Marriage and Health

• Married men and women have been found to enjoy healthier, happier, and longer lives than those who are not married.
• Married men and women are less likely to suffer from psychological illness.
• Married mothers tend to receive greater support, both emotionally and physically, which contributes to lower rates of depression than single or cohabitating mothers.

Marriage and Economic Stability

• Married couples tend to be able to build up greater wealth than single or cohabitating couples.
• Married men earn between ten and twenty percent more than single men with similar education and prior job experience.
• Married women are found to be in better economic situations than women who are divorced, cohabitating or that have never married.

Testimony of Married Couples

• What is Love? (Chastity Project, 9/7/15)
• Pat and Bob, married 64 years
• Ed and Beth, married 52 years
• John and Laura, married 38 years
• Tom and Barb, married 38 years
• Mike and Anita, married 31 years
• Chris and Sharon, married 21 years

“Those who celebrate the sacrament of marriage say, ‘I promise to be true to you, in joy and in sadness, in sickness and in health; I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.’ At that moment, the couple does not know what will happen, nor what joys and pains await them. They are setting out, like Abraham, on a journey together. And that is what marriage is! Setting out and walking together, hand in hand, putting yourselves in the Lord’s powerful hands. Hand in hand, always and for the rest of your lives.” Pope Francis, Address in Rome to the Pilgrimage of Families (October 26, 2013)

Videos

• Sacraments 101: Matrimony

• What is Love?

“A society grows stronger and better, it grows in beauty and it grows in truth, when it rises on the foundation of the family.” Pope Francis, Festival of Families (September 26, 2015)

• Pope Francis: Advice to Married Couples

• Pope Francis: Tips to Make Marriage Work

“A strong society thrives on strong families.”

The married family promotes stability and teaches values that are beneficial to the couple and its children and also to the surrounding community. Through the model of marriage and the values it supports, government and societal costs are reduced.

Here are a few research findings on marriage and society:

• Married families have significantly lower poverty rates (and child poverty rates) than those among cohabitating families and single-parent families.
• Children in married homes have lower rates of mental illness, criminal activity, illegal drug use, clinic depression, and suicide.
• Married families provide a network that allows for the care of older family members and the development of work ethic in children, which impacts the next generation of workers.
• Marriages that end in divorce are costly to the public, as trends have shown increases in the use of food stamps and public housing as well as increases in the number of bankruptcies and juvenile delinquency.

Videos

• How Big Is Your Marriage?

• What’s Best About Being Married?

“The family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children. Marriage now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the indispensable contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple.” Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, no 66 (Nov 24, 2013)