An English Catholic bishop says the shrinking number of marriages in Britain is causing negative social consequences, the implications of which are only beginning to be worked out, not least for the wellbeing of children. Source: Crux.
Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury was speaking on Tuesday during the first annual diocesan Mass in celebration of marriage since the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020.
Speaking at St Columba’s Church in Chester, the bishop said the consequences of the collapse of marriage in the UK will have an effect on the country.
“The headlines do not seem to exaggerate when they speak not merely of a cataclysmic decline, but of marriage disappearing in Britain,” he said.
“So exceptional in these early years of this 21st century that most recent statistics show a 61 per cent decrease of marriages in our land; the lowest number of couples entering marriage for almost two centuries; and the first time in our history that more children are born outside of marriage than in a married home,” Bishop Davies told the congregation.
The diocese issued a statement noting the Marriage Foundation has consistently shown in its research that marriages between men and women are inherently more stable and enduring than any other form of relationship.
One of the most recent studies by the charity, founded in 2012, revealed that by the age of 14, some 46 per cent of children in the UK are not living with both natural parents.
The Marriage Foundation maintains that UK Government family police is now focused on the provision of childcare and encouraging all parents into work instead of supporting marriage, even though the institution is proven to be the most secure for children.
In his homily, Bishop Davies said as Christians “we are not merely being called to lament such a loss but to allow the Christian vision of marriage to be seen anew as a radical call to holiness, [which is] really the same thing as happiness,” the bishop said.
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English bishop claims marriage ‘disappearing in Britain’ (By Charles Collins, Crux)
