When engaged couples can get married in a park, at a vineyard or on a beach, why should they get married in a Catholic church? The Diocese of Trenton seeks to answer those and other questions in a series of videos, the first of which was posted on its YouTube channel June 1.
Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., is featured in the first installment, speaking about the lifelong support couples will receive from their parish communities, adding that “your Catholic marriage will have deep, healthy roots that will enable your relationship to thrive and withstand the inevitable storms that will come your way.”
Peg Hensler, the Diocese’s associate director for marriage ministries and Natural Family Planning in the Department of Evangelization and Family Life, said she hopes the Bishop’s two-minute video and the 13 or 14 other videos to come in the series will “appeal to engaged couples’ desire for a solid foundation in marriage and lifelong support.”
“All couples hope for lifelong, happy marriage, and we have the keys to that reality,” she said.
In his video message, Bishop O’Connell described the Church’s marriage preparation process as “a gift.”
“You’ll learn from experienced married couples and priests and deacons about the beauty of sacramental marriage, and how to live it each day,” he said. He spoke of the graces that come with a Catholic marriage and said it “makes Christ’s love truly present in our midst and becomes a new chapter in the story of our salvation.”
A new video is planned for each Thursday from June through August, with different presenters focusing on various aspects of marriage.
Hensler said the video series was based on one of the objectives of the Diocese’s 2015 Plan for Strengthening Marriage, which can be found at Dioceseoftrenton.org/the-plan.
The format of 60-90 second videos were suitable for social media, Hensler said, “like commercials for Catholic marriage.” She explained, “The goal is long-term use of the videos … as an ongoing resource for parishes and families.
“We can change the narrative that says that only the secular wedding industry – including all kinds of crazy practices like underwater weddings, etc. – can offer the wedding of their dreams,” she added.
The Encouraging Catholic Weddings campaign was a response to national statistics on Catholic marriage, which have declined steadily since 2000.
“Fewer and fewer couples are choosing to marry in the Church, and the decline continues,” said Hensler, who pointed out that in the 12-year period between 2000 and 2012, Catholic marriages in the United States declined by 40%. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, in 2020 —when the U.S. Catholic population stood at 73 million — Catholic marriages numbered just 97,200.
CARA has observed that “no Sacrament is in a steeper decline in the U.S. than marriage,” noting that “Catholics are more often choosing civil ceremonies at country clubs, the beach or other sites. The practice of marriage as a Sacrament is becoming less common.”
Hensler said 2022 diocesan statistics showed parishes average 12 weddings per year. The number of weddings in the Diocese in 2022 – 1,134 – was down by 104 from 2021.
The videos will be added to the Diocese’s Encouraging Catholic Weddings page at Dioceseoftrenton.org/ecw, and parishes can access resources – including Catholic marriage FAQs – at Dioceseoftrenton.org/ecw-program-for-parishes.
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