It is good to hear that one of the Pope’s closest advisers is suggesting that the Vatican’s office on the family should be headed up by a married couple (The Church in the World, 22 February). I have long thought that this should be the case for Marriage and Family Life Commissions around the world. This is not to say that single or celibate members of the Church have nothing to contribute, but for those of us who have lived long-term partnerships, for richer, for poorer, etc., there is a special understanding that can contribute much to this important area of church life. After all, it is from matrimony that all the other sacraments flow or are realised.Whilst we see numbers of priests and religious leaving their vocations, currently the majority of absentees in the Church in