Affinities applauds RC Mass for Marriages and Sir Alan and Lady Sugar’s Ruby Wedding

Some 650 couples went to mass at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral on Saturday to celebrate the 43,000 years of experience of marriage they have between them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7394000/7394382.stm

Several first made their vows more than 60 years ago.

But there was a more sombre purpose behind the event, organised by the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.

He wanted to present an example of enduring marriage in order to warn of the dangers of letting it go.

Marriage is at its lowest level since records began, and people are getting divorced earlier.

About 40% of marriages now end in divorce, with the result that almost a quarter of children have experienced family break-up by the time they are 16.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor describes it as a time-bomb threatening the integrity of British society.

"The effects of the break up of marriage can be seen because of drugs and crime," he says.

"So many people are in prison...as the result of broken marriages. And it's a time bomb because the effects are insidious. It's starting now with divorce but its effects will go on and on."

Almost simultaneously Sir Alan and Lady Ann Sugar were celebrating their Ruby Wedding.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=565487&in_page_id=1879

Piers Morgan described Sir Alan’s “genuinely touching defence of his marriage vows”. Sir Alan said:

"Well, 40 years on, and one wonders why and how. I guess it's family values and where we came from. It's no rare thing in both of our backgrounds; our respective parents, my brother and sisters, and indeed most of our family and good friends here are just the same as us – committed to marriage.

"One would like to instil in the younger generation family values, but I guess we live in different times. It would still be nice to see that those younger amongst us will at least look around them and take note."

.......... "Now here is a message to those young aspiring men here tonight; I would remind you what it is to be a successful man, and what is one's prize possession in life. It has absolutely nothing at all to do with money, academic achievement, or any material things.

"A real successful man puts the love of his wife and children first, a real successful man's greatest position in life is to have a great family. I am lucky enough to have had a wife for 40 years, who gave me three great children, who in turn have given us seven wonderful grandchildren.

"You see, everything I have today is because of the love of that lady and the respect my three children have for the both of us.”

NuLabour take note too! Ministers say they want to say ‘Sorry’ for their mistakes. When will they admit their biggest mistake: dumbing down the institution of marriage?

Nick Gulliford
www.affinities.org.uk
01823 432 420