Westmeath bucks trend in having more Catholic wedding ceremonies

By Sarah Slevin

In 2020, the number of Civil marriage ceremonies surpassed Roman Catholic across the country but there were still more Catholic ceremonies in Westmeath.

In Westmeath last year, there were 11% more Catholic marriages than civil marriages, whereas across the country, there were 12% more civil marriages, CSO figures show.

While Covid-19 has had an effect on the numbers and many people postponed weddings until after the pandemic, civil marriages have been on the rise in recent years.

In 2016, two thirds of all marriages in the county were Catholic ceremonies, while three years later, fewer than half were Catholic ceremonies.

While Westmeath, like many other counties, has seen a gradual rise in civil ceremonies in recent years, there were still more Catholic ceremonies here last year, despite Covid-19 restrictions on weddings.

Ballymore parish priest, Father Oliver Devine has said he is unsure as to why, but it could be down to old habits.

“It’s hard to know, but maybe people are a bit more traditional in Westmeath,” he said.

The decline in weddings in general has been due to many people postponing their weddings due to the restrictions on the numbers in attendance.

“Some of them have been postponed for a while. People are watching dates now a lot,” Fr Devine said.

Fr Devine said there have not been many in the area recently but more are planned for the summer months.

“There haven’t been many at all this year, a very small number of weddings so far. But there is a number of them in the pipeline coming up, in June, July and August,” he said.

Fr Devine also said that the First Communions have now been put back until September.

“It’s coming from the government and the bishops have said the same to us as well. They’re trying to avoid big parties,” he said.