Most couples live together before marriage

A majority of couples planning to marry in the Catholic Church view it as a lifelong sacrament open to children but nearly all of them are already living together and use artificial contraception, a leading charity has told the Vatican, writes Christopher Lamb.

Catholic Marriage Care, which prepared 3,000 couples for marriage in the year to the end of March 2013, made their remarks in a response to a questionnaire sent out to local Churches in preparation for next year’s synod on marriage and family life.

“Nearly all couples attending our marriage preparation courses are already cohabiting and many have children,” the charity stated. They added that cohabiting was for some a deliberate choice while for others “an almost unthought through evolution in their ­relationships”.

The charity described the take-up of natural family planning as “negligible” and that most couples had decided to use artificial contraception before starting a preparation course. But the charity also stressed that marriage is widely understood as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman.

“Couples … want and expect their marriages to last a lifetime … we would say that so far as this aspect of the Church’s teaching is concerned it is fully accepted,” it said.