In-laws vs. husband's conversion

[Thais]

What a weekend! …] the sort of thing that would make me want to run over to the church and sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament for some time, where there would be a figurative lap to lay my aching head in.

…] Yes, I don’t have a leg to stand on advising this, but I do know it matters to reduce pressure. As a bonus, I end up feeling like he heard me better that way as well.

…] Rather, I mean that some of what is happening to you may all be of a piece. If they are super-controlling, they don’t really respect anyone, much less you. The “Christian” comment could be a pure control move. I have certainly seen that as a belief, though, but here, it seems to carry the control overtone.

…] I really want you to know that I heard and did listen, and it might be hard to tell that if I only wrote a sentence back. So I wrote more than I would otherwise, on that account. I don’t really have the wisdom to advise you here. Hugs! :hug3:

Thanks Pug, that is a very good idea, that’ll definitely help me, no better lap than Jesus’!

I see what you mean, those 2 topics are the most delicate matters, as well as important, second only to our Faith itself. They deserve a lot of care and caution. You are right.

I also think this is all interrelated.

I think the Christian comment is a control move, but it most likely is also their true belief. A long time ago, my mother-in-law and I were at a restaurant and we met a friend of hers. We went over to talk to her, she’s an ex-Catholic. They started talking about the end of the world, and her friend asked her “because you know that this new Pope is the one, right?” and my MIL stopped the subject “I know exactly what you’re talking about, but let’s not talk about it right now”. I asked her later what that was about, she said I wasn’t ready to hear it (but I could tell by their looks and the tone in their voices).
Another time, my sister-in-law, my husband and I were talking, she started saying that some of her friends said that President Bush was the anti*** (I’m not even going to say it, so wrong it is), but then she turned to my husband and said “but you know who I really think it is”. I asked “who?”, she said “one day I may just tell you”.
One time my MIL mentioned watching John Hagee, I told her that he was anti-Catholic, and that he said that the Church was the whore of Babylon. She denied it. I brought her a copy of the Wikipedia article with Bill Donohue’s quote and page number from his books. My FIL said that anyone can edit Wikipedia. Anyways, we were there another day, John Hagee came on, she turned off the TV immediately in a quick movement, I barely noticed it.

You did help a lot! Thank you! :hug3:

 

[Thais]

As I was reading your last post I was thinking that this may be your Lenten penance brought to you by Our Savior himself. I can imagine this is going to be such a trying time, but think of the pure joy you and your husband will have after he receives Jesus in the Holy Eucharist for the first time. All the torment will be worth it. I promise!!

To quote one of my favorite lines: It’s Friday, but Sunday is comin!!

Hang in there! You have a lot of people praying for you!

Thank you very much. I had not realized yet that this tormet was my cross for this Lent. Now, I shall embrace it, like Our Lord Jesus did! Your post made me cry.

 

[Thais]

…] As I was almost a Protestant minister and was a Youth Director I had done years of research and was fully prepared to defend the Church before I even told my wife I wanted us to convert (still working on my mom but she’s clsoe ) There rebuttals were minimal because I justified my conversion with scripture. David Armstrong’s website has some good info on it and his book “Catholic Verses” is good in that respect.

…] The last paragraph of Section 26 states that “[The bishops] direct the conferring of baptism, by which a sharing in the kingly priesthood of Christ is granted.” I could not find a handy scripture citation for this, unfortunately. …]

I always say that converts are the best Catholics! Because you guys don’t take the Church for granted like we do sometimes (although I’m a revert, so I also know what it is like to not have the Church).

I’ve heard of him and his “Catholic Verses” book. Thank you.

Could the scriptures be the ones below?

1Pe 2:4 Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
1Pe 2:5 and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1Pe 2:10 Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.

After all, it is through Baptism that we become a member of God’s people.

 

[Thais]

…] There are pews reserved for those coming into the Church, their sponsors and spouse and children. All the other guests, extended family and parishioners will have the remainder of the pews.

…] After the Vigil there is a buffet dinner for all those who came in, the sponsors and all the families/guests. Bottom line, it is going to be a LATE night. If your MIL has an early Easter Sunday service at her congregation, it will be wise to let her know what the schedule for Sat PM will be.

His RCIA coordinator said that extended family will have reserved seats, but behind all of the elect & candidates pews.

Buffer dinner afterwards, sounds nice!

