Marriage between Catholics and Protestants

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Thanks for your post. It appears you have been blessed by God with children. My children are right around the corner from marriage. I thought it would be good to explore this question before it happens. Maybe one day this will be a question that you will have to deal with…with your kids. If that happens, will you look to the Scriptures for answers, or to the Catholic Church?
I am not married, and I do not have children, so my children are hypothetical ones.

As for looking to the Scriptures or looking to the Catholic Church, that is a false dichotomy. Do you look to Jesus for answers, or to Scripture?

BTW, I’m intrigued by your insistence that a husband should be able to compel his wife to change from being Catholic to Protestant (or vice versa) against her wishes and contrary to her beliefs. So, two hypothetical situations

1 If I marry a man who converts to Islam, should I convert as well, even if I do not believe Islam to be true?

2 If my husband insists on me doing something I believe to be sinful (ie the use of pornography) should I obey him?
 
I am Catholic and I am married to a Protestant. I find no harm in this. My husband supports my beliefs and has allowed me to raise the children Catholic.

Personally I am a little hurt that so many people think that is “wrong” to marry outside of the Catholic Church.

I won’t lie that it is difficult and emotionally a strain at times because, of course, I want my husband to know what the full graces of the Church feel like, but I also see God at work in my husband and see that my husband does indeed love God through his belief system, even if it isn’t Catholic.

The Church wouldn’t allow Catholics to marry Protestants if it were not possible for the right couples to make it work. So just like in any other marriage serious thought must be put into it first and the two people must be ready to commit to the sacrament.

So my answer to you, reformed, is that yes there is nothing wrong with mixed marriages provided they are done responsibly.
 
The scripture passages you quote at the beginning were written BY Catholic clergy TO Catholics.

A Catholic husband is the spiritual head of the household. When the husband has left the practice of the Catholic faith, then, they have resigned as the spiritual head of the household.

The same scriptures tell those Catholics not to be yoked with unbelievers.
Don’t add to the Holy Word of God! 🙂
 
I am not married, and I do not have children, so my children are hypothetical ones.

As for looking to the Scriptures or looking to the Catholic Church, that is a false dichotomy. Do you look to Jesus for answers, or to Scripture?

BTW, I’m intrigued by your insistence that a husband should be able to compel his wife to change from being Catholic to Protestant (or vice versa) against her wishes and contrary to her beliefs. So, two hypothetical situations

1 If I marry a man who converts to Islam, should I convert as well, even if I do not believe Islam to be true?

2 If my husband insists on me doing something I believe to be sinful (ie the use of pornography) should I obey him?
Are you comparing Islam with biblical Christianity?

If we look to Jesus for truth as compared to biblical revelation according to Jesus, you have major problems.

Should we use the Islamic Jesus, Hindu Jesus, Mormon Jesus, JW Jesus, New Age Jesus, Roman Catholic Jesus, Protestant Jesus, Jesus Seminair Jesus, etc to determine truth.

The only way to determine truth from Jesus (living word) is through the written Word (Holy Scriptures). Heck, there are people in the 21st century who claims to be Jesus… and do you listen to them?
 
All I’m asking you is to consider the Scriptures and not my human wisdom. The Word of God is God-breathed so honor the Scripture in the way God intended it to be applied to the Christian. As we know in many households of faith, the woman is the spiritual leader…

Your answer sound like the account of Adam and Eve. Who is the spiritual leader in your house? What does the Bible have to say about men abdicating their federal headship?

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3

8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. 1 Tim 3

1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

1 Peter 3:1
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,

Wives and Husbands - Epheisans 5
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

1 Peter 3:7
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
 
I would like to hear perspectives on Christian marriages between Roman Catholic Christians and Protestant Christians. Do you think it is biblical for Roman Catholics and Protestants to marry?
This wasn’t even a question when the bible wasn’t even the bible.

But since you asked:
I would discourage my own kids from marrying outside the Catholic Church.
What are the issues involved in a Roman Catholic and Protestant marriage
When there is disagreement, in the end everyone appeals to their own God. And the Protestant God(s) are ultimately different from the Catholic God.
I believe that the man is the spiritual head of a family. Therefore, the man should determine how a Christian couple should worship God as a Christian couple

accoding to his convictions supported in the Scriptures.

This has difficulty written all over it. And is why I would discourage my own kids from marrying ouside the Catholic Church. And if asked, I would discourage devout Protestants from marrying a Catholic.
 
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This wasn’t even a question when the bible wasn’t even the bible.

But since you asked:
I would discourage my own kids from marrying outside the Catholic Church.
When there is disagreement, in the end everyone appeals to their own God. And the Protestant God(s) are ultimately different from the Catholic God.

This has difficulty written all over it. And is why I would discourage my own kids from marrying ouside the Catholic Church. And if asked, I would discourage devout Protestants from marrying a Catholic.

