Catholic bishops told: Church marriages in Philippines a minority

MANILA, Philippines — Church-sanctioned marriages in the country are a minority, Manila third district Rep. Joel Chua told Catholic bishops and priests.

“The parents who married in church are actually in the minority,” Chua, one of the supporters of the Absolute Divorce Bill revealed, although he did not provide any figures.

He called on the Church to “compile annualized statistics about the parents of the children they baptize, their civil status and whether they were wed in church, elsewhere or not married.”

“If they will look more closely at their baptismal records, for example, they will discover that most of the parents of the children they baptize are not married in church weddings,” he suggested.

“There are more parents of baptized children who are either wed civilly, cohabiting or live-in or are members of other religions. I am aware of the civil status of my constituents because of the daily fieldwork my constituency office does,” Chua said.

The lawmaker at the same time lamented that “most churches in the country probably do not have computerized, digitized and statistical databases of baptisms, weddings and deaths.”

“Having those databases will give them metrics they can use to help save marriages and families and measure the progress of their efforts,” he said, estimating that only one in every three couples was married in church, a third were in civil rites while the other third engaged in a live-in setup.

“Divorce is not about their religious beliefs which they have no right to impose on others who do not share or adhere to those beliefs,” he insisted. “Divorce is about saving the spouses and children trapped, held hostage by marriages that have already failed.”

“It is the duty of the State, through government, to save those spouses and children from further harm because they are citizens deserving of life, liberty and due process,” he said.

However, instead of passing the Absolute Divorce Bill, the Archdiocese of Manila-Commission on Family and Life (RCAM-CFL) said legislators should instead enact laws that would help couples prepare for married life.

The two-page RCAM-CFL statement, signed by Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula and RCAM-CFL commissioner Fr. Joel Jason, said they “strongly oppose this proposed bill which will certainly destroy Filipino families when it will be enacted into law.” — Evelyn Macairan