 

[Thais]

…] so has he completely accepted the fact of conversion or is he still even being pulled by feelings of not knowing what he wants to do?? I get the sense here that he really doesn’t know what he wants to do. I may be over analzying it, but just my sense. I think either way, whether it be by his parents pulling or even you pulling, that he needs to make up his own mind for himself and his relationship with Christ. I am protestant and my husband is Catholic. I would never ask him to convert, argue about it, ask about it or anything to my husband. If he wants to convert that is completely up to him. If I ever wanted to convert that would be completely up to me. But I would hope that I would never have to have in the back of mind that I pushed him to it or nagged him to do it. I am not saying that is what you have done at all.

The only doubt I had was this past Sunday, after being accused multiple times by his dad of putting pressure on him, if I had done so, in what I said this past Saturday alone.
His conversion happened 6 months ago, like I said before, I have no doubts it was sincere and genuine, that I did not put any pressure on it, and he agrees.
He had a beautiful, prayerful, educated conversion. He looked into almost all polemic Scriptures for years, and was not able to find good arguments for the Protestant interpretations, while the arguments for the Catholic interpretation were all very strong and unbreakable.
What happened this past week was the result of the influence of his parents, which really did shake his ground, which, looking back at it, is not too surprising, specially in his family.

…] As far as him telling his parents that he would like for you to convert and prayed it. I will be honest, I pray that all the time for my husband, as I am sure that he prays the same for me to convert to be Catholic. I don’t take offense to it at all. The funny thing here is…if someone comes on here and says they are praying privately and telling people here they want their spouse to convert, it is accepted with hugs and kisses…let a protestant on here say something about praying about it and see what you get, it is then deception. Two different standards if you ask me.

I have never asked my husband to convert, but I have always prayed for it, and I made my wish known and clear to him before we even started dating.
He did not simply “tell his parents that he would like for me to convert”. He, behind my back, made a promise to them that he would convert me (which is already wrong, because nobody can make such a promise, because it is not up to any human being, but Jesus alone can convert anybody, with that person’s consent).
It seems to me that you attempted to worsen my action and soften his in this comment.
This is a plain accusation against members of this forum, without any evidence being presented. Maybe it’s a wrong impression, but this sounds like the fruit of resentment.

I hope for the both of you though that whether he convert or stay protestant that you both can learn to accept one another for what each are and that is a Christian who both love God and that is the bottom line of this. You both sound like really good people that love the Lord and have a love for family. God Bless You Both.

My husband and I respect, accept and love one another for who we are, but we have no intention to share in this generations’ trend to moral relativism and political correctness.
There is only One God, who is Perfect and Immutable, therefore there can be only One Truth. If non-denominationals believe one thing, while Catholics believe another, there are 2 possibilities: one of us is wrong, or both of us are wrong (and the truth is in a protestant denomination). We can’t both be right. “Accepting someone” is different from “abandoning this someone to error”.
I don’t mean to sound rough in this comment, just sharing what we believe. We have been told this many times, and we both think it is a flawed train of thought.

Amen, God bless you and your husband too.

 

[Thais]

…] I think if he converted and it was not sincere for him, then he probably will not remain true to it for a long-term time and it would be more hurtful to me to know that he then had to come back years later and said, you know I had doubts then and so I am going back. That would be more hurtful to me. So if it were my husband, I would want him to be complete sure and as I also said, to do it for Christ and what he believed. I just felt like I needed to say that, just in case my above statement was taken out of context. I pray the best for you both.

There is a big difference between being insincere in one’s conversion and having a few doubts. We are all human beings, imperfect, less than 10% brain usage, we see indistinctly, as in a mirror (1Co 13:12). There is nothing that we do with 100% absolute complete certainty or clarity and 0% doubts, like you’re requiring.

The closest we may get to this is the day of one’s Wedding, but even then, we all get that last minute butterfly and nervousness.
When I applied for college, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted (I had made up my mind when I was 14). But I was never absolute certain that this was my professional vocation. Heck, I’m 6 years out of college, love my work veeery much, but I’m still not totally sure about my career.

