(via Inquirer.net) While the debate on the divorce bill rages in Congress, Catholic marriages in the country are on track for a record drop this year and the next, a Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) official said Saturday.

Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, said that based on the Catholic Directory, the number of church marriages is set to drop from 177,940 in 2008-2009 to just 166,0000 this year and in 2011.

Castro said this was because Filipinos were marrying at a later age and couples were opting for civil marriages first before going for a “grand” church wedding.

“(The) trend is Filipinos are getting married at an older age unlike before when Filipinos would tie the knot when they’re still young,” said Castro in an interview over the Church’s Radio Veritas.

“Because those getting married are getting older, the number of people tying the knot in church is going down.”

He said that in the diocese of Tarlac, the number of those opting for civil marriages was “on the rise because it is free when you have it before the mayor.”  They later get married in church.

“It’s not because of the church fees but because as Filipinos they want to prepare for a church wedding. Filipinos are very particular that they have a grand church wedding so they postpone it,” Castro said.

He said the Church had also noticed a “glaring phenomenon” of more and more Filipino women marrying foreigners.

“We have a glaring phenomenon of so many interracial marriages involving Filipinas. Maybe foreigners are really falling in love with Filipinas. So it’s interracial and, more often than not, (it’s) a mixed marriage with the man having a different religion,” Castro said.

“In several instances, the groom would convert and get baptized in the Church but that is discouraged—to convert just for the sake of marriage,” he said.

Castro said Filipino women entering into interracial marriages was a “phenomenon” happening not just in the country but also in the large Filipino communities abroad.

“You will also notice this abroad where there are really many Filipinos getting married, either with a fellow Filipino or with somebody from another race,” he said.

(via Phil. Star) In the wedding month of June, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has admitted that church weddings are becoming too expensive for Filipino couples.In an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas, CBCP Marriage Tribunal chairman emeritus Oscar Cruz urged churches to encourage couples to have simple wedding ceremonies or offer the sacrament for free as the high cost of church weddings is deterring couples from getting married.

Mass weddings are held every month where couples have very minimal expenses because there are no flowers, no singers and marching to the altar.

“There is a rule in the Church that you cannot deny a person from receiving a sacrament just because he does not have the money,” Cruz said.

The Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop also cited the difficulty of securing marriage licenses and complying with other requirements such as attending pre-wedding catechism.

At the same time, Cruz said excessive exposure to comics, telenovelas and movies about marriages that turned sour might have contributed to the increase in the number of failed marriages.

Cruz said comics, telenovelas and movies do not promote the sanctity of marriage because more often than not, these depict stories of couples who love each other at first but eventually their marriages do not work and they end in separation, divorce or annulment.

Cruz said his office receives 130 annulment cases annually, but out of these, only around 10 cases pass the first phase of their evaluation and the number would be further trimmed down as the cases progress.

He added that majority of the cases are dismissed because of lack of evidence.

Most couples who want release from their marriages cite reasons such as mental disorder, personality maladjustment, social immaturity and other matters pertaining to child-raising, he said.

Cruz said the hike in annulment cases in the country is also an indication of the decline in the values system.

In turn, the effect of a dwindling values system goes a long way, Cruz said, explaining that there are certain effects on a child if he is born out of wedlock, if he belongs to a broken family or if he grows up not knowing his father.

(PNA photo | Jess Escaros Jr.)

(excerpted from GMA News) The proposal of the women’s party list group 1-Ako Babaeng Astig Aasenso (1-ABAA) to place expiration dates on marriage contracts raised a ruckus. The controversial proposition was brought to light at the Daungan ng Balita news forum held at the Danarra Hotel in Quezon City last Thursday, January 7, 2009.

1-ABAA, which represents separated and abandoned women, proposed the enactment of a law that would mandate a 10-year limit on the validity of a marriage contract. Its purpose is “to spare incompatible couples the expense of lengthy legal proceedings before their marriages are annulled.”

