Dating - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council

But dating as wonderful often truncates this love, emphasizing
the wonder in the first moments or months of a relationship. This
is where the happiness and joy seem to be. This is when the world
looks rosy. Again, there is nothing wrong with these moments as
long as they are not assumed to be love in its entirety. Peter,
James, and John all left everything to follow Jesus, yet this
moment occurs at the beginning of each Gospel. After this
wonderful moment, James and John ask for positions of authority
at Jesus’ right and left hands and Peter denies Jesus three times.
It takes time for even the Apostles to truly become “full of
wonder” for what God has done for them and for everyone. Thus,
for dating to be Christian, it cannot just be the wonderful peak
moments at the beginning of relationships. It must entail the
demanding enterprise of love that endures despite failures (the
paschal dimension of love), is attentive to the whole person (the
incarnate dimension of love), and enlivens one’s other
relationships (the triune dimension of love). Only then will the
dating relationship be “full of wonder” as it begins to reflect the
love that is God’s and is God.
Dating is not wrong but can be done wrong. As defined so far, dating
can be a joyful practice in Christian love. Yet, dating can also be
something else. While dating may not be inherently wrong, it is
so often bound up with actions that are wrong that dating seems
beyond redemption at times. Violence, premarital sex, and
masturbation (either by one’s self or as a couple) seem so much a
part of contemporary dating that often people assume that the
Catholic Church’s teaching condemns dating in judging these
activities unfit for the good of the Christian and Gospel living.
While not prohibiting dating per se, the Church does condemn
relationships, any relationships, including dating relationships,
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