Before we got married, we agreed to seriously look into each other’s body of beliefs to learn about it. I am Catholic, but when I told him that I would seriously consider protestantism, I was being honest. I have an inquiring mind, we were made to search for the truth, always, until we get to Heaven (so I do have this little doubt, that there is a remote possibility that the Church could be wrong, maybe somebody here will say that my Faith isn’t strong enough for saying that, maybe it is true).
I also did tell him that from everything I knew about the Catholic Church, it was going to be pretty much impossible for my mind to change about it, because I have seen how strong, sound and solid the Truth is in the Church. Which is also why I am not afraid of honestly looking into other faiths.

I definitly appreciate your prayers. Thank you very much.

 

[rolltidefan]

The only doubt I had was this past Sunday, after being accused multiple times by his dad of putting pressure on him, if I had done so, in what I said this past Saturday alone.
His conversion happened 6 months ago, like I said before, I have no doubts it was sincere and genuine, that I did not put any pressure on it, and he agrees.
He had a beautiful, prayerful, educated conversion. He looked into almost all polemic Scriptures for years, and was not able to find good arguments for the Protestant interpretations, while the arguments for the Catholic interpretation were all very strong and unbreakable.
What happened this past week was the result of the influence of his parents, which really did shake his ground, which, looking back at it, is not too surprising, specially in his family.

I have never asked my husband to convert, but I have always prayed for it, and I made my wish known and clear to him before we even started dating.
He did not simply “tell his parents that he would like for me to convert”. He, behind my back, made a promise to them that he would convert me (which is already wrong, because nobody can make such a promise, because it is not up to any human being, but Jesus alone can convert anybody, with that person’s consent).
It seems to me that you attempted to worsen my action and soften his in this comment.
This is a plain accusation against members of this forum, without any evidence being presented. Maybe it’s a wrong impression, but this sounds like the fruit of resentment.

This is why I don’t like posting on forums. I totally meant what I said to be respectful and I think if you could have heard me in person you would have seen that I was being genuine. I actually never said you asked your husband to convert. I know I have found that even talking about religion with my husband at times seems like we both are trying to get each other to convert, so we don’t discuss it that often because of this fact. I personally don’t think you have asked him to convert. I think his parents are being too hard on him. I never attempted to worsen your action at all. I think you are very concerned about the situation or you would not have posted on here in a honest and very concerning manner. I think that shows you are a good person, wife and etc. I am not softening his actions. However, I am not going to make him out to sound like a deceptive person, as some have here, because I think that is far from the truth. I mean he has done no more than most of have, we usually just don’t get judged for it on a forum by people. Also your impression is bad wrong about fruist of resentment. Now that one actually hurts me. In fact, is sickens me of the self-rightous protestants that are trying to “get the Catholic saved”, I have never thought this as a protestant and as I said, it makes me sick at some of things protestants say on here. On the other hand, if you just read on here for a while also, there are Catholics that make the same statements that are just as bad about the protestants. So that goes both ways. I know for me though, I will not stand in front of God and answer for the way other people has treated people, I will answer for the way I have treated them. I have always tried to uphold respect for this place, but I can say it has not always been shown to me. In fact, there are multiple threads on here that if you just read, you will see what I mean, but like I said, it is both the prostestants and Catholics, not all though. I have seen some really good people from both sides here that are loving and caring towards their fellow brothers and sisters. There is a particular thread right now, it is something about the movie Fireproof, just read it and the negative protestant remarks made in it and you will see that there is fruit resentment there. I don’t even get involved in such threads that relate to birth control and those type things anymore, because there is such a difference in beliefs there and I respect that this is a Catholic forum and therefore Catholic beliefs. With that being said though, whether is be prostestant or Catholic, we all need to have a little more tolerance and love than we have. I am sorry that you felt this way by my post, but not at all how I meant for it to come out.

My husband and I respect, accept and love one another for who we are, but we have no intention to share in this generations’ trend to moral relativism and political correctness.
There is only One God, who is Perfect and Immutable, therefore there can be only One Truth. If non-denominationals believe one thing, while Catholics believe another, there are 2 possibilities: one of us is wrong, or both of us are wrong (and the truth is in a protestant denomination). We can’t both be right. “Accepting someone” is different from “abandoning this someone to error”.
I don’t mean to sound rough in this comment, just sharing what we believe. We have been told this many times, and we both think it is a flawed train of thought.

Amen, God bless you and your husband too.

