To Tie the Knot or Not

I have always had an interest in the motivation behind what people do. While in the process of discerning an occupation that interests and motivates me to become a better person, I realized that psychology took a grip on my interest. From the most basic everyday habits to complex decisions that affect the rest of their lives, I want to know why people do the things they do. As I talked to my mom about a month ago, she informed me that our very close family friends may soon start the process of going through divorce. This shocked me and caught me off guard; although I do not often see them together, I would have never guessed that their marriage had fallen apart in the slightest. My mind went in circles. What went wrong? How long have they struggled? Do they have any hope? Does their religion have anything to do with their wishes? My psychology experience started making me think about everything that could have gone wrong.

Our friends belong to the Roman Catholic Church, so getting divorced often draws negative attention to the couple. Although they go to church on a semi-regular basis, they by no means have the “most Catholic” faith. They disagree with many of the Church’s teachings but still feel they agree with enough to stay in the Church. I wanted badly to go talk with Cathy and see if she could shed some light on this every pressing question: What correlation between religion and marriage success rates exists? However, I knew that she had to deal with this extreme pain and sadness during this hard time in her life. I felt it would not benefit, but rather hurt her more, if I would interview her simply for my own curiosity. Therefore, I turned to my priest, Father Andrew Dickinson. I knew that he taught a pre-marriage class t...

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