B
Black_Jaque
Guest
A buddy of mine who seems to be quite devoted to the Catholic faith has expressed exasperation with his struggles to bring his wife up to the “same page” as he puts it.
From what he says, and what I observe, she seems to be somewhat Catholic - but in a very tepid sense. She’ll go to church, receive Communion, but she has never been confirmed nor does she go to confession.
Whenever I’m over and the group of us get into a discussion on religion she seems to participate just fine. But my friend says that whenever it’s just the two of them trying to share their beliefs the discussion quickly turns into an argument.
For example: He asked her once, “what is stopping you from going to confession or getting confirmed?” I asked him if he came on argumentatively, but he says he made every effort to be sincere about just trying to find out what was “in the way”. He wasn’t angry, just honestly didn’t know why his wife would go to church, receive Communion, pray at meals, read religious magazines/books, but Confession/Confirmation seem to be out of the question.
Her voice got louder, and she just said, “those things might be good for you, but they’re just not for me. OK?”
I honestly didn’t know how to help the guy. Cuz it seems like most situations it’s the wife trying to get her husband to “Church”. Some of the advice given to wives in such a situation doesn’t seem applicable to husbands. Such as, “Be a more loving wife, nudge-nudge, wink-wink.” I just don’t see a woman being convinced because her husband suddenly shows an increase libido. He already seems like quite the family guy, and he puts me to shame in terms of buying flowers, and stuff like that.
I understand that if you’re the one who is Catholic, you’re supposed to make it seem like it is the greatest thing on Earth. Yet to my friend it seems to be more anguish because he feels unequally yoked.
From what he says, and what I observe, she seems to be somewhat Catholic - but in a very tepid sense. She’ll go to church, receive Communion, but she has never been confirmed nor does she go to confession.
Whenever I’m over and the group of us get into a discussion on religion she seems to participate just fine. But my friend says that whenever it’s just the two of them trying to share their beliefs the discussion quickly turns into an argument.
For example: He asked her once, “what is stopping you from going to confession or getting confirmed?” I asked him if he came on argumentatively, but he says he made every effort to be sincere about just trying to find out what was “in the way”. He wasn’t angry, just honestly didn’t know why his wife would go to church, receive Communion, pray at meals, read religious magazines/books, but Confession/Confirmation seem to be out of the question.
Her voice got louder, and she just said, “those things might be good for you, but they’re just not for me. OK?”
I honestly didn’t know how to help the guy. Cuz it seems like most situations it’s the wife trying to get her husband to “Church”. Some of the advice given to wives in such a situation doesn’t seem applicable to husbands. Such as, “Be a more loving wife, nudge-nudge, wink-wink.” I just don’t see a woman being convinced because her husband suddenly shows an increase libido. He already seems like quite the family guy, and he puts me to shame in terms of buying flowers, and stuff like that.
I understand that if you’re the one who is Catholic, you’re supposed to make it seem like it is the greatest thing on Earth. Yet to my friend it seems to be more anguish because he feels unequally yoked.
