Dating - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council

are better prepared for entering marriage. If there is any way to
truly prepare for marriage, would it not be living as if you were
married? The reality is that while dating may be done in a way
that helps prepare for marriage, the same is never true of
cohabitation. If a cohabitating couple actually gets married
(which is only a 50% chance), then their divorce rate is 75%, one
and a half times the already staggering divorce rate of our
culture.
Statistically, the factors that best predict successful marriage are
high education levels, not being teenagers or single parents, and
having common values, background, and goals. 10 Neither length
of dating prior to marriage nor number of people dated are good
predictors of successful marriages. What is the relationship of
dating and marriage then? Dating helps us to learn about another
person and care about him or her. It is a practice in how to love
another person. Linking dating too close to marriage though, as
if marriage is the exclusive end of dating, neglects the reality that
many other factors are needed for a successful marriage.
Compatibility in dating can help in choosing a marriage partner
but is not sufficient in and of itself.
Thus, dating does have a goal. It is not the goal of status or
popularity or even exclusively marriage. Dating, like all
Christian actions, is a practice in which we learn how to love with
a Christian love. What is a Christian love? This takes us to the
next aspect of a Catholic view of dating.
Dating is “Full of Wonder” and not just “Wonderful.” Dating can
teach us Christian love. Culturally, dating and falling-in-love are
often synonymous. We can not imagine marriage, much less
long-term dating, without love. Yet the love often depicted is a
narrow love. It is the beginning of love, the first throes of love. It
-19-