A Catholic support program for the children of divorced parents

According to a study presented in 2024, in Spain much like in many other countries, “the approximate probability of a marriage ending in divorce is around 50%.” This is a reality that affects the society at large, and one from which the Catholic Church is not exempt.

The same study also found that in Spain specifically, the percentage of couples marrying in the Catholic Church is down 83% since 1975.

To address the high divorce rate, the Family Guidance Center (COF, by its Spanish acronym) of the Diocese of Cuenca has developed the Niño equilibrista (Child Equilibrist) program which, following a mutual support group model, provides care for the children of separated and divorced parents.

Marta Guillén Tena, director of the COF, explained in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that the program’s name alludes to the “balancing of loyalties” that a child must deal with when their parents separate, a process that also often involves a legal dispute in which the child is caught in the middle.

“They need to have enough freedom and awareness to know that they can love both their father and their mother equally,” she noted. The…