Mixed Marriages in the Polish Catholic Migrant Community: An Analysis from the 2004 EU Enlargement to Brexit

Abstract

This paper examines the prevalence and characteristics of religiously mixed marriages among Polish migrants in England and Wales, focusing on unions between Catholics and partners from other religious backgrounds. Despite strong cultural and religious ties, Polish Catholics marry outside their faith more frequently than those in Poland and at rates comparable to the general UK population. The analysis draws on over 25,000 church marriage records from 2007 to 2020, collected by the largest Polish organization in Britain. Findings show that 11.5% of marriages were religiously mixed: 59.2% involved a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic, while 40.8% included a Catholic and a non-Christian or nonbeliever. These results suggest a tendency to marry within historically dominant European religions but also reveal a notable level of social openness within the Polish Catholic migrant community.

Keywords

marriage immigration/migrant families culture/race/ethnicity cross-national religion

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