Marriage and the Catholic Church

The book is well suited for use by pastors, marriage preparation teams, and university or seminary teachers of sacramental theology, marriage, and canon law. . . . Lawler’s book is yet another worthwhile contribution to the burgeoning field of Catholic scholarly writing on marriage and family life as intensely social realities that ought to be oriented to the common good and to ever widening circles of solidarity.The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly
Lawler's scholarship is extensive, engaging, and will challenge the thoughtful reader. He integrates culture, history, theology, and church teaching in such a way as to cast new light on certain questions and even to raise new ones.H. Richard McCord, Executive Director, Committee on Marriage and Family, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
This is a wonderful book. It should help us ethicists think more sacramentally - and therefore more helpfully - about what marriage is and how our church can support it.Worship
This book is surely required reading for all who teach and work in the field of marriage in the Church today and all those who want to enrich the spirituality of their own unions.INTAMS review
Lawler's life's work has prodded the Catholic ecclesial community to let theology of marriage be informed by experiential wisdom of Christians who are living this vocation . . . provides a rich portrait of where Catholic theology of marriage has been in the past few decades, and where it is headed in decades to come.Theological Studies
Marriage and the Catholic Church is a refreshing text on marriage. Lawler never shies away from the difficult issues, e.g., cohabitation, divorce and remarriage, what makes a marriage a sacrament. His positions are well grounded historically and theologically. Above all else, this text has a keen pastoral sensitivity and honesty and will surely stimulate helpful pastoral discussions and criticisms. We need a text like this to become more deeply engaged in the great challenge facing marriage in the world and the church.George Worgul, Duquesne University
In dealing with some of the more challenging issues like cohabitation, interchurch marriage, divorce and remarriage, Lawler poses the key questions that Church leadership will sooner or later have to face and resolve. . . . In short, this is a masterful work by probably the most respected Catholic theologian of marriage in America today. I would recommend this text to theology students, adult Catholics interested in these issues or involved in marriage preparation programs, but especially to those working in diocesan marriage tribunals and to their bishops.Ray R. Noll, Professor of Theology, University of San Francisco