Marriage no romantic picnic, but worth the effort, therapist says

Published: 2006-02-16

PITTSBURGH (CNS) -- "Our culture has really done a magnificent job of convincing people that good marriages 'just happen,'" according to marriage and family therapist Larry Badaczewski. Many experts caution against this romantic, magical view of marriage, "but somehow we have got it in our heads that it shouldn't be that hard," he said. "It's almost as if we refuse to see how complex we are as individuals, and that when you take two imperfect people and have them live together, you still somehow expect them to have a perfect life." But the reality is much more complicated, said Badaczewski, who has worked with Pittsburgh area parishes for 21 years. He is on staff at St. John Neumann in Franklin Park and an auxiliary staff member at St. Sebastian in Ross Township. Married couples fight over issues that "will be with us till the end of time" -- money, sex, parenting, social life, extended family relationships, division of labor in the household, and how they practice the faith, he told the Pittsburgh Catholic, the diocesan newspaper.

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