 

[Pug]

One time my MIL mentioned watching John Hagee

In case if the info ends up helping you understand a conversation with them, John Hagee is a dispensationalist. I think I remember he holds with a rapture, maybe he was a pre-tribulation type. He had quite a chart that he would put up on the stage and refer to in his tv sermons that would lay out how everything unfolds. It is possible to watch a number of his shows and not hear anything that would ring an anti-Catholic bell, at least, it was that way a number of years ago. Back then I watched a few in my day. I don’t anymore. I used to think he told good jokes.

Anyway, dispensationalism can be frustrating to have an impromptu conversation about because sometimes they will not accept quotes from entire regions of the bible, making it difficult to know how to find a common ground. They will say that it doesn’t apply to the church times/dispensation. That might not happen with a Hagee supporter, though. I don’t know. You’d need to research it.

 

[Thais]

This is why I don’t like posting on forums. I totally meant what I said to be respectful and I think if you could have heard me in person you would have seen that I was being genuine.

I think I did notice that. I just didn’t agree with some of the things you said.

I know I have found that even talking about religion with my husband at times seems like we both are trying to get each other to convert, so we don’t discuss it that often because of this fact.

This is one example where we disagree with you. We talked about whether we should just focus on what we have in common, or also approach our differences. Our priest told us to focus on the common ground in the beginning, until we had built a strong relationship in our faith. Which we did, and then later we started to also discuss differences. A few times, it got frustrating, and we would back off and stop our Bible reading for days. But we realized that by “dodging” the matter, we could be distancing ourselves not only from each other, but from God. We did not want to take the chance of ending up focusing less on God to avoid seeing our differences.
We eventually stopped reading the Bible together because it was getting really hard, even though we weren’t attacking each other, it just hurt to be exposed to our differences, we literally felt the division among Christians right in the bosom of our Marriage. We even stopped praying together.
So that was about when he started going to the RCIA, not to convert, but to inquire. He said he wanted to get the information, but not from me, to avoid affecting our relationship any more. I gave him books, CDs, Fr. John Corapi’s Catechism DVD series to watch together (he really admires him). We would still talk about the faith, usually when he asked me a question, or when the subject popped up, because of either Mass, RCIA, etc.

Basically all this babble is just to show you what our choice was. That it was tough, but we just thought that if we kept at it, one of us would see the Truth eventually. We didn’t want to take our chance on giving our kids the false impression that it really doesn’t matter what you believe in. And we didn’t want to have these awkward situations when doing something the other doesn’t approve of.
This part is specially hard on the Catholic spouse, because basically, our differences are pretty much in that Catholics believe in more than what Protestants do. Roughly, Protestant doctrine is like a subset of Catholic doctrine. So, there is very little that he would do that annoyed me. But my Spiritual Direction, Confessions, Rosary, any pre-made prayers, statue of Mary and of the Holy Family, Crucifix, Sign of the Cross, etc. All of that would automatically create in him a bad reaction, which would cause in me a sense of lack of freedom to practice my Faith to the fullest (even though none of this was outspoken).

Also your impression is bad wrong about fruist of resentment. Now that one actually hurts me. In fact, is sickens me of the self-rightous protestants that are trying to “get the Catholic saved”, I have never thought this as a protestant and as I said, it makes me sick at some of things protestants say on here. On the other hand, if you just read on here for a while also, there are Catholics that make the same statements that are just as bad about the protestants. So that goes both ways.

I apologize that my comment hurt you, it was not intentional. I just thought it would be important to point it out, as a fraternal correction, in case it were true. It just sounded like you had been hurt in a personal way and was generalizing because of that. But only you know whether this is true or not.

Thank you for not having that attitude that Catholics aren’t going to Heaven, that one really hurts me too. My husband and I just watched the “Common Ground” DVD from www.catholicprotestant.com suggested by a poster in this thread. It was really wonderful, my husband really liked it too, and it talks about this.

I have always tried to uphold respect for this place, but I can say it has not always been shown to me. In fact, there are multiple threads on here that if you just read, you will see what I mean, but like I said, it is both the prostestants and Catholics, not all though. I have seen some really good people from both sides here that are loving and caring towards their fellow brothers and sisters.

That is very sad when we can not respect each other. I do agree with you, there are good and bad people on both sides, and there are true and fake Christians on both sides.

I don’t even get involved in such threads that relate to birth control and those type things anymore, because there is such a difference in beliefs there and I respect that this is a Catholic forum and therefore Catholic beliefs. With that being said though, whether is be prostestant or Catholic, we all need to have a little more tolerance and love than we have. I am sorry that you felt this way by my post, but not at all how I meant for it to come out.

