My Boyfriend is Catholic, but I am not...

[brianwalden]

Part 2…

I also do not cross myself which sets me apart a bit.

I recommend that you don’t do anything you’re not comfortable doing. My wife doesn’t cross herself or kneel when she comes to Mass with me.

He has no problem with this because I’m Christian and I have great faith, but is aware that I’m mildly put-off by the Communion thing. I understand that Catholics believe they are members of the one true church, and the only one that ‘matters’ so to speak.

I wouldn’t say the only one that matters. The community you belongs to has the scriptures and some of the sacraments and a lot of the teachings of Christ. That matters a great deal.

It seems to me that Catholics are a relatively closed-off community of believers (not to say they are not willing to share and teach their beliefs), whereas my church welcomes people from all walks of life and religion to learn about and grow in God’s Word and worship Him in faith and fellowship, hopefully accepting Him into their hearts and lives, if they have not done so already.

I don’t see how the Catholic Church is any different than what you describe unless receiving communion is the sole difference between being welcoming and being closed off.

Those being that I will not be married by a Catholic priest, I do not want to be married inside a Catholic church or in a Catholic ceremony, I will not be converting (though I wouldn’t have any problems with taking RCIA classes to learn more about what he believes in an objective manner, so I can broaden my understanding and respect for his faith).

He can get permission to be married in your church, that’s what I did. We had a priest co-presiding the marriage ceremony at my wife’s Presbyterian Church but the priest is not required. The important thing is that your husband get permission.

We also have talked about the possibility of children. I would not have them raised solely Catholic, but out of respect for both our denominations, we would have no problems doing an every-other-week kind of thing, so they would be raised with the knowledge of both churches.

If you get married your husband will be required to raise your children Catholic. This is one of the things that makes mixed marriages tough.

I struggle with the idea of having a child baptized as an infant… I believe a person needs to make a conscious decision to accept God into their life for Baptism to occur. I would be willing to do so as I’m sure it would mean a lot to my boyfriend, so long as they would learn about Believer’s Baptism in my church as well.

I may be inferring something that you weren’t implying, but a person cannot be baptized twice. I would go back to scripture - the prefigurement of baptism is circumcision which was done on babies. In Acts it says that Cornelius and his whole household was baptized, this surely would have included babies. Plus the practice of the Orthodox Churches makes it hard to claim that infant baptism is some medieval Catholic invention or something like that. I’d love to learn about the origins of the Anabaptist traditions of baptism if you could enlighten me.

I don’t think “happy medium” churches are in the cards - Lutheran / Methodist. We are both happy in our respective churches, and happy with each other’s walk with God.

I would advise you not to look for a church where you’re happy but rather look for a church that teaches truth. Because of our fallen nature the things that make us happy aren’t always whats best for us, but truth is always true.

Has anyone been through the same thing, or are currently going through it? How is it working for you? Advice? Clarity? Do you have children?

It’s tough. My wife and I have our first child on the way. We will baptize the baby Catholic. She hasn’t been going to Church lately and so has agreed to a Catholic baptism. I don’t know what to do, other than work on building up an ecumenical devotional life in our home. I worry that as a house divided we will set the wrong example for our children and they will fall away from the faith when they’re older as so many in my generation have done.

 

[Augustine3]

A couple of people have said the boyfriend should not receive communion from the girlfriend’s church. I could not help but think of what St Paul said below:

Now food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do. But make sure that this liberty of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. If someone sees you, with your knowledge, reclining at table in the temple of an idol, may not his conscience too, weak as it is, be “built up” to eat the meat sacrificed to idols? Thus through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died – 1 Corinthians 8:8-11

If the boyfriend’s communion causes scandal for others then of course he should abstain, but if he does not cause scandal I don’t see a problem with it.

To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law - though I myself am not under the law - to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law - though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ - to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it. – 1 Corinthians 9:20-23

I guess it all depends on the boyfriend’s intention and disposition that only he could fully know…

God bless,

 

[brianwalden]

Augustine3,

Canon Law explicitly forbids Latin Rite Catholics from receiving communion from other Churches.

Can. 844 §1. Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone, who likewise receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone, without prejudice to the prescripts of §§2, 3, and 4 of this canon, and ⇒ can. 861, §2.

There are a few exceptional circumstances, but they only apply when there are validly ordained ministers of the sacraments which Protestants who abandoned Apostolic Succession don’t have. I know the Eastern Catholic Churches have their own law, but I’m fairly certain they have the same rules concerning receiving sacraments from other churches.

I’ll see your two quotes from 1st Corinthians - First from Chapter 10.

16* The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation * in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation * in the body of Christ? 17* Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18* Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20* No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. 21* You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22* Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? 23* “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26* For “the earth is the Lords, and everything in it.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28* (But if some one says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then out of consideration for the man who informed you, and for conscience’ sake-- 29 I mean his conscience, not yours–do not eat it.) For why should my liberty be determined by another man’s scruples?

