In New Book, Cameroonian Catholic Couple Explores “foundations of marriage in African culture”

The new book, she said, “identifies the major challenges couples face and offers some solutions to help couples live in harmony. It also draws attention to the dangers facing the institution of the family today.”

Mrs. Kola who coordinates the Family Apostolate alongside her husband said the book is “a tool for preparing for marriage, accompanying couples and even a practical guide for the married and those who aspire to marriage.”

“It's a book that helps Christian couples be happy by refocusing their lives on Christ and living according to the Church's teaching,” she added.

Reflecting on the importance of preparation for marriage in the African context, Mrs. Kola said, “This beautiful adventure requires that spouses not only be well prepared but also that they continually form and commit themselves to the success of their project.”

“Happiness in marriage never happens by chance! Every couple needs to be aware of the challenges they face, and courageously take them on. This book suggests a few ways of doing just that,” she added.

For her, “Many people embark on the beautiful adventure of marriage as if they were embarking on a ship for a long voyage that they hope will be wonderful, but for which they know neither the itinerary nor the destination.”

“Love between a man and a woman is always something singular, even mystical. It's hard to pin down or understand in its entirety, and it's not always easy to predict what it will be like in the near or distant future,” Mrs. Kola said.

The six-chapter book is prefaced by the Local Ordinary of Douala Archdiocese, Archbishop Samuel Kleda.

In the preface, Archbishop Kleda says, “Preserving marriage and the family as instituted by God is to guarantee the future of society and the Church, as Pope John Paul II taught.”

“Faced with the multifaceted dangers that threaten marriage and the family, the Church must encourage and above all help young couples to lay the foundations for a solid married life, by understanding the characteristics, requirements, and true implications of traditional, civil and above all religious marriage, and putting them into practice for their greater happiness,” the Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop says.

The new book, he further says, provides young couples “with all the elements they need to understand the meaning and significance of traditional and religious marriage, as well as the points they have in common.”

“It also offers tips and recipes so that young spouses can deal appropriately with all the situations of married life, in the light of the Word of God, the teaching of the Magisterium, and the millenary experience of the Church, and so contribute effectively to the progress and transformation of African societies through the Gospel,” he says.

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The Catholic Church leader goes on to urge young people to “remain faithful to the Church's teaching on marriage. Always observe its essential properties of unity and indissolubility; keep at heart its threefold purpose, which is love between you, openness to procreation according to God's plan, and the Christian education of your children.”

The new book that was launched on July 12 at the Banquet Hall of the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral of Douala Archdiocese goes for US$12.00.