F
Fla_Joseph
Guest
Hello all. I have been reading this forum for some time now, however, this is my first actual post. I was hoping that I might be able to receive some advice, (name removed by moderator)ut, opinion, etc from you regarding a topic very dear to me. Here is the situation:
My wife and I, who have been married for 4 years. We come from very different religious backgrounds. I was raised in a strong Catholic home and attended Catholic school through elementary, middle, and high school. My wife was raised in a hard core Baptist/Evangelical home, where her grandfather was a prominent Baptist pastor, and her parents both attended Baptist Universities.
While dating, we quickly fell in deep love with another. Although not Catholic, she is a women of God and loves Christ dearly. We dated for about 2 years prior to marrying. During this dating period, we knew that we had different religious beliefs and upbringings, however, we focused more on what we had in common and (naively) assumed that “love would conquer all”. I respected her beliefs and she respected mine.
While I didn’t know it at the time, her family had a very difficult time with her marrying a Catholic. While they accepted me as a man and we got along well, they were not comfortable with my Faith. (As some of you may know, many Baptists tend to have negative views of us Catholics.) My wife did not allow their views to influence her thoughts and we married. Needless to say, the first year of marriage was a roller coaster, as we began to see much clearer than differences between Catholicism and Evangelicals. It was obvious to us both that while our core beleifs were the same, there were some very significant differences. During the 1st year of marriage we visited several “non denominational” churches, as well as attended Mass. It was a rotating schedule. We weren’t really making strides, instead, our differences were becoming further obvious. Then one evening, we were flipping the TV channels and we came across the EWTN network and we watched an excellent program about converts to Catholicsm and what led them there. It had a profound effect on my wife. Shortly after, she started to take a much more passionate interest in Catholicism and read several books about the Faith. About 6 months after my first child was born, we started to attend Mass every Sunday together as a family. This has continued since the birth of my second son and has been consistent for the past 2 1/2 years. I should mention that during this time frame, her family has been very unsupportive of her decision to attend Mass every week and constantly give her a hard time.
Now that we have the background…this leads me to the my question…my wife recently came to me and said that she would agree to have the kids baptised within the Catholic Faith if it was what I “really” wanted. (my kids have not yet been baptized although they are 3 and 2 yrs. old respectivly). She herself has not converted, nor has she made any mention of converting in the near future. While she has certainly grown in her appreciation for the Church; she is still not ready to deny her Evangelical roots and become a Catholic. Of course, my heart jumped with joy when she agreed to have the kids baptized, but I did not know if the church would frown upon us doing so since my wife has not committed to raising them Catholic (although she seems to be warming up to the idea, and like I said we are attending Mass regularly).
Should I go ahead and have my children baptized under these circumstances? Or would it be better to wait?
Any suggestions or (name removed by moderator)ut would be greatly appreciated.
My wife and I, who have been married for 4 years. We come from very different religious backgrounds. I was raised in a strong Catholic home and attended Catholic school through elementary, middle, and high school. My wife was raised in a hard core Baptist/Evangelical home, where her grandfather was a prominent Baptist pastor, and her parents both attended Baptist Universities.
While dating, we quickly fell in deep love with another. Although not Catholic, she is a women of God and loves Christ dearly. We dated for about 2 years prior to marrying. During this dating period, we knew that we had different religious beliefs and upbringings, however, we focused more on what we had in common and (naively) assumed that “love would conquer all”. I respected her beliefs and she respected mine.
While I didn’t know it at the time, her family had a very difficult time with her marrying a Catholic. While they accepted me as a man and we got along well, they were not comfortable with my Faith. (As some of you may know, many Baptists tend to have negative views of us Catholics.) My wife did not allow their views to influence her thoughts and we married. Needless to say, the first year of marriage was a roller coaster, as we began to see much clearer than differences between Catholicism and Evangelicals. It was obvious to us both that while our core beleifs were the same, there were some very significant differences. During the 1st year of marriage we visited several “non denominational” churches, as well as attended Mass. It was a rotating schedule. We weren’t really making strides, instead, our differences were becoming further obvious. Then one evening, we were flipping the TV channels and we came across the EWTN network and we watched an excellent program about converts to Catholicsm and what led them there. It had a profound effect on my wife. Shortly after, she started to take a much more passionate interest in Catholicism and read several books about the Faith. About 6 months after my first child was born, we started to attend Mass every Sunday together as a family. This has continued since the birth of my second son and has been consistent for the past 2 1/2 years. I should mention that during this time frame, her family has been very unsupportive of her decision to attend Mass every week and constantly give her a hard time.
Now that we have the background…this leads me to the my question…my wife recently came to me and said that she would agree to have the kids baptised within the Catholic Faith if it was what I “really” wanted. (my kids have not yet been baptized although they are 3 and 2 yrs. old respectivly). She herself has not converted, nor has she made any mention of converting in the near future. While she has certainly grown in her appreciation for the Church; she is still not ready to deny her Evangelical roots and become a Catholic. Of course, my heart jumped with joy when she agreed to have the kids baptized, but I did not know if the church would frown upon us doing so since my wife has not committed to raising them Catholic (although she seems to be warming up to the idea, and like I said we are attending Mass regularly).
Should I go ahead and have my children baptized under these circumstances? Or would it be better to wait?
Any suggestions or (name removed by moderator)ut would be greatly appreciated.
The Church doesn’t expect your wife to agree to raise them Catholic… The Church expects you to try your hardest to raise them in the faith.
. That’s part of your duty in raising them Catholic, that you would have promised at the time of getting married. Who knows, it could even be instrumental in helping your wife come closer to the Church!