The culture surrounding marriage today, heavily influenced by television sit-coms, movies, literature and magazines, makes it very difficult for engaged couples to approach marriage with their priorities in order. It is no wonder that so many of them are misguided. For many years the Church has insisted that couples preparing for marriage undergo a proper preparation before marriage and still about 50 percent of them end in divorce. This sad reality and our grave concern for good marriages, is the reason the Diocese of Galveston-Houston has revised its policies and guidelines for marriage. When a couple is seriously involved in marriage preparation and understands the sacramentality of marriage as a means of a holy Christian life together, and they make every effort to address and resolve issues of possible conflicts, there is a solid hope they will have a happy and lasting marriage.
Good marriages require a lot of hard work together before the wedding day and every day thereafter.
No clearer sign of the pervasive immoral influence of today's culture on marriage is the unfortunate practice of cohabitation before marriage. A whole generation now has seen this practice displayed in the entertainment media as a normal and common way of life for young couples and the not so young. It is such an acceptable arrangement in the media that those who do not cohabit are considered not only old-fashioned but rather odd. This powerful influence makes some couples believe that abstaining from sex before marriage is implausible for them and not a normal way to prepare for marriage. The truth is just the opposite.