I would encourage you to speak your mind in birth control threads, if this matters to you. My understanding is that we do welcome opposite arguments here.
We have practiced NFP from day one. I told him about the Billings method (holding my breath, because depending on his answer, it might have meant the end of our relationship). He had never heard any of it and said “alright, doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea”, and we went out and bought 2 books. One from Mr. and one from Mrs. Billings. When he was finished, he said “NFP is a gift from God to us, all Christians should be doing this, not just Catholics”.

Please do not feel like I am upset with you. I am not at all. I hope you are not either. =)

 

[Thais]

In case if the info ends up helping you understand a conversation with them, John Hagee is a dispensationalist. I think I remember he holds with a rapture, maybe he was a pre-tribulation type. He had quite a chart that he would put up on the stage and refer to in his tv sermons that would lay out how everything unfolds. It is possible to watch a number of his shows and not hear anything that would ring an anti-Catholic bell, at least, it was that way a number of years ago. Back then I watched a few in my day. I don’t anymore. I used to think he told good jokes.

Anyway, dispensationalism can be frustrating to have an impromptu conversation about because sometimes they will not accept quotes from entire regions of the bible, making it difficult to know how to find a common ground. They will say that it doesn’t apply to the church times/dispensation. That might not happen with a Hagee supporter, though. I don’t know. You’d need to research it.

Thanks, Pug. I had never heard of dispensationalism. I got the wikipedia article open here. I had heard some of the ideas in it, but not much. I will look into it!

 

[Thais]

In fact, is sickens me of the self-rightous protestants that are trying to “get the Catholic saved”, I have never thought this as a protestant

I’m sorry, I forgot to type something I wanted to say last night. It was really late, I was sleepy.

I wanted to say that even the mere fact that you are a respectful member of this community already speaks a lot about your commitment to Our Lord Jesus Christ, to your Marriage, to finding the Truth, and finding out what God’s will is. And I respect you for that as well.

 

[rolltidefan]

I think I did notice that. I just didn’t agree with some of the things you said.

This is one example where we disagree with you. We talked about whether we should just focus on what we have in common, or also approach our differences. Our priest told us to focus on the common ground in the beginning, until we had built a strong relationship in our faith. Which we did, and then later we started to also discuss differences. A few times, it got frustrating, and we would back off and stop our Bible reading for days. But we realized that by “dodging” the matter, we could be distancing ourselves not only from each other, but from God. We did not want to take the chance of ending up focusing less on God to avoid seeing our differences.
We eventually stopped reading the Bible together because it was getting really hard, even though we weren’t attacking each other, it just hurt to be exposed to our differences, we literally felt the division among Christians right in the bosom of our Marriage. We even stopped praying together.
So that was about when he started going to the RCIA, not to convert, but to inquire. He said he wanted to get the information, but not from me, to avoid affecting our relationship any more. I gave him books, CDs, Fr. John Corapi’s Catechism DVD series to watch together (he really admires him). We would still talk about the faith, usually when he asked me a question, or when the subject popped up, because of either Mass, RCIA, etc.

Basically all this babble is just to show you what our choice was. That it was tough, but we just thought that if we kept at it, one of us would see the Truth eventually. We didn’t want to take our chance on giving our kids the false impression that it really doesn’t matter what you believe in. And we didn’t want to have these awkward situations when doing something the other doesn’t approve of.
This part is specially hard on the Catholic spouse, because basically, our differences are pretty much in that Catholics believe in more than what Protestants do. Roughly, Protestant doctrine is like a subset of Catholic doctrine. So, there is very little that he would do that annoyed me. But my Spiritual Direction, Confessions, Rosary, any pre-made prayers, statue of Mary and of the Holy Family, Crucifix, Sign of the Cross, etc. All of that would automatically create in him a bad reaction, which would cause in me a sense of lack of freedom to practice my Faith to the fullest (even though none of this was outspoken).

I apologize that my comment hurt you, it was not intentional. I just thought it would be important to point it out, as a fraternal correction, in case it were true. It just sounded like you had been hurt in a personal way and was generalizing because of that. But only you know whether this is true or not.

