic cells into the host spinal cord. The findings open avenues for clinical strategies aimed not just at treating the symptoms of chronic debilitating pain, but correcting the underlying disease pathology.

There are two major classes of chronic pain: inflammatory pain that results from injury to tissue, such as muscle and bone, and neuropathic pain from injury to nerves, for example, in the limbs or face. Damage to nerves can occur after physical trauma and from chemotherapy drugs. With neuropathic pain, the pain occurs in the absence of stimulation, and there is hypersensitivity and exacerbated pain to stimuli that would not normally cause pain. Neuropathic pain is thought to involve the loss of inhibitory neurons that release the chemical GABA, which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that controls the excitability of neurons, including neurons that transmit pain information.

"Pharmacological approaches to managing neuropathic pain enhance GABA-mediated inhibition. However, some patients do not respond to these therapies and there are significant adverse side effects," explains senior study author, Dr. Allan Basbaum from the University of California, San Francisco. "Therefore, new therapeutic approaches for neuropathic pain are essential." Dr. Basbaum and colleagues explored whether replacement of the damaged inhibitory neurons might be useful for reducing neuropathic pain.

The researchers transplanted immature GABA neurons from mouse fetal brain into the spinal cord of mice with nerve injury-induced pain, a model for human neuropathic pain. The transplanted cells not only survived, but made connections with appropriate targets and integrated into the host spinal cord circuitry. This resulted in an almost complete reversal of the mechanical hypersensitivity generated in a nerve injury model of neuropathic pain. In contrast, the transplant procedure was not effective at reducing pain in a mouse model of inflammatory pain, which is induced by tissue injury.

Taken together, the findings have exciting implications for a cell-based treatment of neuropathic pain in humans. "Our strategy not only ameliorates the symptoms of neuropathic pain but, importantly, is also potentially disease modifying," concludes Dr. Basbaum. "It is worth considering whether transplants such as these might have clinical utility in humans, a great advantage being that the adverse side effects associated with drug administration can be avoided."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cell Press, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Jo?o?M. Br?z, Reza Sharif-Naeini, Daniel Vogt, Arnold Kriegstein, Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, John?L. Rubenstein, Allan?I. Basbaum. Forebrain GABAergic Neuron Precursors Integrate into Adult Spinal Cord and Reduce Injury-Induced Neuropathic Pain. Neuron, 2012; 74 (4): 663 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.02.033

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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User:RooneyTune288 - LibraryCloud Wiki

From LibraryCloud Wiki

Choosing the right enterprise insurance protection to your company is usually a balancing act between getting the appropriate coverage and finding it for a worth that fits your budget.

When looking for the suitable coverage at an affordable worth, it pays off to be an informed consumer and to have an agent that you simply trust. As soon as you realize the inquiries to ask, it's much easier to select the precise insurance coverage to fit your particular needs. It is usually important to know that enterprise insurance rates are going to fluctuate depending on your corporation needs.

Like most small businesses, you in all probability don?t have a full-time danger supervisor to answer your business insurance questions. So the place do you begin? It's best to begin with the three most typical varieties of enterprise insurance: Normal Liability, Property, and Employees Comp Insurance.

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Property Insurance

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Business Legal responsibility Insurance:

To guard towards most forms of claims, most small businesses elect to purchase normal legal responsibility insurance and professional liability insurance. Basic Liability insurance protects you from claims of bodily injury or property damage to a 3rd occasion during enterprise operations. General Liability Insurance is obtainable as part of a BOP with property coverage. This provides you with a comprehensive program within the event of an accident at your workplace or one other location the place enterprise is conducted.

Firms that present skilled providers, reminiscent of medical care, accounting or consulting, professional legal responsibility insurance protects what you are promoting should a customer claim that you committed negligent acts while performing the services. Any such insurance is especially essential as a result of professional legal responsibility claims may be very expensive compared with general liability claims.

Employees Compensation Insurance:

Staff Compensation insurance is required in the state of Florida if your company workers 4 or extra workers. That is not the only reason to have Workers Comp Insurance. Employees Comp pays for medical advantages and loss wages for workers that suffer injuries or diseases related to their jobs.

