Published March 14, 1985. Since next Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would
relate an experience I had in Ireland a few months ago. I was in the Emerald
Isle giving a few speeches on marriage and family.
While there I met John Connolly, who lives in Dublin.
During our conversation I asked Connolly what the divorce
rate was in the south of Ireland. Imagine my astonishment when he replied, “Zero.”
“You mean to say,” I asked in amazement, “that there are no
divorces in the Irish Republic?”
I had heard that divorce was still illegal in some European
countries but had no idea that such was the case in Ireland.
After a few more moments of thought I asked, “But what do
you do in this country when a husband and wife can’t get along? When they fight
and argue excessively?”
Connolly again chuckled. “Those situations do occur on
occasion. Not often, but on occasion. But then we have what we call an Irish
divorce.”
“And what is an Irish divorce?” I inquired.
Where a man and woman can’t get along in marriage, they
continue to live together . . . miserable though married. “They don’t talk much
to each other. May know the condition of the marriage. There is no legal
separation, but psychologically and emotionally they leave each other. That is
what we call an Irish divorce.”
The week I was in Ireland, divorce legislation was introduced.
It will likely be just a matter of time before divorces are legal there. In the
meantime, those who can afford it can travel to England, Scotland or some other
country and get a divorce.
And if they want to remarry, they have to go to another country
for that as well. But the few who desire to end their marriage do not travel
elsewhere to legally separate. They just remain at home and live with the
“Irish Divorce.” Married, but miserable. Together, but separated.
As I flew home over the Atlantic Ocean a few days later I
thought about my conversation with Connolly concerning the “Irish Divorce.” And
I wondered. Will the phenomenon ever reach the United States?
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