Is anyone here from a mixed marriage of a Protestant and Catholic? My parents and grandparents are from mixed religious marriages as well (Catholic and Baptist). My boyfriend and I have been thinking about marriage, as we love each other more than anything or anyone and couldn’t imagine our lives without each other. However, I am Catholic and he is Methodist. I have found that Methodists (more Wesleyan) are a lot more similar to the Catholic faith than I thought. My boyfriend is extremely respectful of my faith, and I am trying to be so to his as well. We have talked about how that would look for our children one day, and he says that he would help me raise them Catholic and support them in that. We don’t really fight about anything religious, we only differ on very few and little things (which gives me hope and comfort for the outlook). I want to be respectful of him, and not look down on his beliefs or ignorance of the fullness of the faith. What were some helpful things that made your marriage work and help you accept each other, while still remaining faithful and passionate to your Catholic beliefs and practices?
Asking my family for their advice isn’t quite as helpful, as Baptists and Catholics are more on the opposite ends of the spectrum with their beliefs. It’s a tricky dynamic.
I married a non-Catholic Christian, but he wasn’t particularly religious. We raised our children Catholic and he goes to Mass with us, although he has not converted. That has to be in his time and when he can honestly say “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be
revealed by God.” It would be asking for a sacrilege to ask for a non-Catholic to profess that when he has not been able to accept it yet.
He has always been fully supportive of our Catholic faith: not just “allowing” us to keep our obligations at church, but also with regards to prayer at home. He has taught the children to learn the faith as the Church teaches it, whether he agrees with it or not. (His cousin, in this same situation, was noticed to be such a faithful Mass-goer that he was asked if he wanted to serve on their pastoral counsel, which of course he could not do as a non-Catholic. No one had ever noticed that he never received Holy Communion.)
That is another question, too: How does he feel about contributing regularly to a parish, going to Mass faithfully, and yet never receiving Holy Communion until he agrees to be received into the Church? This is an emotional question to consider, not just an intellectual one.
That is a lot to ask, and it must be given freely. My husband did go through an accepting RCIA program from September into December, in which he learned a great deal about what the Church teaches and was able to pose questions to a priest. It was accepted that he wasn’t seeking reception into the Church at that time, but only wanted to know what he was getting into by marrying a Catholic and agreeing to raise the children Catholic.
