A GENDERED CRITIQUE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S TEACHING ON MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY: 1965-2016

The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church on marriage and the family have been developed with very little consultation with women for whom these teachings have great importance. This article focuses on these teachings from the close of the Second Vatican II in 1965 to 2015 and the Synod session on marriage and the family. It briefly discusses the Church’s understanding of marriage from the Patristic era to the Council of Trent and then analyses the development of the theology of marriage in Vatican II, Humanae Vitae, the 1968 encyclical on contraception, Pope John Paul II’s theology of marriage and the Synod sessions called by Pope Francis in 2014 and 2015, including his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia issued in 2016. Where are the voices of women, especially African women, in shaping Catholic theology of marriage