Catholics Surveyed Over Marriage Beliefs

by Rachael Grant

In a survey in Washington, USA, it has been reported that ‘most’ Roman Catholics consider Church teachings as an important part of shaping their views on marriage. However it was also revealed that they got some tenets wrong, and for the most part were accepting of divorce.

The majority of Catholics (70%) had been wed in either a Catholic church, or had at least had their marriages blessed by the church.

The survey, conducted in June 2007 by the Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, asked questions of 1,008 self-identified Catholic adults. It was commissioned by the U.S conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Marriage and Family life.

Over half of respondents (55%) said that their opinions on marriage had been somewhat influenced by teachings of the church. Most people accurately described church teachings about the sacrament of marriage. These included teachings such as the church not considering a civil marriage after divorce to be sacramentally valid. Despite this, over three-quarters of the people surveyed said that divorce is acceptable in some cases.

However, six in ten Catholics have heard that non-Catholic spouses have to promise to have the children raised as Catholic which hasn’t been in effect since a change in canon law came about in 1983.

Catholics were comparable to the US population when it came to marriage demographics, including the age people got married, as well as the frequency of divorce.

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