Quotes from the media

‘‘ QUOTES FROM THE MEDIA COUPLES HAVE LOST FAITH IN RELIGIOUS WEDDING SERVICES

Religious ceremonies featured in less than a quarter of marriages as the number of couples choosing to marry in a place of worship dropped to an all-time low, figures show. There were 60,069 religious marriages in England and Wales in 2016, down by 4.1 per cent on 2015 and accounting for just 24 per cent of weddings, the Office for National Statistics said. Church weddings and other religious ceremonies accounted for 85 per cent of all marriages in 1900 and 66 per cent in the late 1960s. The proportion dropped to 50 per cent in the mid-1970s and stabilised until the Marriage Act 1994. The act meant that couples no longer had to decide between a civil ceremony at a register office or a religious ceremony in church and could choose from grander civil venues such as hotels, stately homes or castles. The number of civil marriages now accounts for 76 per cent of weddings.

The Times

A NEW VIEW OF AGEING THAT RAISES QUESTIONS ‘Within a generation we will have to get rid of this idea of retiring. A 70-year-old should be somebody who goes to the office every day.’ The observation was made by Sanjeev Sanyal, global strategist at Deutsche Bank, commenting on a report that by 2050 the number of people aged over 65 will outnumber children aged 5 and under for the first time in human history – a scenario with huge implications for government and business, including where to find future generations of taxpaying workers… Global demographics are demanding a new view of ageing. The postretirement years are no longer seen as a swift descent into frailty, but as an extended middle age that can be fruitful and productive. The Church of England Newspaper

‘Zs HAVE DIFFERENT NOTION OF FRIENDS’ Young people ‘lack self-awareness’ in assessing the medium to long-term effects of social media on their mental wellbeing, a new report says. The report, Gen Z: Digital Generation, published by Youth for Christ, says: ‘Many young people do not recognise that they might be addicted to their social media accounts or that social media may increase anxiety. ‘Generation Z seems to focus upon the immediate effects of social media as positive and calming, without giving much consideration to the longer-term implications upon who they are.’ Of the 1,001 teenagers interviewed for the study, 56 per cent said that social media made them happier; fewer than 5 per cent said that they felt more anxious or less confident respectively. The report says: ‘There is a possibility that this generation has become so acclimatised to digital dependency and anxieties associated with social media that they are no longer recognised on their radar…’ The report also argues that social media and online dependency has changed the way in which young people think about relationships with their peers. Church Times

PRO-LIFE STUDENTS DEFEAT ATTEMPTED BAN

Students from the University of Glasgow have defeated an attempt to ban their pro-life group after issuing a legal challenge. Glasgow students’ union had sought to prevent Glasgow Students for Life’s affiliation… But the latter argued successfully that this contravened the Equality Act 2010. Grace Deighan, the society’s president, said: ‘Given that there are pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia groups affiliated, we believe that it is only fair for the pro-life argument to have a place at the despatch box.’

Catholic Herald

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