Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

iíCP Tol JOLjSöpeoizil. Jíumber

■1968 No 2-81 -(07785)

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then the birth of children tends to alx^nate the partners. Motherhood, as a rule., -directs the attention of the wife to the child, and this too might become a problemit does not go hand in hand with the awakening of the jcy of fatherhood* In marriages in which the mphasis is on the raising of the standard of living, the child, as a rule, arrives later, or not at all, or the partners wait too long to become partners and dien their childless marriage endsin disillusionment and alienation from one another. The child becomes a problem when there are essential ideological differences between the married partners and they cannot agree on the way cf educating their child, Thai, of course, the interference and meddling of the parents may also cause crises. Unions to which many children are bom tend to be stable.

The emancipation of women exerts, in most cases, a positive influence on marriages.' The wife is no longer under the tutelage of her husband and his family and becomes an esteemed member of the family, 3y virtue of her economic independence, áie becomes the equal partner of her husband. Her economic independevenables her to weigh carefully her marriage chances. But the emancipation of women also raises a number of difficult problems» Conflicts arise between the wife's work outside the home and her home duties^ She is likely to be overstrained by having to work in two or three ’’shifts'^ She is likely to have personality problems if she cannot give her best both at home and at the place of her work. She is grieved by her inability to care properly for her children, and also unhappy if, because of home work, she has to ncgleot her obligations outside her home. And, in these cases, the husband's indifference or selfishness may aggravate the crisis. Thai long periods of absence to which one may become accustomed will raise further problems. The experience is that the marriagp of partners on-ployed in the same occupation tends to be mare stable. That explains the lower divoroes rate among the rural population« Common occupation, coranan causes and services, ccmmcn interests strengthen the marriage ties.

Marriages of convenience hardly occur today, and economic causes seldom break up marriages» Young paople today are led by the consideration of spiritual values or, at least, by their emotions when they, quite freely, make up their minds to marry. This is a gratifying fact. But we must also note that the endeavour to get rich quickly and inpatience in acquiring all kinds of consumer's goods often §poil marriages. These are the harmful excrescences of what might be called ’’refrigerator socialism". There is a caiformism of spending and making immoderate claims in economic matters.; If tie married partners live beyond their means their union often disintegrates, We note in some cases a spirit cf competition in the effort to reach the hipest possible standardrof living. If this is the case, the married partners may agree to remain childless, and they soon bum out sexually, they become swallowed up by their economic interests to the exclusion cf spiritual values and at the end, their marriage becomes a victim cf their new-style snobbery.

According to statistics, most of the divoroes are caused by alcohol ism, cruelty and promiscuity. All these we sum ip as moral laxity. We pay special attention to this factor to which a sector of our population is parti