I am married to a baptized non-Catholic Christian. In a nutshell, it was neither a good decision nor a bad one. I accepted there would be challenges, and there are. The Husband is still a good man and I don’t regret marrying a non-Catholic.
The first step in proceeding with an interfaith marriage is the same as for all marriage: speak to the Catholic party’s pastor.
During preparation,
I was the one who promised to do “everything possible” to raise any eventual children in the Catholic faith. The Husband was informed of this promise (actually, he was present when I made it), but was not himself required to make the same promise. Afterwards, we requested canonical permission from the archbishop to marry. This was granted (obviously
), as was our request to marry within a Nuptial Mass.
Procedure may vary slightly, depending upon individual circumstance and/or (arch)diocese. I understand, for example, that in some (arch)dioceses marrying a non-Catholic in a Mass is left to the pastor’s discretion. I now live a different archdiocese from the one I married in. My current pastor would have denied us the Mass on account of The Husband’s non-Catholicism. So YMMV.
Marrying a non-Christian is another matter, though the procedure is largely the same IIRC. However, I’m one of the Catholics who consider this to be unwise, as Paul alluded to above. Non-Christian faiths hold to tenets that are in direct opposition to Christian beliefs. (I cannot think of one that doesn’t, but remain open to correction.) Not only does this put the faith of the Catholic half of the couple in potential jeopardy, it adds even more complexity to the already-difficult task of raising children in the Church.
