Catholic women marrying non-Catholic men

[St_Gabriel]

St Gabriel;2737000:

Amen! He’s the head of my household too!
Prayers that you can stay strong and that your marriage will be all that God wants it to be

Right back for you!

Jesus I trust in you! Amen

 

[1ke]

My priest, who did the pre-cana here in Sweden, a Brit, told me there is NO reason for my hubby to convert from Lutheran-Protestant to Catholicism

Conversion is not a requirement of the Church as all conversions must be freely chosen.

because there isn’t THAT big a difference; compared to if I were marrying a man of Islam faith.

Wow, that’s just… well… looking on the bright side I suppose.

I’m quite happy with my marriage and we’re a very happy couple. Our marriage is picture perfect, regardless if he’s non-Catholic.

That’s nice, it doesn’t change the Church’s teaching or my stance.

 

[imamom]

Btw, we’re having our home blessed in a couple days And we have a rosary in our mini-van hanging from the rear-view mirror which HE touches efter time he gets in the car to ask for safe travels. This from an agnostic-lutheran-protestant.

 

[1ke]

Prepare yourself for an assault with words.

(not from me!)

People who post on a *Catholic *internet forum, hopefully would expect Catholic teaching on it. And, yes, debate is part of the package.

However, your snide remarks are uncalled for. If you have something to say to someone, you should say it directly. Etiquette and forum rules both dictate such.

 

[imamom]

That’s nice, it doesn’t change the Church’s teaching or my stance.

I just read an article on Pope John Paul II about how the Church and inter-faith marriages. Was rather a positive one, and not degrading either! So maybe you ought to really read up what the Holy Father of the past and present have documented.

There is a big difference between two Christian denoms marrying one another AND then a Christian marrying a Muslim. VERY big difference.

 

[bilop]

I saw an interesting statistic once (can’t remember where). It looked at the likelihood of children becoming practicing Catholics. The least likely was if the mother practiced and the father didn’t. More likely was if both parents were observent. Shockingly (to me at least), most likely was if the father was practicing and the mother not.

Shows how much a father’s behavior influences his children.

I know it was like that for me. My father went to church on Christmas and Easter, and rarely otherwise. My Mother took us every week. Even though I never really disagreed with anything about Catholicism, my practice dropped off in my teens. Thank god my wife brought me back.

God Bless

 

[1ke]

Yea, it’s a shame. I guess Matthew 7:12 means nothing to some Catholics.

This is one of the most misused passages in Scripture, and I’m surprised it took almost 60 posts to surface.

Unfortunately for those who like to pull this verse out of context, it does not stand up to scrutiny either within the context of the passage it resides in nor when viewed with the Gospels in their entirity.

 

[imamom]

This is one of the most misused passages in Scripture, and I’m surprised it took almost 60 posts to surface.

Unfortunately for those who like to pull this verse out of context, it does not stand up to scrutiny either within the context of the passage it resides in nor when viewed with the Gospels in their entirity.

So you do not agree with “The Golden Rule”?

 

[imamom]

My parents were both Catholic (Mom died in 2004) and dad is still of course… but fell away from the faith when Mom died. Dunno what he thinks now. He was never truly religious IMHO.

Anyway, my Mom was the MOST devout religious Catholic I ever met besides my paternal grandmother.

I never was religious or interested in it until my Mom got ill with leukemia in 1998. So… I guess I am not one of these in the statistics.

I saw an interesting statistic once (can’t remember where). It looked at the likelihood of children becoming practicing Catholics. The least likely was if the mother practiced and the father didn’t. More likely was if both parents were observent. Shockingly (to me at least), most likely was if the father was practicing and the mother not.

Shows how much a father’s behavior influences his children.

I know it was like that for me. My father went to church on Christmas and Easter, and rarely otherwise. My Mother took us every week. Even though I never really disagreed with anything about Catholicism, my practice dropped off in my teens. Thank god my wife brought me back.

God Bless

 

[imamom]

People who post on a *Catholic *internet forum, hopefully would expect Catholic teaching on it. And, yes, debate is part of the package.

However, your snide remarks are uncalled for. If you have something to say to someone, you should say it directly. Etiquette and forum rules both dictate such.

Snide remarks? Not from that post! I see them coming from you, tho.

 

[DJgang]

And just where is Frank???

 

[bilop]

My parents were both Catholic (Mom died in 2004) and dad is still of course… but fell away from the faith when Mom died. Dunno what he thinks now.

Anyway, my Mom was the MOST devout religious Catholic I ever met besides my paternal grandmother.

I never was religious or interested in it until my Mom got ill with leukemia in 1998. So… I guess I am not one of these in the statistics.

Sure you are. You’re in the middle group. Both were practicing when you grew up. Rember, statistics like this are just averages of the population.

God Bless

 

[bilop]

BTW. Here’s the article on parents and religious observance.

fisheaters.com/menandchurch.html

An excerpt:

If both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly. Only a quarter of their children will end up not practicing at all. If the father is irregular and mother regular, only 3 percent of the children will subsequently become regulars themselves, while a further 59 percent will become irregulars. Thirty-eight percent will be lost.

