I tried to find some hard numbers on the number of Catholic marriages annually, to compare with annulment stats, but have struck out so far. But I did find a report from 2007, commissioned by the USCCB and done by Georgetown U, called “Marriage in the Catholic Church”. It is 187 pages of interesting info about adult Catholics and matrimony. Here are a few items that might address the topic of this discussion.
The report confirms other info that I have seen that about 20% of Catholics end up divorced. That varies by generation and other demographics. But only 15% of divorced Catholics have sought an annulment, and about half of those were granted. The report doesn’t clarify what “sought an annulment” means, so some of those may be people who inquired, who perhaps started the process and did not complete it, or were advised against it. But the numbers seem to indicate that** only about 1%-2% of Catholic marriages are being annulled. **
76% of the adult Catholics surveyed believed divorce was acceptable in “some cases”. The top circumstances were: ** physical abuse (96%), Emotional Abuse (92%), Infidelity (85%), Addictive behavior (72%**). However, fewer than 30% agreed that divorce is usually the best solution. 71% agreed, “at least somewhat, that couples do not take marriage seriously enough when divorce is easily available”.
**Adequate preparation may be a big issue in the failure of marriages. The report says that “divorced and separated Catholics are less likely to have discussed each of these topics prior to marriage”: trust and commitment, openness to having children, intimacy or sexuality, family backgrounds or history, and parenting approaches. **
We have often heard the “old saw” about communicating, but this survey indicates that this is important. Currently married Catholics label “Finances” as the most challenging aspect of their relationship, and place communication issues third, and trust & commitment issues 8th. For divorced Catholics, communication issues was number one, followed by** trust & commitment issues**. This may help indicate what goes into the make-up of a successful and happy marriage vs. a problem marriage, with trust and honest and open communication with your spouse very important factors.
From my point of view as a Boomer, I would say that many young people in my day entered into marriage prematurely. I can think of several of my peers who married quite quickly, with little real preparation, and most of those marriages failed. They were probably doomed from the beginning, as the marriages were not built on a strong foundation.
I think the preparation for marriage today is better, but there are still other factors. On this site and other forums we hear of people who “find out” things about their spouse they didn’t know, or learn that they do not agree on basic and critical issues. That truly amazes me, and I wonder how they could have entered into the Sacrament of Marriage so unaware. In those cases, divorce, often followed by an annulment, are the only way to rectify the problem.
Another point to consider is that the Catholic church grants annulments for marriages that were entered into outside the Catholic church, as we read in the post from*** Dannel11***. This often occurs so that the Catholic party in the prior marriage CAN get married in the Church, a good thing.
The reason we read posts from and about married Catholics and annulments is, I think, because it is such a traumatic situation and process, and the posters are seeking whatever help they can get from fellow Catholics. They are not taking it lightly.
Now if only we could get more people to take marriage that seriously.
