A Catholic Handbook For Engaged and Newly Married Couples

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The word choices, for example, are often too impersonal, making human beings sound more like machines or objects than persons. Too much of this language could be gravely misleading, especially in our already excessively technologized & dehumanizing "culture of death." An excellent corrective may be found, however, in Karol Wojtyla's personalist classic "Love and Responsibility."

The brief section on "headship," to choose another example, neither cites nor refers to any recent papal teaching, though there has been quite a bit in the current pontificate. This oversight is frankly inexcusable. Readers absolutely must take it upon themselves to read Pope John Paul II's "On the Christian Family in the Modern World" (Familiaris Consortio) sections 22-25, "On the Dignity and Vocation of Women" (Mulieris Dignitatem) sections 6-10 and 24, and "Pope John Paul II on the Genius of Women" (collected & published by the USCCB).

Overall, I would say that Catholic engaged & newly married couples need resources that will better introduce them to Christian personalism and the theology of the body. You might read Marks' "Handbook," but you should definitely supplement it.

Marks gets plus marks for othodoxy and fidelity to Church teaching. He does quite accurately represent Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality. The questions at the back of the book are also quite well done, I think; this might be the one part of the book that I found really useful.

However, the book suffers from disorganization: it appears to skip around from one idea to an entirely unrelated idea. The writing style is not particularly polished, either, which isn't necessarily bad. But in this case, I also have questions about Marks' qualifications for writing this book. It's clear that he knows Church teaching, but has he done any exhaustive study on the many practical psychological, emotional, or sexual aspects of marriage which he covers? It appears that his only qualification for writing this book is that he himself has been married-- which doesn't exactly make him an expert! In summary, I didn't find this as helpful as other reviewers appear to have found it.