Thank you for not having that attitude that Catholics aren’t going to Heaven, that one really hurts me too. My husband and I just watched the “Common Ground” DVD from www.catholicprotestant.com suggested by a poster in this thread. It was really wonderful, my husband really liked it too, and it talks about this.

That is very sad when we can not respect each other. I do agree with you, there are good and bad people on both sides, and there are true and fake Christians on both sides.

I would encourage you to speak your mind in birth control threads, if this matters to you. My understanding is that we do welcome opposite arguments here.
We have practiced NFP from day one. I told him about the Billings method (holding my breath, because depending on his answer, it might have meant the end of our relationship). He had never heard any of it and said “alright, doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea”, and we went out and bought 2 books. One from Mr. and one from Mrs. Billings. When he was finished, he said “NFP is a gift from God to us, all Christians should be doing this, not just Catholics”.

Please do not feel like I am upset with you. I am not at all. I hope you are not either. =)

Thank you for the above comment. I don’t think you are upset at all and I am glad that you are not with me, as that was not my purpose here at all. As I said before, sometimes typing something out, people take it totally different or read it with a different tone than you meant. It is hard being in a mixed religious marriage and I think every couple has to work out what is best for them and all methods that work for me or work for you doesn’t work for everybody. But it is good to share what does work and maybe it will help someone in the future. I know for me coming here, there is something that I would have to agree with everybody on here about, it so much easier if you just marry someone that believes they way you do. It would save the couple a lot of hardship and hurt. I don’t regret meeting and marrying my husband, but it would be a lot easier if he were protestant, just as it would be easier for him I were Catholic. But you said it perfectly, you have to concentrate on what you have in common. And then if you both can talk about the differences without resentment and argument that is good, but I would probably say 90% of the time, most couples cannot do that, especially if you both are so dedicated to what you believe. I just didn’t want to come here and you or anybody else think that I was disrespecting the Catholic faith. I want to give the respect that I expect to get. I appreciate your time and willingness to share so much about your life. You have done it also with a very loving spirit and Christlike spirit and I appreciate that.

 

[Thais]

Thank you for the above comment. I don’t think you are upset at all and I am glad that you are not with me, as that was not my purpose here at all. As I said before, sometimes typing something out, people take it totally different or read it with a different tone than you meant. It is hard being in a mixed religious marriage and I think every couple has to work out what is best for them and all methods that work for me or work for you doesn’t work for everybody. But it is good to share what does work and maybe it will help someone in the future. I know for me coming here, there is something that I would have to agree with everybody on here about, it so much easier if you just marry someone that believes they way you do. It would save the couple a lot of hardship and hurt. I don’t regret meeting and marrying my husband, but it would be a lot easier if he were protestant, just as it would be easier for him I were Catholic. But you said it perfectly, you have to concentrate on what you have in common. And then if you both can talk about the differences without resentment and argument that is good, but I would probably say 90% of the time, most couples cannot do that, especially if you both are so dedicated to what you believe. I just didn’t want to come here and you or anybody else think that I was disrespecting the Catholic faith. I want to give the respect that I expect to get. I appreciate your time and willingness to share so much about your life. You have done it also with a very loving spirit and Christlike spirit and I appreciate that.

Thank you for understanding and for your kind words. I agree that online conversations can be very tricky, and that it is very hard to be in a mixed Marriage, that same faith Marriages should be the norm. Yeah, God does some weird crazy things sometimes, and that’s just the way He is. I believe every valid Marriage was planned and oriented by God, every Marriage is one of God’s miracles, just like every conception.
Exactly, I wish everybody understood at least one thing in their lifetime: the Golden rule. I fail to see how anybody can be considered truly intelligent if they fail to pass this very basic “test”. I don’t care how many mathematical calculations they can perform or how many PhDs this someone may have. If they’re not smart enough for Jesus’ Golden rule, they’re not smart enough.

 

[Milanomayor]

You and your husband will be in my prayers. I can only think that his parents think they have some kind of leverage but do not want to let you know what it is. Honestly the time to tell his parents would have been after the Baptism.

