Number of Catholic church weddings drop by 12% in Oro

By ANJANETTE VILLAMOR
Correspondent/

THE number of couples who tied the knot at the St. Augustine cathedral and other Roman Catholic churches in the city plunged by some 12 percent from 2015 to 2016.

Data from the local archdiocese show that there were 2,452 couples who were wed in various Roman Catholic churches here last year. In contrast, there were 3,034 couples married at the cathedral and elsewhere in the city two years ago.

Of the 2,452 couples last year, 2,374 were all Catholic while 78 were Catholic and non-Catholic pairs.

In 2015, 71 of the 3,034 marriage applications were that of Catholic and non-Catholic couples, and  2,963 were all Catholic pairs.

The data cover 60 Roman Catholic parishes here or 42 in 2015 and 39 in 2016.

Fr. Roel Buntol, a chancellor of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, said the drop in the number of couples wed in local Catholic churches nothwithstanding, the figures still show that many still believe and want to receive the “sacrament of marriage” here.

The data form part of a study made in light of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s bill on the dissolution of marriage.

The bill, if passed into law, would provide a way out for estranged couples due to “irreconcilable differences” or “severe and chronic unhappiness” that caused an “irreparable breakdown of marriage.”

Alvarez’s House Bill 6027, “An Act Providing for Grounds for the Dissolution of  Marriage,” is co-authored by 14 other congressmen.

Fr. Buntol said the Roman Catholic church has remained firm in its position that “when man and woman receive the sacrament of marriage, it is forever.”

“Each of us is really unique. We have to accept that, and live with that. Making adjustments and constant communication are important to maintain a good relationship,” he said.

Buntol said when couples are faced with irreconcilable differences, they should deal with their problem down to the roots, study the causes, and find ways to solve it instead of making separation the solution.

Buntol said, “Problems come from within ourselves.”

He said even the problem about a “third party is just a tip of the cone.”

Muslim Filipinos however see things differently.

National Commission on Muslim Affairs assistant regional director Mitocurm Macabando, said Muslim communities favor the approval of Alvarez’s proposed measure.

“If people are happy, then they tend to do good things,” Macabando said.

He said an unhappy marriage is a breeding ground for “adultery” which Muslims see as “sin.”

Macabando however said it would be best for disagreeing couples to communicate with each other and try to reconcile their differences.

He said that based on Islamic laws, hurting each other physically, psychologically, economically, and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases are some grounds for the dissolution of marriage.