Do you believe that a sinner needs to be a member of the Roman Catholic Church to be united to Christ?
 
I am Catholic and I am married to a Protestant. I find no harm in this. My husband supports my beliefs and has allowed me to raise the children Catholic.

Personally I am a little hurt that so many people think that is “wrong” to marry outside of the Catholic Church.

I won’t lie that it is difficult and emotionally a strain at times because, of course, I want my husband to know what the full graces of the Church feel like, but I also see God at work in my husband and see that my husband does indeed love God through his belief system, even if it isn’t Catholic.

The Church wouldn’t allow Catholics to marry Protestants if it were not possible for the right couples to make it work. So just like in any other marriage serious thought must be put into it first and the two people must be ready to commit to the sacrament.

So my answer to you, reformed, is that yes there is nothing wrong with mixed marriages provided they are done responsibly.
Thank you for your wise and biblical response. I think your posting is pleasing to God too. May God continue to bless your marriage and your houshold of faith. 🙂 After-all, God in His amazing grace, is the reason for your Christian household.
 
I have been blessed with three sons, ages 19, 17, and 15. Conversations have come up on the subject of marriage between Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, unbelievers, etc.
I’m just curious - if you had three daughters, how would this conversation be going? Would you be telling them that they can marry anyone they want, and keep in mind that the husband is the head of the household, and the wife must follow the husband’s religion?

Or would you be encouraging them to marry within their own faith? 🤷
 
When there is disagreement, in the end everyone appeals to their own God. And the Protestant God(s) are ultimately different from the Catholic God.
This statement appears to be very much at odds with the teaching of the Catholic Church.
 
I’m just curious - if you had three daughters, how would this conversation be going? Would you be telling them that they can marry anyone they want, and keep in mind that the husband is the head of the household, and the wife must follow the husband’s religion?

Or would you be encouraging them to marry within their own faith? 🤷
Do you see that this is more than a thread? I am working out my answer in case this comes up in my household one day. If I had three daughters, I would rather have my daughters marry a Christian man who loves the Lord in-spite of his Roman Catholic theology than a Protestant man who did not love the Lord. Check out this verse for those who have daughters. Only those who are actually converted and united to Christ can embrace and live out this command to Christian men.

Wives and Husbands - Epheisans 5
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
 
Don’t add to the Holy Word of God! 🙂
Maybe your Bible does not have 2 Cor?

6:14 Do not be yoked with those who are different, with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
 
This statement appears to be very much at odds with the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Keep in mind that I don’t speak for the Church. I am not able to speak as well as the Church either, but:

To call the God of the Catholic Church the same God that predestines some people to hell, or to call him the same God as the Muslims worship, is not something I can personnally find the words to do.
 
Christianity yes. Humanity no.
That’s interesting because God divides humanity into two groups. Individuals are either united to Adam, or united to the 2nd Adam You are either part of the old fallen humanity, or you are a new creature in Christ (new humanity). What other category is there for individuals?

Here is my Scripture proof to support this truth:

Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore, as one trespass [5] led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness [6] leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Rom 5
 
Keep in mind that I don’t speak for the Church. I am not able to speak as well as the Church either, but:

To call the God of the Catholic Church the same God that predestines some people to hell, or to call him the same God as the Muslims worship, is not something I can personnally find the words to do.
Saying that Protestants and Catholics worship the same God is not the same as saying that they both have perfectly clear pictures of who God is. In fact, in should be quite obvious that in cases where there are directly contradicting views about God, at most one of them has the correct view.

Consider the following: suppose that you and I have a friend that we both know well, and that one day we get to talking about this friend. We talk about their background, their hobbies, their like and dislikes. At some point their appearance comes up, and one of us asserts that they have green eyes while the other is sure they have brown eyes. Do we conclude based on that disagreement that we must not be talking about the same person after all. Not at all! Rather, we know that one of us is mistaken about one aspect of who our friend is.

Thus, we worship the same God, but one or both of us has some mistaken impressions about aspects of God (and when you take it to an individual level, the statement almost certainly applies to us all).
 
Reformed asked, “Was divorce ever considered a mortal sin?”
Yes. And, it still is.
Ah, no.

Adultery is a sin, and Catholicism teaches that anyone who leaves an valid marriage to contract an invalid one commits adultery. But that’s not the same as saying divorce is a mortal sin.
 
Reformed asked, “Was divorce ever considered a mortal sin?”

Ah, no.

Adultery is a sin, and Catholicism teaches that anyone who leaves an valid marriage to contract an invalid one commits adultery. But that’s not the same as saying divorce is a mortal sin.
What happens when Roman Catholics divorce in regards to mortal sin, repentance, forgiveness, remarriage, etc?

In Roman Catholic teaching, it is worse to divorce than to stay married and have extra-marital affairs?
 
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