As part of the National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage, in October 2006, the USCCB's Committee on Marriage and Family sponsored a colloquium at the University of Notre Dame entitled “Understanding and Communicating the Sacrament of Marriage in our Contemporary Culture.” The colloquium brought together five theologians and the members of the Committee to explore, by means of prepared papers and subsequent discussion, the theology of the Sacrament of Marriage and the best ways of conveying it to the faithful today. The papers examined marriage from the perspectives of the Old and New Testaments and according to patristic, systematic, and liturgical theology.

The summary of the colloquium and the papers given are linked below. Each paper begins with a one-page synopsis, and the body of the paper follows.

Colloquium Summary

Colloquium Papers

• Biblical Theology (Old Testament): "Marriage in the Book of Ruth" by Dr. Gary Anderson   
• Patristic Theology: "The Sacramentality of Marriage in the Fathers" by Dr. John Cavadini
• Liturgical Theology: "On Liturgical Marriage" by Dr. David Fagerberg
• Systematic Theology: "Eros and Agape: Expressions of Love in Sacramental Marriage" by Dr. Joann Heaney-Hunter
• Biblical Theology (New Testament): "Acquire a Wife in Holiness and Honor’ (1 Thess 4:4): Christian Marriage in the New Testament" by Dr. Pheme Perkins