Trial marriages and the faith of such family members in Kashekuro Parish in light of Amoris Laetitia

Abstract

Trial marriages are arrangements made in such a way that the couple live together for a period of time to see if they are compatible for marriage. These marriages are in forms of: testing each other’s companionability, cohabitation and liaison. By their nature, human beings are to contract marriages and have families, which should be a lifetime, exclusive partnership between a man and a woman who give and receive mutual help and love from their union that is intended for the procreation and education of their children, and as per the Church’s teaching, Christ himself raised it to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptised. It is in this family that the faith of the family members should be strengthened under normal conditions. Unfortunately due to various challenges such as: fear of long-term commitment, low attitude towards Christian marriage, divorce and separation, infidelity, cultural attitudes (bride wealth), difference of cult, lack of proper catechesis, poverty , among others, many people, especially in Kashekuro Parish, are still opting for trial marriages, which leads to a great effect on the faith of the family members, which effect includes; loss of Christian moral values, secularization of marriage, loss of dignity and respect, distrustfulness especially between the spouses, plurality of religions in the family, and distorted prayer life and improper upbringing of children. Therefore this paper studies the effect of trial marriages on the faith of the family members, and specifically attempts to answer three research questions of: 1) What are the causes of trial marriages? 2) What is the effect of trial marriages? 3) What are some of the possible answers to the challenge of trial marriages? This was done by employing a survey, qualitative and quantitative methods in the collection, analysis and description of data that was obtained from a sample size of two hundred and eighty (280) respondents, selected using stratified random sampling technique. The data-collection methods and tools used were: interviews, questionnaires, research assistants, focus group discussions, voice recording, non-participatory observations, and library search. After collecting raw data from the field, the researcher first subjected it to a process of organization, analysis and interpretation before transforming it into intelligible information so as to meet the objectives of the study. The researcher created a database, and at the end of every day on which he received data from the field, he could sort it and update the database, and form the data into different classes to allow analysis. Afterwards, this paper recommends some ways (preparation of the youths for proper Christian marriages, nurturing Christian Counter-Cultural decisions, strengthening Christian family bonds, building strong love for one’s religion/ faith, and developing pure motives for marriage) through which trial marriages and their effects can be minimized, especially in Kashekuro Parish, which is the researcher’s area of study.