Many Christians now regard marriage just like a car that "can be traded or dumped when the repair costs get too high or a new model appears on the scene."
This assessment comes from Mary Hasson, director of the Catholic Women's Forum at the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington D.C.
Speaking to The Christian Post in a recent interview, Hasson said she agrees with Pope Francis when he pointed out earlier this month that many Christians no longer view marriage as a lifelong commitment and that couples often fail to understand the sacred vows they are making to each other.
"It's individual consumerism applied to sexuality — what I want, when I want it, and only for as long as I want it," she said. "It's meaningful only from a 'what's in it for me' perspective."
Hasson has more than a decade of experience in preparing Catholic couples for marriage. She said many of the couples she has met would often make a commitment to be together for life—but with certain "unspoken exceptions that they believe will justify divorce and remarriage later on."
She said this kind of thinking is what makes marriage "toxic."
To prevent this, she said couples "need a unified vision, a capacity for sacrifice, a willingness to compromise, and a commitment to the good of the marriage, spouse, and children."
Hasson's statements echoed those of Pope Francis who said earlier that most Catholic marriages are effectively "null" because couples don't understand that marriage is a lifelong commitment.
The Pope drew criticism for his comments, with critics saying that such off-the-cuff remarks appeared to be a sweeping indictment of many married Christian couples.
Although Pope Francis' concerns were understandable, his comments were unwise, according to Jennifer Roback Morse, founder of the Ruth Institute, a global nonprofit dedicated to creating a lasting and Christ-like mass social movement to end the injustice of family breakdown.
"I think it was imprudent for him to express himself in the manner he did," Morse told the Christian Post.
"His comments do not bring encouragement to those who are struggling in their marriages, or appreciation for those who have overcome challenges, or education for those who need to be better informed," she said.
Hasson defended the Pope, saying he "wasn't making a universal pronouncement of most marriages" when he made his comments. She also noted the public clarification issued by the Vatican, which issued a revised transcript of the Pope's remarks.
A video of the pope's June 16 remarks show clearly that he used the Italian words "grande maggioranza" (great majority) to indicate the proportion of marriages that he believes are "null," according to LifeSiteNews.
However, the official Vatican transcript that came out the following day replaced "grande maggioranza" to "parte" (a part, portion, or some).
