...now the Roman Catholic church is advising couples to pray together before sexRoman Catholic married couples are being encouraged to pray together before they have sexual intercourse.
A new book brought out by the Church invites couples setting out on their married life to recite a specially composed 'Prayer Before Making Love'.
The prayer is aimed at purifying the intentions of the couple so that the conjugal act is marked by total self-giving rather than selfishness or hedonism.
The prayer is contained in a newly published 'Prayer Book for Spouses' and it implores God 'to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes'.
It reads: 'Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will. Cover our poverty in the richness of your mercy and forgiveness. Clothe us in true dignity and take to yourself our shared aspirations, for your glory, for ever and ever.'
The 64-page book has been published by the Catholic Truth Society, a London-based charity closely linked to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
The Rt Rev. Paul Hendricks, the Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark who sits on the board of the charity, said he thought the inclusion of the prayer was 'brave but good'.
He said: 'I suppose it is a bit idealistic but it is recognising that God is at the heart of the marriage relationship between husband and wife.
'It is important for the Church to affirm the value of marriage and family life and I suppose this is a particular way of doing that.
'Perhaps it is something that has not been tried, certainly for a while – I can’t remember seeing something like that before.'
The book contains prayers for every stage of marriage and family life, including prayers for engaged couples, a prayer to have a child, prayers for couples expecting a baby, a prayer for the children going to school, for children’s future and a prayer for parents.
It also has a 'prayer for a grown-up child' which asks God to 'bless your finances and teach you to be generous to those who have less than you'.
The prayers, written by a variety of authors, are interspersed with sections of Catholic teaching on the meaning of marriage and the family.
These insist on natural family planning as the only morally acceptable method of regulating fertility and repeat the Church condemnation of abortion and infanticide.
The book, which costs £1.95, also upholds the Catholic teaching that marriage is exclusive and life-long and encourages its readers to propose such teaching as a value to society.
'It is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly ... the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage,' the book says.
'To all those who, in our times, consider it too difficult , or indeed impossible, to be bound to one person for the whole of life, and to those caught up in a culture that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity, it is necessary to reconfirm the good news of the definitive nature of that conjugal love that has in Christ its foundation and strength.'
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