A couple of generations back, on my Dad’s side of the family, a married Catholic couple in Bardstown, Kentucky didn’t get along. She lived in the house, he lived in the barn. They had seven children. Divorce was absolutely out of the question. Is it better to stay together for the sake of the children? At last Wednesday’s General Audience, Pope Francis discussed how children can be deeply wounded by what happens between their parents.
One of my in-laws came from a family of eleven. At some point the parents had a falling out and basically the marriage was ended although they still lived together and the father actually paid the mother a salary for the errands and such that she did for him. My SIL says she would have much preferred they divorced.