The Marriage Decline

Ten years ago today my husband proposed to me! He asked me to go on this grand adventure of life with him, and what an adventure it has been! We have had our share of good and bad times, but given the choice, I would do it all again.

It seems like marriage has gone out of style. I serve on a Pre-Cana (marriage preparation) team at our parish. We do a yearly one day workshop in which engaged couples come and get to listen to marriage veterans talk about the joys and challenges of marriages. Our parish is blessed with some truly committed couples (some of whom have been married over 40 years) who are willing to share their stories with these young people just beginning the journey. When this team started eight years ago, we had 50 couples attend. Right now, we have six scheduled for this month's program. One reason for the decline is that there are additional parish-based programs in the area, but the larger reason is that fewer people are getting married. You can see it just looking at the engagement and wedding announcements in the paper.

Yesterday, I was reading the January 2006 issue of "Columbia" magazine (yes, I am a little behind in my reading), and there was an article by Bishop William E. Lori on how he recently gave a talk on the need to pray for vocations - marriage vocations! He wrote that "arguably, the declining number of solid marriages is the most fundamental vocations shortage facing both Church and society." I know that many young people today have experienced divorce in their families, and perhaps some have decided that forever isn't even worth trying for. That is just so sad. I wish these young people could meet the wonderful role models of our Pre-Cana program and hear how marriage (while difficult - nobody ever said that it was easy) has enriched their lives. Loving married couples who find joy in their life and stick it out through the less joyful parts are the best advertisement for this vocation.