OUTSIDE THE CHURCH : Whom Catholics marry & where.

Are more young Catholics marrying outside the church today, without seeking its approval? The answer seems to be yes. While sociological surveys indicate that interfaith marriages are increasing, data from The Official Catholic Directory report that intermarriages are declining. When I ask parish and diocesan pastoral leaders what they make of this discrepancy, they reach the same conclusion I do: More and more interfaith marriages are indeed taking place outside the church. This situation, if true, would have enormous pastoral implications for persons working with young and marriage-age Catholics, and it would portend profound changes for the future of American Catholicism in general.

Historically, the pre-Vatican II church discouraged Catholics from marrying members of other faiths. If a Catholic insisted on marrying a non-Catholic, the church countenanced a simple exchange of vows in the rectory or at a side chapel. Furthermore, it strongly urged the spouse to convert to Catholicism, and it required that the children be raised Catholic. But despite the church's efforts to discourage interfaith marriages, even in the 1940s and 1950s such unions comprised about 27 percent of all church-sanctioned marriages.

Nowadays, some three decades following the changes inaugurated by Vatican II, the Catholic church is more inclined to treat interfaith marriages with the same respect and even solemnity it grants marriages involving two Catholics. Marriages between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic ("mixed marriages"), and those involving a Catholic and a nonbaptized person ("disparity of cult") are usually public ceremonies, celebrated in the church. Sometimes a representative of the non- Catholic spouse's faith tradition may even participate in the ceremony as an official witness. The church also is more lenient in granting permission for interfaith marriages to take place in other churches. Though the Catholic church continues to stress the advantages of parents having the same religion and raising the children in the Catholic faith, its approach to these matters involves greater respect for the wishes of the non-Catholic spouse.

Not surprisingly, then, surveys show that the rate of interfaith marriage continues to rise. In a 1988 article in the Review of Religious Research, Alan McCutcheon used data from the highly regarded General Social Survey to show that the intermarriage rate for white Catholics, which was 18 percent among persons married prior to the 1930s, jumped to 33 percent in the 1930s and 1940s, increased to 36 percent in the 1950s and 1960s, and climbed to 43 percent in the 1970s. In a 1991 article in the American Sociological Review, Matthijs Kalmijn studied data from national surveys in 1955, 1965, and 1972-89 and found that the intermarriage rate among Catholics "increased dramatically between the 1920s and the 1980s." Finally, in a 1993 article in the Journal of Marriage and the Family, William Sander, using data from the 1987-91 General Social Survey, reported a similar increase. For cradle Catholics, the percentage of Catholic men married to a person of another faith rose from 22 percent in the pre-1930 birth cohort to 48 percent for men born in the 1950s. The same pattern held for women who were raised Catholic.

In 1995, colleagues and I examined interfaith marriage rates in a national survey of American Catholics (including Hispanics, Asians, and African-Americans). As we reported in The Search for Common Ground (Our Sunday Visitor, 1997), today's intermarriage rate for Catholics is at least twice what it was in the pre-Vatican II era (see table 1). Whereas only 16 percent of Catholics born before 1941 (the pre-Vatican II cohort) are-or, if widowed, separated, or divorced, were-in interfaith marriages, 32 percent of Catholics born between 1941 and 1960 (the Vatican II cohort) are/were in such marriages, and 40 percent of Catholics born between 1961 and 1977 (the post-Vatican II cohort) are/were intermarried. Thus, separate and quite reliable national surveys point to the same conclusion: More and more Catholics are involved in interfaith marriages.

While national surveys clearly establish that the intermarriage rate is rising, church data in The Official Catholic Directory (OCD) paint a very different picture (see figure 1). Data reported in the 1960 OCD indicate an intermarriage rate of 27.6 percent. The rate rose to 29.2 percent in 1965, 34.9 percent in 1970, and 37.2 percent in 1975 (far higher than it had been in any previous year). But, according to the OCD, the intermarriage rate has declined ever since, sliding to 33.5 percent in 1985 and to 30.8 percent in 1995.

