The Gift of Self in Marriage

One of the most striking features of life in the Catholic Church today is the ever-widening gap between its official teaching on marriage and sexual morality and the practice of most of its lay members. The book seeks to bridge this gap in two ways: It considers some of the tacit assumptions about marriage and sexual morality in today's society, since these affect Catholics as much as everybody else. It also considers the Church's teaching in some of these areas and explores new ways of putting it across so that it can make sense to ordinary lay Catholics. In doing so the author draws on contemporary writing as well as bringing her own reflections and experience of living the Church's teaching to bear on the subject. The book is aimed at married couples, those considering marriage as well as clergy and those involved in marriage preparation and counselling. Anita Dowsing was born in Copenhagen in 1944. She was brought up as a member of Denmark's tiny Catholic community, but has spent most of her adult life in the United Kingdom. She has an M.A. in English Language and Literature from Copenhagen University, and a Ph.D. in Old English from the University of Wales. Anita Dowsing has spent most of her working life in Adult Religious Education in the Diocese of East Anglia as Co-ordinator of the Norwich Deanery Team, a member of the Diocesan Religious Education Commission and, currently, the Diocesan Marriage and Family Life Commission. She was a member of the East Anglia Steering Group for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales 'Listening 2004' project (listening to family experience in every diocese), and was one of the facilitators at the Bishops Conference Working Group which produced resource material on marriage and family life for parish use. She is married with an adult daughter.