Marital Crisis as a Cause of the Church’s Crisis: What a Study Reveals and 4 Recommendations for Addressing It
A new report by Catholic apostolate Communio warns that declining marriage rates in the United States may weaken a key setting for passing religious faith between generations. The report argues that the Church risks losing more than weddings as marriage becomes less common. Communio calls for rebuilding marriage and family life to become a central priority for the Church, supported by data-driven pastoral strategies.
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A Communio report argues that declining marriage rates are weakening a key setting for passing Catholic faith between generations. It calls on U.S. parishes to make marriage and family support a sustained pastoral priority, with four proposed steps: assess couples’ needs, continue formation after weddings, normalize seeking help, and preach marriage as a vocation.
The report, The State of Marriage and the Family in the United States, was written by Communio founder and president J. P. De Gance and vice president Jared Smyth. Published ahead of a Vatican gathering marking the tenth anniversary of Amoris laetitia, it challenges the idea that falling marriage rates are irreversible, arguing that many young people still want to marry but lack examples, encouragement, and practical support.
The article reports that U.S. sacramental marriages have fallen by nearly 75% over roughly half a century. In 2023, there were 111,245 Catholic weddings and 401,654 Catholic funerals; over the longer period cited, the Catholic population reportedly grew from 54 million to 75 million. The U.S. marriage rate has declined by 65% since 1970, while households with married parents and children under 18 fell from about 40% of households to around 18%. Most U.S. adults are now unmarried, for the first time in the country’s history, the article says.
Communio links these trends to religious formation. In a 2024 survey of 7,440 weekly Mass-attending Catholics, 83% said they had grown up with married parents; nearly nine in 10 priests ordained in the preceding two years reportedly came from intact families. The report’s argument echoes Mary Eberstadt’s thesis that weakening family life may precede and contribute to declining religious belief.
The report says many young adults increasingly regard marriage as something to pursue after completing education, establishing careers, paying debts, and buying homes. The average age of American grooms has risen from 23 in 1970 to about 30 today; meanwhile, 88% of parents surveyed considered financial independence very important for their children, compared with 21% who placed the same emphasis on marriage.
Interest in marriage has declined among high-school girls: the share who said they hoped to marry someday fell from 83% in 1993 to 61% in 2023, while the figure for boys changed little. Among adults aged 22 to 35, only 31% were actively dating, and 74% of women and 64% of men reported having no dates or very few in the previous year. Communio says parishes could create more opportunities for young people to meet in person and form relationships.
The report also identifies limited parish programming for couples and single people. It says 85% of churches allocate no resources to marriage or relationship ministry, more than nine in 10 lack programs to help single people form relationships directed toward marriage, and only 23% of Catholic pastors offer support to newly married couples. Communio highlights the first five years of marriage as a period when couples may encounter difficulties, while structured parish assistance after the wedding is often limited.
Communio says eight to 12 hours of practical marriage formation each year can measurably improve marital health. It also cites research that couples who pray and worship together divorce at rates 30% to 50% lower than other couples. In a partnership with the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas from 2022 to 2025, participating parishes reached about 30,000 people and recorded a 23% increase in average Sunday Mass attendance; the article cautions that this does not establish marriage programs as the cause of the increase.
The report says that between one in five and one in four married Sunday Massgoers described their marriage as experiencing difficulties. Communio argues that courses and retreats can carry a stigma, so offering enrichment to all couples—not only those visibly struggling—could make seeking guidance more normal.
Clergy preparation is another concern: although 88% of priests reportedly work with couples experiencing marital difficulties, 64% feel only moderately qualified or insufficiently prepared to help. Communio proposes training married laypeople to listen, provide initial support, and refer couples to suitable professional or pastoral assistance.
Communio recommends that parishes:
The report presents marriage support as part of the Church’s broader mission, arguing that strengthening family life can help sustain the settings in which faith, commitment, and responsibility are handed on.
Marriage and family life sustain intergenerational Catholic faith
Marriage and family life sustain Catholic faith across generations because they make faith visible in ordinary relationships and pass it on through both teaching and example. The family is the first setting where faith can take root; Christian marriage, rooted in a lifelong promise of mutual love, becomes a sign of God’s love and welcomes children as a gift.
The home is therefore rightly called the domestic Church: parents help children learn to pray, encounter Scripture, participate in the sacraments, and live the Gospel in daily life. Their witness—especially their faithful love, care for one another, and readiness to forgive—helps children see what Christian faith means in practice.
This transmission is not automatic, nor does it rest on parents alone. Families need continuing formation and the support of the parish and wider Church, particularly through Sunday Mass, the Word of God, and the sacraments. In this way, family life and the Church’s communal life strengthen one another, allowing faith to be received, lived, and handed on anew.