Thus, it can be seen that there is a significant difference between the results of the national surveys quoted above and data reported by the OCD. These wide disparities raise at least three questions: How do survey researchers and the OCD collect their data on intermarriage? How are we to interpret the fact that national surveys show an increase in intermarriage while the OCD data point to a curvilinear pattern? (Are interfaith marriages on the rise or not?) Finally, what might our interpretation imply for church leaders?

ational surveys are based on telephone interviews. Researchers ask people what their religious affiliation is. Responses indicate people's religious identifications ("I am Baptist"; "I'm a Catholic"; "I don't belong to any church"). Survey researchers often ask self-identified Catholics whether they are married, widowed, divorced, separated, or single (never married). Then they usually ask those who are (or ever were) married about the religious affiliation of their spouse (before marriage and/or at the time of the interview). Researchers record all interfaith marriages, whether they have taken place in the church or not.

The Official Catholic Directory uses a very different approach. It collects data from dioceses, which get their figures from parishes. Parishes report only the number of weddings that ordained ministers (priests or deacons) have witnessed, or that were authorized by granting special dispensations to Catholics who marry in other churches. Parish weddings and dispensations are then combined into one statistic indicating the total number of marriages that are sanctioned by the church or officially dispensed from the ordinary form. Parishes also record whether these marriages involved two Catholics (called "Catholic" marriages) or a Catholic and a non-Catholic (called "interfaith" marriages).

These varying methodologies lead to strikingly different conclusions. The surveys-which report all intermarriages (whether they are sanctioned by the church or not)-indicate that interfaith marriages are increasing, while church records-which include only sanctioned intermarriages-indicate that interfaith marriages are declining. The disparity in findings implies that more and more intermarriages are taking place outside the church.

Sociologist Michael Hornsby-Smith has documented just such a trend among Catholics in England (see his Roman Catholics in England, Cambridge University Press, 1987). His data indicate that before 1939, church-sanctioned marriages constituted 91 percent of all marriages, but that by the 1970s, they had shrunk to 64 percent. Unsanctioned marriages involving a Catholic quadrupled in the same period, from only 9 percent to 36 percent, and interfaith marriages rose from 28 percent to 66 percent of all marriages. Sanctioned interfaith marriages increased from 22 percent to 33 percent; unsanctioned jumped from a mere 6 percent to 33 percent.

There are no comparable data for the United States, since neither the church nor civil authorities here collect figures on the number of unsanctioned interfaith marriages. However, there are several reasons to believe that interfaith marriages are increasingly taking place without the authorization of the church.

First, research shows that today's young-adult Catholics are less attached to the church than other generations of Catholics. Their religious outlook is more personal and individualistic than institutional. They are not as likely to attend Mass regularly. They are less likely to say the church is an important part of their lives. They are more likely to say they can imagine circumstances under which they might leave the church. It is reasonable to assume that when they think of getting married, they are more willing to marry people of other faiths and bypass the church's canonical processes.

Second, the number of church-sanctioned marriages is declining. The 1960 edition of The Official Catholic Directory indicated a total of 303,735 valid marriages the previous year. That figure rose to 336,276 in the 1965 edition and to 405,066 in the 1970 issue. But ever since, the number of valid marriages has generally fallen, declining to 382,861 in 1975 and 339,531 in 1980. It increased slightly in 1985 to 341,099, declined again to 329,446 in 1990 and to only 293,434 in 1995.

