Ticos Prefer Civil
Marriage Over Church
Since 1995 Catholic
church marriages have
been on the decline.
According to numbers of
the Registro Civil, in
1995 there were 12.373
marriages registered by
the church, while only
10.954 by lawyers and
notaries.
In 2008 the Registro
Civil, part of the
Tribunal Supremo de
Elecciones (TSE), of the
25.302 marriages
registered, 19.588 were
civil marriages. In 2007
the numbers were
similar.
According to the
Registro, duding the
last 10 years, 239.960
marriages were
registers, of which
161.059 were civil
marriages, compared to
75.451 church marriages
and 3.450 marriages by
proxy.
Of course the church is
not very pleased with
the numbers. Catholic
church priest, Ronny
Solano, national
secretary of the
Pastoral Family,
lamented the decline in
the number of marriages
in churches.
"Faced with this
situation, we must
realize that the Church
is not the ideal way
(civil marriage) for the
marriage between
baptized", he said.
Solano believes that the
decline in unions by the
clergy is due to several
aspects, among which he
cited the indifference
of society toward
religion, the rejection
of the commitments laid
down in the Catholic
marriage and the bad
example they have seen
couples in their homes,
preferring to try first
a civil marriage.
Solano added that the
Church will continue to
promote marriage through
the catechism on the
family and the reason
for the Catholic
sacrament. |
