Friday 29th March 2024

Home » Frontpage » Currently Reading:

A New Pew Study… Marriage Vs. Cohabitation

November 18, 2019 Frontpage No Comments

By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD

On the heels of a report on religious participation (see my November 7 column), the Pew Research Center has released a report, Marriage and Cohabitation in the U.S. It finds that as more and more adults are delaying, or even forgoing, marriage, the share of adults who have lived with an unmarried partner is on the rise, but not by as much as you might expect.
Overall, it found that marriage rates have declined, particularly among younger adults. “Today, 18 percent of adults younger than 30 are married, compared with 31 percent in 1995. Among adults ages 30 to 49 and those 50 and older, 62 percent are married — down somewhat from 1995, when marriage rates for these age groups were 68 percent and 65 percent respectively.”
It found that while the share of adults who are currently married has declined from 58 percent in 1995 to 53 percent today, the share of adults living with unmarried partners has risen from 3 percent to 7 percent, which seems low to me.
Additionally, it found that “married adults are more satisfied with their relationship and more trusting of their partners than those who are cohabiting.”
Young adults, the report says, “are particularly accepting of cohabitation — 78 percent of those ages 18 to 29 say it’s acceptable for an unmarried couple to live together, even if they don’t plan to get married — but majorities across age groups share this view.”
Yet it reports that even those under 30 report, by 45 percent, that “society is better off if couples who want to stay together long-term eventually get married.”
Three-quarters of Catholics (74 percent) — and this is scary — claim it is acceptable for unmarried couples to live together even if they have no plans for marriage. Nine in ten of those who are not affiliated with any religion agree.
“Most married and cohabiting adults cite love and companionship as major reasons why they decided to get married or move in with a partner. But about four in ten cohabiters also say finances and convenience were important factors in their decision: 38 percent say moving in with their partner made sense financially and 37 percent say it was convenient. In comparison, just 13 percent of married adults cite finances and 10 percent cite convenience as major reasons why they decided to get married,” the report says.
Besides finances, about 40 percent claimed not being far enough along in their job or career was reason enough to delay marriage.
A lot of this I’m familiar with: I was the marriage minister in my parish and I dealt with numerous couples who wanted to get married, but were already living together. The main reason they gave was financial, and in most instances they moved in together while planning to get married.
On the other hand, Pew reports that about 25 percent of cohabiters say that cohabitation was a way to test their relationship, a trial marriage, if you will. About 40 percent of cohabiting adults say they want to get married someday and of that group 58 percent say they are “very likely” to marry their current partner, 27 percent say they are “somewhat” likely to marry their partner, and 14 percent say it is “not at all likely” that they will marry their current partner. Of the non-engaged cohabitants 24 percent say they don’t want to get married and another 35 percent aren’t sure about marriage.
Most cohabiters 18 to 44 (64 percent) have lived with only one partner, the survey says; 24 percent have had two such relationships, and 14 percent have had three or more partners. Among those 18 to 44, 77 percent of married couples and 54 percent of cohabiting couples have children under 18. Of those cohabiting adults with children, 19 percent have children from a prior relationship.
The survey also reports that a majority of Americans (59 percent) claim that children can be raised just as well by a cohabiting couple as by a married couple. Catholics are split on this issue with 73 percent of Hispanic Catholics saying cohabiting parents can do just as well raising children while only 48 percent of white Catholics say the same thing.
Politically, 73 percent of Democrats but only 41 percent of Republicans say cohabiting couples can do the same job parenting as married couples.
Overall, 16 percent of men and 17 percent of women say marriage is essential to living a fulfilling life; 54 percent say marriage is important but not essential. Men (57 percent) and women (46 percent) see having a job or career they enjoy as essential for a fulfilling life.
Finally, “Married adults are more satisfied in general with their relationship than are those who are living with a partner,” the Pew report says. “In addition, those who are married are more likely than those who are cohabiting to say they have a great deal of trust in their spouse or partner to be faithful to them, act in their best interest, always tell them the truth, and handle money responsibly,” it says.
And: “About six-in-ten married adults (58 percent) say their relationship is going very well, compared with 41 percent of those living with a partner,” it concludes.
While we’re on the topic of marriage — and we’ve discussed this case before — a web designer who wants to promote traditional marriage is on her way to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals after a Colorado federal court refused to enjoin the state from prohibiting her from stating her belief on her web page.
Web designer Lorie Smith, who owns 303 Creative, LLC, wants to expand her web design business to include wedding sites, but as a devoted Christian she does not want to include same-sex weddings. On her own website, she wants to explain her reason, stating, “I love weddings….I firmly believe that God is calling me to this work….So I will not be able to create websites for same-sex marriages or any other marriage that is not between one man and one woman. Doing that would compromise my Christian witness and tell a story about marriage that contradicts God’s true story of marriage — the very story He is calling me to promote.”
Which, of course, pits her against the Colorado law that says: “It is discriminatory practice and unlawful for a person . . . to publish [a notice] that indicates that the full and equal enjoyment of . . . services . . . will be refused.”
Smith was seeking a pre-enforcement ban against the state, which, if you remember, lost its case against the baker in Masterpiece Cakeshop before the U.S. Supreme Court only to come back at the baker, Jack Phillips, for a second bite at the apple (or cake, as the case may be) and lose again.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the district court refused her pre-enforcement request. At one point in the court’s decision it noted that the section that bans her from placing her religious statement on her website is a law of “general applicability, regulating the statements that discriminate against same-sex couples regardless of whether such statements are based on religious or other beliefs,” then went on to try to make the comparison between Lorie Smith’s statement and a “whites only” sign.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is representing 303 Creative and has appealed the case to the Tenth Circuit. We’ll wait and see what happens.
In an unrelated matter, next week is Thanksgiving and I am thankful for Alexander Tschugguel. Who is he, you might ask? He’s one of two who threw the pachamamas into the Tiber. He’s my 2019 hero.
It was going to be Bryce Harper who left the Washington Nationals to join my Philadelphia Phillies. He had 13-year contract for $330 million. I was so excited I ordered the baseball package from Direct TV so I could watch all the games.
The Phillies ended up fourth in their division; only the Marlins were worse. The Nationals? They won the World Series. Some things just don’t turn out as planned.
(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com.)

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)