Betrothal Proposal Case

The June 2007 issue of U.S. Catholic magazine contains an article titled "A Betrothal Proposal." In this article, Michael J. Lawler and Gail S. Risch, answer the controversial question, ‘Are cohabiting Catholics always ‘living in sin'?' Lawler and Risch's answers have two parts: (1) not always, and (2) let us change the rules so that they will not live in sin. They also mention that, in recent decades, most Catholic couples have "reverted to the Pre-Tridentine sequence: cohabitation and sexual intercourse, then the wedding" (p 146).

Risch and Lawler start their explanation by describing the difference between "nuptial cohabitors"( p 145) (couples living together with the intention of marrying) and "non-nuptial cohabitors"( p 145) (couples living together with no intention of marrying). They refer to a research which shows that non-nuptial cohabitors have a much higher likelihood of divorce than nuptial cohabitors. Since nuptial cohabitors show a higher level of commitment to each other, Lawler and Risch are proposing that the church should change its entire teachings on cohabitation and instead to standardize the practice of premarital cohabitation.

Another key point in the article is that recent focus groups have revealed that many young Catholics adults disagree with the church's teachings on premarital sex. When Lawler and Risch say "recent focus groups" they mean young, unmarried Catholic adults who want to enjoy sexual intercourse without marriage and without feeling the guilt brought on by the church's teachings that, our authors assert, "ignore the variety and complexity of the intentions, situations, and meanings couples give to cohabitation and its morality" (p 145).

They continue in saying that existing church teachings are thus "based on old research" and are to be changed. I disagree with this point because I think that the church's teachings are not based on research.