Consumer culture is having adverse effect on marriage, speaker says

Published: 2003-10-22

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- The consumer culture has had an adverse effect on today's marriages, said William Doherty, a nationally known marriage and family expert, in a keynote address Oct. 10 to the International Retrouvaille Council meeting in St. Paul. "As a consumer, I'm only committed to something as long as it's working for me," he said. "Marriage with a long view comes with the conviction that nothing will break us up, that we will share leadership for retaining and renewing our marriage and that we will accept each other's weaknesses." Doherty, director of the marriage and family therapy program at the University of Minnesota and author of "Take Back Your Marriage: Sticking Together in a World That Pulls Us Apart," addressed about 500 people at the International Retrouvaille Council meeting. Participants were from national and international Retrouvaille groups, a Catholic program formed in 1977 that helps couples restore their marriages.

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