In the same way that academic communities engage in academic actions that are ordered toward the academic goods of the pursuit of truth and knowledge, the marital relationship is (like the act that embodies it) ordered toward the marital good of procreation and rearing and education of children. The good toward which the marital act is ordered is not a one-time good like winning the next football game or passing the next test. The marital act is comprehensive—it unites the spouses in heart, mind, and body—and is thus oriented toward a comprehensive good—the procreation and education of new
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