Bishops' survey looks at U.S. Catholics' practices, views on marriage

Published: 2008-02-11

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although nearly three-quarters of American Catholics say they are somewhat or very familiar with church teachings on marriage, many mistakenly believe that a non-Catholic spouse must promise to raise the couple's children as Catholic and that church teaching accepts divorce in cases of marital infidelity. Those were among the results of a nationwide survey commissioned in April 2007 by the U.S. bishops' Committee on Marriage and Family Life on U.S. Catholic attitudes and practices regarding marriage. The survey was carried out in June 2007 by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University via the Internet polling firm Knowledge Networks and was made public Feb. 11. "This is the first time that such a varied and comprehensive body of data about Catholic patterns in marriage has been collected and analyzed," said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky. He is chairman of what is now the bishops' Subcommittee on Marriage and Family Life of the newly renamed Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

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