If the father is non-practicing and mother regular, only 2 percent of children will become regular worshippers, and 37 percent will attend irregularly. Over 60 percent of their children will be lost completely to the church.

Let us look at the figures the other way round. What happens if the father is regular but the mother irregular or non-practicing? Extraordinarily, the percentage of children becoming regular goes up from 33 percent to 38 percent with the irregular mother and to 44 percent with the non-practicing, as if loyalty to father’s commitment grows in proportion to mother’s laxity, indifference, or hostility.

Before mothers despair, there is some consolation for faithful moms. Where the mother is less regular than the father but attends occasionally, her presence ensures that only a quarter of her children will never attend at all.

Even when the father is an irregular attender there are some extraordinary effects. An irregular father and a non-practicing mother will yield 25 percent of their children as regular attenders in their future life and a further 23 percent as irregulars. This is twelve times the yield where the roles are reversed.

Where neither parent practices, to nobody’s very great surprise, only 4 percent of children will become regular attenders and 15 percent irregulars. Eighty percent will be lost to the faith.

 

[imamom]

Sure you are. You’re in the middle group. Both were practicing when you grew up. Rember, statistics like this are just averages of the population.

God Bless

Oh good, I fit in somewheres

 

[1ke]

So you do not agree with “The Golden Rule”?

Yes, we should treat others nicely. However, Matthew 7:12 is not “the Golden Rule”. The “golden rule” appears **nowhere **in the bible. Matthew 7:12 has nothing to do with “treating others as you would like to be treated”.

Matthew 7:12 deals with judging of a person’s soul, which is reserved to God alone. I have not judged anyone here].

Matthew 7:12 in no way prohibits or deters the judging of *actions *as right or wrong & applying moral principles of the Church and its teaching. In fact, Matthew 18:16-17 directs us to do exactly that-- correct those in error… privately, then before the Church, and if they do not listen to treat them as a “tax collector”.

 

[lizaanne]

I spent 11 years in an invalid union to a man who converted after the wedding - it didn’t work. I was six months away from marrying whom I thought was the love of my life - he finally decided that he was too Protestant and I was too Catholic - I was allowing myself to agree to disagree with him, for the rest of my life, and I am so grateful to him that he had the sense to end it before we had gone too far.

It was at that point that I vowed that I would never even consider a man for marriage if he was not Catholic. I saw first hand what being un-evenly yoked does to a relationship, and not to mention to my own Faith, when I’m constantly living that Faith alone. It’s just not healthy.

Then I met my amazing and wonderful husband. I never imagined I would be so blessed with a man who’s Faith is so strong you could lean against it. And I often do. And being in this holy sacrament with him, and the light of our Faith reflecting back and forth between us, has only magnified it for both of us. One can not reflect anything against a blank wall - two become one in so many ways when they are evenly yoked.

You are not alone 1ke - I agree with you 100% on everything you have said and defended here.

~Liza

 

[imamom]

It’s such a shame that your first marriage didn’t work out. The Lord put my husband and I together, and we fit like two peas in a pod. We were meant to be together and always will be, 'til death do us part… and even in Heaven, we’ll be together, I just know it. He’s the perfect husband, perfect friend, perfect father to our child and furkids. I’m just so happy I have him in my life and we thank the Lord he paired us up together and blessed us so many times in our 11 years together.

Thank you Lord, for bringing (the agnostic-lutheran-protestant, and someday Catholic) hubby into my life. The Lord did do this, as he did not bless me with any companions up until my husband! We’re “evenly yoked” indeed And so blessed.

So I sing my praises everyday since I met my husband!

 

[DJgang]

Disclaimer: I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

But I am curious about the opinon of those (ie. 1ke and Lizanne)

1. Do you think a person should not convert to Church unless their spouse is converting as well?
2. Do you think the Church should stop allowing mixed marriages performed in the church, IOW, if both are not Catholic, then the sacrament should not take place in the Church, but in another church? (regardless of the fact that the Church considers it to be valid)
3. Do you not think that if the Church says “No Mixed Marriages” she would come across as being cultish in nature?
4. Ike - you say that the Church tolerates mixed marriages, but doesn’t encourage it…can you explain that just a little more to me. (Or maybe I should read the thread again)

That’s all that I can think of right now.

 

[lizaanne]

It’s such a shame that your first marriage didn’t work out.

It was not a marriage - but thank you for your kind comment nonetheless. It was invalid. It was not a marriage that didn’t work - there never was a marriage to begin with. But I understand what you where trying to say.

~Liza

 

[imamom]

It was not a marriage - but thank you for your kind comment nonetheless. It was invalid. It was not a marriage that didn’t work - there never was a marriage to begin with. But I understand what you where trying to say.

~Liza

Yes I was trying to be polite. I’m sorry that your relationship there, with a Non-Catholic man didn’t work out to what you may have wanted it to be.

For me, I’m on cloud 9 and really do love the fact of how I influence my not-so-religious husband, to be more religious, without pressure. The LORD will take care of it, in HIS time, not ours. The LORD put us two together, and HE WILL work this out