The Record
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PUREAU OP
No. 2082
Perth.
PERTH, THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1978
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MORE MARRIAGES,
FEWER IN CHURCH;
RISE IN DIVORCE The good news is that Australian marriages increased 6000 over the 1975 figure for 1976 but the bad news is that the rise is a consequence of divorces after the introduction of the Family Law Act.
A persistent decline in Church) and Presbyterians Victoria, the second highthe number of people mar- were responsible for 10.4 est after Tasmania for religrying has been taking place and 8 per cent of the celeions ceremonies, has dropsince the peak in 1972. brations but all the rest add ped "Marriages 1976," the up nationally to only 11.3 per from 80 per cent to 72 cent. latest publication of the .per cent. Marriage counsellors will Australian Bureau of StaThe drift away from the tistics, does not paint a Churches is clearly to the be concerned for the 15,338 brighter picture. civil celebrants who in 1976 women 18 years and under The numbers of first performed 28.9 per cent of who entered marriage in 1976, a few of them taking marriages, both for bride- the total. grooms and brides, were Four years earlier they husbands as old as 60 and lower in 1976 than in 1975. had performed just half over, with three women The falls, however, were' that percentage (14.1). under 16 taking husbands much less than those beThe drift to civil cele- over 30. lween 1974 and 1975. brants is also the result of The real picture to the introduction by the then emerge, however, is the ad SECOND TIME Attorney -General, Senator ditional divorced The marked increase in (now Mr. Justice) Murphy, men and 8,651 7,879 divorced the number and percentage of the category of special women who became bride of persons marrying for the marriage celebrant who ingrooms and brides in 1976, second or subsequent time creasingly are performing compared with the previous probably has to be tied to marriage ceremonies away yea, the number of people who from churches. took advantage of the proStatistics can only hide the Wry picture of the 125 vision of the Family Law W.A. BIGGEST FALL Act. divorced women 20 years Curiously, the government in 1976 17.6 per cent of statistics give no specific and under who were enterbridegrooms and 16.5 per details of how many mar- ing their second marriage. cent of brides were divorc- riages the special celebrants Aged 20, however, diees, while the corresponding' are performing out of the vorced and re -marrying figures for 1975 were 10.3 total civil ceremonies. there was only one male. and 9.9 per cent respectiveWestern Australia has ly. shown the biggest decline in The rise in the remarriage religious wedding cereof divorcees may in part monies. explain the Australian drift With only 66.4 per cent away from religious cere- of its marriages celebrated mony marriages. religiously, it is ahead only of the Northern Territory (52.3) and the Australian 3 PERCENT DROP In any case, 1976 dealt a Capital Territory (59.5). In Western Australia the heavy blow to some Church sections, the Catholic and Catholic celebrations were down 68 and the Anglican Anglican Churches both dropping 3 per cent in their Church down 307 on the
This was the scene lost week os Young
Bishop emphasises status
Pictured clockwise: Suzanne HANLON (New Norcio), Dale GORDON (Bunbury) Simone McGURK (Siena), Peter STEWART (Leederville), Steve KLOMP (Aquinas), Shown BOYLE (Trinity), Brother Douglas WALSH (Bunbury), Bernie DWYER (Koondoolo), Marianne CALLEJA (full time Y.C.S.), Carla Van LIESHOUT (New Norcia). Centre: Maryo STEWART (Leederville), Dove KELLY (Fre, mantle)_ Also travelling were Linda BAKER, LONDON, Ontario (NC). Bishop G. Emmet Carter, Ontario, iJames DEPIAZZI, Kevin HAYCOCK, Helen said that theologians' speculations were not as authoritative as proDYMOND, Chris KEATING. nouncements from the Church's traditional magisterium, or teaching authority, made up of bishops and ti4 Pope. To hold otherwise, the bishop said, would doom the church.
of the magisterial over
share of the wedding ceremonies. Catholic celebrants nationally still hold the lead (22.2 per cent) over their Anglican counterparts (19.2 per cent). Methodists (pre-Uniting
1975 figures. The State loss, however, was offset by marginal in-
creases in Orthodox, Lutheran and other denomination celebrations, the last showing an interesting 87 increase.
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Christion Students from W.A. piled themselves into the Mercy College bus for on
overland trip to the notional conference in Hamilton, Victoria.
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Speaking at a Mass for survive," Bishop Cartel "Some churches seem to meeting of Catholics said. have been designed to hide United for the Faith dealHis homily dealt in part the priest as if we were ing with evangelisation, with four basic ways in ashamed of him and, of Bishop Carter said that al- which Christ works in the course, when choirs and prothough "it is unpopular for hearts of believers. jectors take over front and any man to assume such Christ worked through centre, he disappears no authority in a period which the Eucharist, through scrip- matter where he is sitting. despises authority, there is ture, through the commun"We tend to think of this no other way" to establish ity of believers and through as an architectural detail, the truth of the content of the priesthood, Bishop but in reality we are dealing the faith. Carter said. with a very deep truth. "To say that all in the But, he went on, there "Our modern world hates church have an equal voice, was the danger that Christ's authority and tries, whenthat the speculation of theo- presence in the priesthood ever possible, to reduce it." logians is on an equal foot- could be obscured because ing with the magisterium, or of current attitudes. ON INSIDE PAGES simply to refuse to speak Calendar 4 on grounds of a search for "FALSE HUMILITY" Classified Adverpopularity or false humility, "There is a sort of false tising 10 is actually the denial of humility abroad in the 11 one of the vital presences church at the present time, Letters of Christ. Moreover, it and it has infected our Marriage Encounwould be the denial of the clergy ter more 2 than the presence of Christ without people," Bishop Carter told Sport 10, 12 which His Church could not the gathering. TV and Rodio 9 a