Staff Comp Insurance charges are based on your firm?s payroll and services. Many states will enable homeowners, partners, and officers of an organization to exclude themselves from Workers Compensation Coverage, saving the corporate money on premiums.

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Spark your communications, tell your story - Community Media ...

Only days away?. Register for the 2012 Making Media Connections conference!

One of the Workshop?s key events each year since 1993, our conference is designed for nonprofit communicators: volunteers and staff who are responsible for telling their group?s story through the news media or other channels. We bring them together with journalists looking for stories ?off the beaten path? and invite them to join in a dialogue on how to produce news that matters.

?Well-organized conference. Speaker has great passion & energy and used lots of great examples.??? Rachel Dziallo, Erie Family Health

Conference attendees get four key takeaways:

• Training:?increase nonprofit communicators? skills and understanding of the news process, allowing them to better access the media in ways that are effective;
• Sourcing:?journalists get leads and sources from among a group that tends to receive ?spot? coverage rather than more focused and influential treatment;
• Skill-building:Connecting these two groups with web advocates and nonprofit technologists in order to develop a better understanding of new media to deliver their message and,
• Relationship-building: the conference builds relationships between nonprofit and news outlet personnel. Beyond more and better coverage of nonprofits, their constituents, and their issues, the outcome of our conferences has been understanding and consensus on where nonprofits fit in the news cycle.

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Doing Nothing Can Be Your Best Legal Action | Chicago's Real Law ...

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When someone calls or e-mails me for legal guidance, they usually are hoping I can recommend them an attorney.? Selfishly I hope that I can because that is how my business makes money.? But I always tell the truth, even when that means telling a caller that they don?t need an attorney or shouldn?t get one.

This happened recently when I talked to a guy whose son is apparently a standout athlete at his school.? Beginning with his freshman year he began receiving recruiting calls from scores of major colleges and is in the discussion for junior national teams (I?m not naming the sport to protect his identity).? The kid was also feeling bullied by teammates and when the Dad approached the coach about it, the coach did nothing to stop it.? So the Dad, trying to protect his kid, didn?t allow his son to go on a road trip to an out of town tournament.? As a result the kid was kicked off the team.

Now the family believes that the coach is bad mouthing the kid as some schools have told them they will no longer be recruiting the boy.? He still plays for his club team, but not having the school coach in his corner makes him look bad.? So the family wants to sue the coach for ruining their opportunities to get in to the school of their choice on scholarship.

My advice to the family was to do nothing.? First, these are really hard cases to win as usually you can?t prove what was really said and often that speech is protected.? You also would be hard pressed to get a college coach to testify that they are no longer recruiting you because your coach bad mouthed you.? But beyond that, the real goal of this family is not to sue the coach, but to achieve success for the son.? If they do sue, colleges will be aware of it and the coaches will probably look at the kid as a problem not worth having.? Whether or not that opinion is right or wrong does not matter.

Sometimes in life you need to just eat the shit sandwich and move on.? Every now and then I?ll be tempted to get in to a verbal war of words (or e-mail) with someone that calls me and doesn?t like that I can?t help or that I?m not telling them what they want to hear.? But as much as it would feel good in the moment to respond, it?s not going to help me long term and the reality is that I will get over it.? It?s a good way for most people to handle petty problems.? The athlete has a much bigger problem than me, but it?s still one that suing could make worse.

Other times the decision not to hire a lawyer doesn?t have anything to do with thinking long term goal wise, but rather it?s economical.? You might lend a friend $100 and not get paid back.? But to sue them, the filing fees would cost more and lawyer fees would be ten times as much.? So it?s usually best to just realize you got screwed.? Sure you can sue out of principle, but is losing even more money worth it?? Unless you have money to burn, the answer is probably no.

So I?m sure it?s weird for a lawyer to tell you not to hire them, but in this case and many others it?s the best thing to do.? And it likely won?t feel great now, but when you look back in a year or too and all the emotion of the situation is gone, it will make lots of sense.

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