Catholic marriages are back on course
THE number of couples attending Catholic premarriage courses is back at its pre-Covid levels.
Many are now seeking in-person courses, rather than over Zoom, because they are tired of staring at a computer all day at work, Tony Shanahan, director of the Catholic marriage organisation Accord, has said.
In 2019, the most recent full year available for comparison, Accord provided 285 marriage preparation programmes to 4,610 couples outside Dublin. In 2022, it delivered similar figures – 4,610 couples outside Dublin on 297 programmes. It doesn’t yet have figures for Dublin last year.
The courses offer advice about the marriage sacrament as well as psychological advice.
‘We talk about the influence of the [couples’] families. All families are unique in how they deal with problems,’ Mr Shanahan said.
‘We also talk about how to communicate effectively in a marriage – not just intellectually, but emotionally as well.
‘We also talk about how to deal with difficulties or simply to agree to differ, and then the issue of parenthood as well.’
He said that doing Zoom courses during lockdown was ‘a temporary stopgap’ but is still popular with couples living abroad. He said: ‘Two thirds of the courses are still on Zoom but it is flipping the other way now. People want faceto-face communication. They are dealing with technology all day at work and the interactions are so much better face to face.’
Everyone who does the nine hours of courses fills out an evaluation at the end. Mr Shanahan said: ‘The vast majority are overwhelmingly positive. One woman recently wrote that she didn’t think she could love her fiancé any more, but after having those indepth discussions in the course, their love has grown. That is heartening to hear.’
Last year, 29 of the couples were aged up to 20, 1,293 were aged between 21 and 30, 2,661 were aged from 31 to 40, and 282 were aged 41 to 50. The typical length of a couple being in a relationship prior to marriage was six to ten years. The majority of couples taking part did not have children and about one third did.
Speaking at the shrine of the holy relics of St Valentine at the Carmelite Church in Dublin city, Mr Shanahan said: ‘It is reassuring to see that attendance figures for Accord marriage preparation courses are back up to their pre-Covid levels.
And he added: ‘When we consider that, for 2021, the Central Statistics Office reported that religious ceremonies accounted for 57% of all marriages in the State, and that the 6,721 Catholic marriages that year amounted to 39% of the total figure, Accord’s data of today paints a positive picture in terms of the numbers who are planning a church marriage in the future.
‘As marriage is the greatest undertaking in life for most people, we encourage preparation as a prerequisite to success.
For over 60 years Accord has helped couples to prepare and, from our experience, it is best to undertake a marriage preparation course six to nine months ahead of the wedding date.’
Kildare and Leighlin Bishop Denis Nulty, president of Accord Catholic Marriage Care Service CLG, blessed several couples at the Carmelite Church yesterday.
‘Interactions are better face to face’