 

[dnlyle53]

My heart goes out to you and your husband, after reading this last night and thinking about all that has been said, I have the deepest respect for you two, working this out when so much passion from different directions was the starting point. I have a little idea about division, I and my family grew up Methodists. I was fortunate to marry a good catholic woman, and after seven years of marriage and mass, a trip to St. Peters in Rome and some study, I joined The Church. That was 24 years ago. Six years a go my only brother who has taken a different path, non-denominational evangelical, tells me I am going to hell unless I leave the Catholic Church. Needless to say we have discussed this steadily for all these years, neither of us willing to concede even one point. One sure thing to know in talking with people like this is that what they base their ‘faith’ on has all been developed by very intelligent people who are absolutely protesting Catholic beliefs. Their entire system is set up to deny our sacraments, heirarchy, nearly everything. How could they even deny that Catholics are christian? They will not concede anything.

I tried to explain Gal 5:6 …faith working through love, how this doesn’t work well with 'faith alone". He said to my face, “you do not believe what you are saying, you believe what I have been taught by ex-catholic writers.” We have ceased to talk or even email, because he refuses to acknowledge any of the truths about the Church, so whats the point? I pray for him.

At times I really believe that God has put these factions within the Christian community to draw more of us to really study and learn the faith and verbally fight for it. There was tremendous sin going on in 1517 and this entire schism could be a plan to get more of us to learn down to our bones what the truth is.

My suggestion is be patient, be kind, believe in them and love them. Win them with love and pray. The books and CD’s could help, but only if they decide to open their minds, because right now I think they are closed shut. I’m sponsering a young man into our church in RCIA and I find it more fun than football to be involved in spreading the truth.

 

[Epeenchin]

If his parents are indeed going to attend the Vigil Mass, you may want to prepare some kind of pamphlet for them explaining the parts of the Vigil Mass and the sacraments of initiation (and their Biblical backing), as well as perhaps pointing out some of the various features of the church building that they might not understand or disapprove of (statues, tabernacle, altar, etc…). A simple understanding of what’s going on might go a long way. Maybe the priest can welcome them as they come into church as well, if he has time.

Yes, not forgetting to put in the meaning of our big white candle with the 4 pierced needles … etc etc

Don’t worry Thais, everything will just turn out fine, it is the works of the devil we know it, we are following the right way, the Church that was founded by our Lord Jesus Himself, the Catholic Church, the rest of the churches are men made and they know it but they are in denial, God bless them and bring them back home to the Catholic Church one day soon… like the parable of “The Prodigal Son.”

 

[pacoenelsaco]

I’m in a somewhat simliar position. I’m catholic, but my fiancee is baptist. But the thing with her is that she was never really taught much about her faith. Her mother or her family never really taught her much apart from Love God and go to church. And even then, she hasn’t gone to church all her life. When she was younger, her mother would take her like every other Sunday. But the older she got, the less and less they went. So then I came into the picture and I started introducing the Catholic faith to my fiancee and she was very open-minded about it. She liked the fact that she was actually learning more with me then she ever did with her mother and she really felt at home every time we went to church together (Catholic Church of course, lol). The only thing she had an issue with at first was going to Confession and the fact that our kids would HAVE to be raised in the Catholic faith. But eventually she opened up to both those ideas and has expressed for a while now that she would like to start some RCIA classes and possibly become Catholic. But her Mother of course doesn’t approve of that and whenever I’m not around, she bugs my fiancee about possibly becoming Catholic and keeps telling her that “WE” are more strict then them and blah blah blah. But my fiancee has explained to her that it is ultimatly HER decision because she is an adult.

And that’s basically what your situation is all about. You don’t have to discuss theology and doctrine or any of those things in your meeting. Because this meeting isn’t about Religion per say. It’s about their son making a decision about HIS life. Which he has EVERY right to do. So, if I were in your position, I would do my best to hear what they have to say and then kindly give them a brief explanation of what our church is about and just let them know that ultimatly this was HIS decision and that you did not MAKE him or bribe him into doing this. And as an adult he has every right to do so. And the fact that he changes Denomination (not so much changing Religion because it’s still Christianity) shouldn’t matter because he’s still their son. And no matter what he does with his life, nothing is gonna change that and they should respect him for that.

Best of wishes to you and my prayers go out to you and your husband. And tell him I said “Welcome to our faith. You’ve made the right choice”

 

[Thais]

Again, I’d like to thank you all for your prayers and words of wisdom and encouragement. It is good to hear from people who are in the same situation, with Christian division within their own household. And Jesus himself announced that this was going to happen, because He must be chosen above any family member. And unfortunately, the state of this world doesn’t let everyone see as clearly or in the same timing. So we just need to pray and preach (sometimes even using words) as best as we can.