Posted on 06/27/2011 5:21:14 PM PDT by NYer
It is June — that time of year when many of us will be receiving wedding invitations. One thing that may have changed from years past is the likelihood that the address on that invitation is for a country club, beach or community center rather than a Catholic parish.
The number of marriages celebrated in the Church has fallen from 415,487 in 1972 to 168,400 in 2010 — a decrease of nearly 60 percent — while the U.S. Catholic population has increased by almost 17 million. To put this another way, this is a shift from 8.6 marriages per 1,000 U.S. Catholics in 1972 to 2.6 marriages per 1,000 Catholics in 2010.
The “crude marriage” rate (marriages per 1,000 of a population) for Catholics marrying in the Church is significantly different than the overall crude marriage rate of the United States. In 2009, the most recent data available, the crude marriage rate in the U.S. overall was 6.8 marriages per 1,000 people.
It’s not that Catholics are less likely to marry than non-Catholics. In 2010, 53 percent of Catholics surveyed in the General Social Survey (GSS) indicated that they were currently married. By comparison, 51 percent of non-Catholics surveyed were married (including 55 percent of Protestants and 43 percent of those without a religious affiliation). Instead, many Catholics are choosing to marry outside of the Church.
We can see this trend in polling data as well. In a 2007 survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, 46 percent of unmarried Catholics who indicated some likelihood of marrying in the future said it is “somewhat” or “very” important to them to marry in the Church.
There are some other trends that are leading to the declining numbers of marriages in the Church.
A smaller percentage of Catholics are choosing to marry at all. The percentage of Catholics in the GSS indicating that they are married dropped from 79 percent in 1972 to 53 percent in 2010. Among Catholics ages 18 to 40, this percentage dropped from 69 percent to 38 percent during this period.
Some of this can be explained by Catholics waiting longer to marry, but the shift here has been slight. In 1972, the average age at first marriage reported in the GSS for Catholics ages 18 to 40 was 20.9. In 2006 (the last time this question was asked), it was 23.9.
Thus, the decline in Church marriages is more about not marrying at all than marrying older. CARA’s 2007 survey on marriage provides some additional context. In this study, Catholics who had never married were asked, “How likely do you think it is that you will get married at some point in your life?” Twenty-four percent of these never-married Catholics responded, “not at all likely.”
Divorce is another factor in the growing gap between the overall crude marriage rate in the U.S. and in the Church. The percentage of adult Catholics who are divorced or separated, divorced and remarried or widowed increased from 8 percent in 1972 to 22 percent in 2010. Some who divorce get remarried in civil ceremonies without seeking an annulment. These marriages are included in the total number of marriages in the U.S. but couldn’t be celebrated in the Church.
Another factor is the increasing number of marriages among Catholics to spouses of another faith.
According to the 1991 GSS, 78 percent of married Catholics ages 40 and younger had a Catholic spouse. This dropped to 57 percent in 2008, with an increasing number of Catholics reporting a Protestant spouse (28 percent) or one with no religious affiliation (15 percent).
Some Catholics celebrate their interfaith marriage in the Church. The percentage of marriages celebrated in the Church between a Catholic and a non-Catholic has remained quite stable in recent decades. In 2009, 26 percent of marriages in the Church were between a Catholic and a non-Catholic.
The likelihood that a Catholic will marry a non-Catholic is related to how numerous other Catholics are in his or her community. In 2009, in dioceses in which Catholics were about 10 percent of the total population, the average percentage of marriages in the Church between a Catholic and non-Catholic was 41 percent. In dioceses in which 40 percent or more of the population was Catholic, only about 16 percent of marriages in the Church were interfaith.
Not all dioceses have experienced the same marriage-rate decline. Four reported an increase in their crude Catholic marriage rates in the last decade: Peoria, Ill. (4.2 marriages in the Church per 1,000 Catholics in 2000 compared with 5.2 in 2010), Monterey, Calif. (3.4 to 4.3), Amarillo, Texas (5.1 to 5.2), and Beaumont, Texas (3.7 to 3.8). However, in each of these dioceses the total number of marriages celebrated in the Church declined. The resulting increases in marriage rates are due to fewer numbers of Catholics living in these dioceses.
In six dioceses, the total number of marriages celebrated increased, but the marriage rate fell due to more rapidly growing Catholic populations. These include: Corpus Christi, Texas (222 more marriages in 2010 than in 2000), Charlotte, N.C. (+112), Brownsville, Texas (+30), Knoxville, Tenn. (+18), Raleigh, N.C. (+17), Lincoln, Neb. (+1).
In the 10 dioceses with the highest rates for Catholic marriage in 2010, mostly concentrated in middle America, the rates are similar to the total crude marriage rate in the U.S. (6.8 in 2009). In the dioceses with the lowest crude rates, many are likely choosing to marry outside the Church. It’s also possible that in the dioceses near the U.S.-Mexico border, some of the Catholic marriages may be occurring outside the diocese.
The Diocese of Las Vegas has the country’s lowest Catholic marriage rate (0.9 marriages in the Church per 1,000 Catholics). This may be related to the presence of the city of Las Vegas — said to be easiest place in the world to get married (outside the Church, that is).
I didn’t expect to have all these children - it just kind of snuck up on us. But at some point, I started asking myself, “What else were you going to do that’s this worthwhile?” Plus I make leftists’ heads explode just by existing.
I don’t know if you’re a fan of Westerns, but I see myself as “Ma Sackett” or “Katie Elder,” that harmless old Bible-reading lady who produced her own private army ;-).
I’m a fan of “spaghetti westerns” (does that count?); my sons actually have camouflage outfits, web belts & harnesses, and such for hiking/camping. A co-worker asked me if they were in scouts because of their packs and canteens, and I said no; they asked who all the gear belonged to, and I told her it was mine. She asked why I had all that stuff, and I told her because I didn’t think people could get along forever. The final straw was when she saw a picture of them eating MREs (the military food packs); she thought I was off my rocker.
Their garrison caps have our family crest on them (from an Irish gift shop where they carry hundreds of them) - we are a private army, though as Celts we call it a tribe.
We call our gang the Saxon Horde. (My husband is German.) Four sons are in Scouts so far, and of course Seaman Anoreth, Warrior Goddess, in the Coast Guard.
Never had MREs, myself, but the older boys have taken them on campouts before.
MREs are great because you don’t have to cook them (though they taste better if you do), and if you’re camping in the snow you just tuck them inside your shirt for the last half hour of hiking before you break to eat; not exactly cooked, but not frozen either.
Scouts seems to be disappearing slowly here in NJ; I know some troops have consolidated. I think originally people felt they didn’t do enough camping, and now kids don’t want to go camping (or they pretend to on a computer).
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