After all, the marriage license, which the couple obtains before they can get married, has a “built-in” expiration date. Article 20 of the Family Code of the Philippines stipulates that a marriage license is only valid “for a period of one hundred twenty days from the date of issue” and is deemed automatically canceled if the contracting parties have not made use of it by the end of the mandated period.
As 1-ABAA president Margie Tajon put it, “[A marriage contract] should be just like a passport or driver’s license. If we are not interested to renew it, then it expires.” This, of course, seems like a pragmatic solution to toxic unions. These days, as Tajon pointed out, “Those who can’t afford an annulment just suffer forever.”

Bottom line: 1-ABAA wants to amend the Family Code so that marriage will no longer be treated as a special contract. To date, the marriage contract, is defined by the Family Code as “a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life.”

When it comes to the legal definition of marriage in the Philippines, you have to pay attention to two crucial words: “special” and “permanent.” It is “special” because, unlike in other types of contracts, the parties involved cannot stipulate on whatever pleases them. The word, “permanent,” is self-explanatory. As such, a Pinoy marriage is pretty much built to last—at least in legal terms.

It goes without saying that the Catholic Church would be at the forefront of parties opposing the 1-ABAA proposal. “Bago naming napag-isipan yan, alam na naming na Church ang number one [na mag-po-protesta],” stated Tajon.

Though the Philippine Constitution mandates the separation of Church and State, the Church’s pronouncements still hold sway over many Filipinos. The 1-ABAA proposal, by the way, would not affect Muslim marriages, since they’re already allowed to divorce and governed by the stipulations of the Islamic religion. [READ MORE…]

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related articles:

• License to Love (The Marocharim Experiment | opinion)
• Women’s group wants expiry date on marriage (Phil. Star)
• Partylist 1-ABAA favors annulment of marriage over divorce system (Balita.ph)
  

(via CBCP news) MANILA —A church leader doesn’t equate homosexuality with immorality, but opposes redefining marriage that would include same sex unions.

According to Father Melvin Castro, opposing with gay-rights groups on same-sex marriage does not qualify as hate position and doesn’t mean the church is anti-gay.

Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Commission on Family and Life, said the church is only trying to defend marriage as an exclusive union between a man and a woman.

“Same-sex marriage contradicts the clear teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage and sexuality,” he said.

Castro said same-sex unions go against the basic purpose of marriage, to produce children. Giving them the same legal status as married couples, he added, violates divine law.

On the other hand, he also expressed concern that same-sex union is already legal in other countries.

The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Norway, Sweden, and South Africa are the only countries in which the legal status of same-sex union is exactly the same as that of opposite-sex marriages.

In the Philippines, some homosexual organizations are also calling for the legalization of same-sex union.

But the church leader said that no matter how proponents of same-sex union would put it, it would still upset humanity and society. (Roy Lagarde)

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related news article:

• Church official opposes gay marriage (Balita.ph)

[via CBCP News] The head of Manila’s Roman Catholic Church has banned wedding rites from being held outside the churches.

Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said that for a couple to get married outside a parish church was contrary to the meaning of Christian marriage.

“All Catholic marriages within the Archdiocese of Manila should be held within the parish churches,” Rosales said in a circular issued to his clergy recently.

Rosales said he was acting to prevent the sacrament of marriage being ridiculed and to press the observance of “all ecclesiastical laws.”

“I have to ensure that abuses do not creep into ecclesiastical discipline, especially concerning the celebration of the sacrament of marriage,” he said.

But the cardinal took exception for those “in periculo mortis” cases.

The religious term is a marriage that is performed when either the groom or bride is in danger of death.

Canon law does require that weddings take place within a church building but each bishop may particularize the policy in his diocese.

Hence, like in Manila, there are other dioceses that do not allow outdoor weddings without a dispensation from the bishop.

Rosales is known for his moves to ensure the solemnity of the sacrament of matrimony within his pastoral jurisdiction.

The church official earlier called the attention of soon-to-wed couples not to forget the solemnity of their marriage ceremony.

He noted that couples focus too much their attention on the wedding details like invitations, attires, among other things, and their attention towards the solemnity of the ceremony is diminished.

Rosales also stated that more couples are now opting to have a civil wedding rather than a church wedding because of the increasing cost involved in holding the latter.

He likewise appealed to bridal parties to wear proper attire during wedding ceremonies. Certain clothing can distract fellow churchgoers from prayer, he said.