love, marriage, and Catholicism in Ireland
By Diogenes (articles ) | July 01, 2005 6:00 PM
Matrimony remains popular among the people of Ireland. Catholicism, regrettably, less so.
In 1996 there were 16,174 marriages in Ireland. In 2002, there were 20,556, according to official statistics released last week.
The number of Catholic marriage ceremonies in Ireland increased from 14,607 in 1996 to 15,908 in 2002. However, this increase masked a significant decline, from over 90% to 77%, in the proportion of all marriages accounted for by these ceremonies.
The number of civil marriages in Ireland increased nearly fourfold over the same period: from 928 in 1996 to 3,683 in 2002.
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Posted by: -
Jul. 02, 2005 3:42 AM ET USA
Although I prefer that people marry in the Church, it is better for nominal Catholics and/or people who do not agree with the Church's view of marriage to have civil weddings. At least people who marry in civil weddings are not using the parish church for an expensive costume party, nor are they making promises they doubt that they can keep. Civil weddings make annulments easier to get, since the marriage was never consecrated in the first place. "Legalized fornication" is good that way ;-D
