Feb
12
Catholics misinformed about marriage? Gee, I wonder why
February 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The American Papist reports on a survey put out by the American Bishops regarding US Catholics’ views on marriage.
“Although nearly three-quarters of American Catholics say they are somewhat or very familiar with church teachings on marriage, many mistakenly believe that a non-Catholic spouse must promise to raise the couple’s children as Catholic and that church teaching accepts divorce in cases of marital infidelity.
… Archbishop [Kurtz of Louisville] also expressed concern that 41 percent of younger Catholics were choosing to marry outside the church and that “more than half of unmarried young Catholic adults do not consider it important to be married in the church.” – CNS
This is upsettting, but not surprising. But what’s funny is that the Bishops are concerned about these atttitudes as if their actions haven’t in part been the cause. I don’t want to go off on a rant against the Bishops, but let’s just say they haven’t always been the most vocal promoters of orthodoxy. As one of the commenters at Thomas’s site noted, there are definite problems in some parishes with the pre-cana program (though I must say ours wasn’t so bad). Moreover, it’s not exactly as though we hear enough from the pulpit every Sunday to more properly form our views.