Third, the declining number of valid church marriages cannot be attributed to a downturn in either the U.S. population or the U.S. Catholic population. The U.S. population rose steadily from 181 million in 1960 to 263 million in 1995, while the Catholic population increased from 38 million to 55 million over the same period. Nor can the decline in church-sanctioned marriages be fully explained by a decline in the number of people of marrying age. While the number of marriage-age Catholics and other Americans dipped less than 5 percent between 1975 and 1995, the number of church-sanctioned weddings declined 23 percent during that period. Finally, the 23-percent decline in church- sanctioned marriages exceeded the overall decline in American marriages, which were down only 9 percent between 1975 and 1995. Observing that the Catholic marriage rate has declined more rapidly than the marriage rate for the U.S. population as a whole, Joseph Claude Harris recently noted in America (April 10, 1999) that "Many Catholics apparently do not choose to be married in a church."

Fourth, previous research indicates that interfaith marriages are more likely to take place outside the church. Compared to first marriages involving two Catholics, religiously-mixed first marriages in which one partner is Catholic are at least twice as likely to involve a civil ceremony, not a church wedding.

Finally, when I have presented my thesis to diocesan and parish leaders, they concur that the number of unsanctioned interfaith marriages is increasing. My statistical data are consistent with their pastoral experiences.

These findings suggest that the church is losing touch with young marriage-age Catholics. While there is relatively little that church leaders can do to reverse overarching societal conditions that contribute to this situation, ecclesiastical authorities can affect church policies and programs. For example, diocesan and parish leaders can and ought to examine marriage preparation policies, some of which seem to be a double-edge sword. Clearly, there are spiritual and marital benefits for persons who go through marriage preparation, especially those who participate in eight to nine sessions lasting twenty-six to thirty hours (see the Creighton University report: Marriage Preparation in the Catholic Church). But, the fact is, today many young people initially see no value in the church's marriage preparation process. Some dismiss it as the church's last-minute attempt to impose its views about birth control and similar issues. Others do not want to commit to numerous, time-consuming sessions. When offered only one format (a series of private sessions with a priest), these young adults-especially interfaith couples-often demur and simply opt to marry outside the church. However, if given an opportunity to pick among several formats (for example, weekend sessions with married couples, or private sessions with mentor couples), they may be more inclined to participate. Assuming that some marriage preparation is better than none and that church leaders prefer valid marriages over invalid ones, the challenge seems clear: Offer a variety of formats so that marriage preparation is accessible, meaningful, and tailored to couples' different needs.

A review of catechetical programs, youth ministries, and young-adult programs may also be in order. Key issues would include the extent to which, and the ways in which, these programs stress the sacramentality of marriage, the benefits of marrying someone of the same faith, and the value of being married in the church. They would also include the potential problems associated with mixed marriages, such as the increased likelihood of divorce.

Priests and liturgists should also work with young adults in the parishes to design worship experiences that will invite such young people to make the church a more integral part of their lives. When worship experiences are oriented toward young adults (as they are on many college campuses and at selected Masses in some parishes), they provide the attendees with special opportunities to relate the church to their lives at a point when they are considering marriage partners.

In addition to these rather programmatic responses, church leaders might also explore new ways of building positive relationships with young Catholics and the people who are significant in their lives. With occasional phone calls and e-mail messages, parish staff could maintain contact with young adults, whether they remain in the community or have moved on to other communities for school or work. Such contacts would demonstrate the church's interest in their well-being, and would provide opportunities to minister to them when they are making decisions about careers, family life, and faith.

Finally, clergy and lay leaders should make it a priority to forge strong relationships with young couples-especially interfaith couples- as they adjust to married life. Through mentoring couples and support groups for newlyweds, leaders could increase the church's opportunities to affirm and educate young adults at a very important time in their lives. These relationships would also increase opportunities to retain and minister to young people who must be the backbone of the church in the next century.

James D. Davidson is professor of sociology at Purdue University. He is senior author of The Search for Common Ground, which received the 1998 Research Award from the National Conference of Catechetical Leadership.

Table 1

Interfaith Marriages as Percent of All Marriages

Reported in 1995 National Survey

   Post-Vatican II Generation      40

   Vatican II Generation         32

   Pre-Vatican II Generation      16