In a speech yesterday at the Australian Institute of Family Studies annual conference, Professor Alan Hayes spoke of a “revolution” in Australian families.

The mothers of 34 percent of babies born in 2008 were unmarried, compared with 8 percent in 1970.

Now 78 percent of couples live together before marrying, compared with 23 percent pre-revolution.

The Professor said, “For many children it has been a good revolution, but it depends on the extent to which they are in safe and stable homes.”

Also that, “It is more important to focus on how a family functions than on its form”.

Was he was trying to say that marriage is irrelevant? 

If so, he is incorrect.

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A 1998 government Inquiry by the Australian Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, entitled “To Have and to Hold”, concluded that:

“Marriage benefits the health and well-being of individuals, and, conversely, separation and divorce bring with them elevated risks for both former husbands and wives and their children.

The Committee concludes that marriage and relationship breakdown costs the Australian nation at least $3 billion each year. When all the indirect costs are included, the figure is possibly double. When the personal and emotional trauma involved is added to these figures, the cost to the nation is enormous.

“In comparison, the Committee notes that the Commonwealth Government spends just $3.5 million per annum on preventive marriage and relationship education programs, and $2.05 million on parenting skills training. This is a 1000-fold difference. The imbalance is manifest and the Committee believes it requires correction.”  (www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/laca/Inquiryinfam.htm)

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Remember, the Family was invented by God who created us. Marriage was invented by God. Marriage is a Sacrament of God’s Church.

Through Catholic Marriage, as with all Catholic Sacraments, God offers grace.

Grace is a practical thing. The Sacramental grace conferred by Christian Marriage provides married couples with extra power, available by no other means, for dealing with life’s day-to-day problems.

Ask your neighbourhood policeman who regularly attends domestic fights. Do those shacked up unmarried behave more or less violently and irresponsibly than those who are married?