Now a Protestant communion service is certainly not a sacrifice to the demons, but the same principle applies. It is not the body and blood of Christ which we profess, so when someone offers us their communion must refuse for their sake.

And next from Chapter 11

23* * For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for * you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25* In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26* For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

How can we discern the Body of the Lord when it is not there?

 

[Augustine3]

Thanks for the correction brother.

God bless,

 

[BrianGular]

I don’t think “happy medium” churches are in the cards - Lutheran / Methodist. We are both happy in our respective churches, and happy with each other’s walk with God.

Has anyone been through the same thing, or are currently going through it? How is it working for you? Advice? Clarity? Do you have children?
We are all about compromise and respect, and of course a deep and abiding love for each other. This is a relatively new topic for us, though as you can see, we have discussed it a bit. Any (name removed by moderator)ut would be appreciated, but no bashing please!
-Have a blessed day!!

I have been close to several couples that have tried arrangements like the one you have described. In each case, compromise, respect, and a deep, abiding love worked until the children came along. Then, contrary to what anyone would have predicted, the conflict started. You and your boyfriend need to think very carefully about how you are going to raise any children you may have. It will not be healthy for them to have Mommy going to one church and Daddy going to another. Plus, the differences between Catholic and Protestant doctrine–especially the means for salvation–are significant. Whereas you might believe that faith in Jesus Christ is enough, your boyfriend’s church will require participation in sacraments for salvation.

If you will remain childless, you can probably make this work. As you grow older, however, you will miss out on the deeper spiritual bond that is possible only between people of common faith.

If you are hoping to have children some day, one of you should convert. If children might be in the picture and neither of you is willing to convert, then you should think very seriously about finding another potential spouse.

You are wise to seek counsel on this issue. Most young people approaching marriage are blind to the reality of what life will be like just a few years down the road. If only I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard, “I don’t know what happened! He just changed!”

 

[Jessup]

Firstly, as a new member, let me just say that I hope I’m posting this in the correct area!

Okay, so as the title of this thread states, my (serious) boyfriend is a devout Catholic. I was raised Anabaptist and I still hold a lot of those beliefs, but I currently attend a non-denominational Bible Church.
We both have a great level of compromise. I don’t mind attending Mass with him and watching him play in his parish’s worship band, and he doesn’t have a problem attending my church which is much different than his.
We both obviously believe in the same things and we’re both Christian, however I have a few concerns for things in the future that perhaps some knowledgeable people in the same situation (or beyond it) could answer.
As far as he is concerned, he already knows he can cross himself in my church and nobody would mind at all. He can take Communion with us, pray with us and attend any and all classes and activities with us. We are totally accepting of anyone wishing to worship God and hear his Word.
For me, it’s a little different. I cannot participate in certain activities within his parish and I have only a very basic understanding of Catholic sacraments, the importance and relevance of most rituals, Confession, the religious importance of Saints etc (because those things hold no religious importance or merit in my denomination). I was raised to believe that you have to speak to no one but God himself to ask forgiveness of your sins and deliverance from evil. There is no Earthly link from us to God, and we do not pray to anyone but God himself - doing so would be worshiping a false idol. (We do not recognize Saints, so praying to one for us would be the equivalent of praying to George Washington, or any other historical figure - no religious or spiritual merit, per se).
It bothers me that I am a baptized Christian and I cannot take Communion in his parish. I also do not cross myself which sets me apart a bit. He has no problem with this because I’m Christian and I have great faith, but is aware that I’m mildly put-off by the Communion thing. I understand that Catholics believe they are members of the one true church, and the only one that ‘matters’ so to speak. It seems to me that Catholics are a relatively closed-off community of believers (not to say they are not willing to share and teach their beliefs), whereas my church welcomes people from all walks of life and religion to learn about and grow in God’s Word and worship Him in faith and fellowship, hopefully accepting Him into their hearts and lives, if they have not done so already.
Since we are now exploring marriage and our future together, I should mention that he’s not worried about any of it and knows that everything will be fine when that time comes. I do have a few things of importance to me that I am unwilling to budge on. Those being that I will not be married by a Catholic priest, I do not want to be married inside a Catholic church or in a Catholic ceremony, I will not be converting (though I wouldn’t have any problems with taking RCIA classes to learn more about what he believes in an objective manner, so I can broaden my understanding and respect for his faith). We also have talked about the possibility of children. I would not have them raised solely Catholic, but out of respect for both our denominations, we would have no problems doing an every-other-week kind of thing, so they would be raised with the knowledge of both churches. I struggle with the idea of having a child baptized as an infant… I believe a person needs to make a conscious decision to accept God into their life for Baptism to occur. I would be willing to do so as I’m sure it would mean a lot to my boyfriend, so long as they would learn about Believer’s Baptism in my church as well.

I don’t think “happy medium” churches are in the cards - Lutheran / Methodist. We are both happy in our respective churches, and happy with each other’s walk with God.

Has anyone been through the same thing, or are currently going through it? How is it working for you? Advice? Clarity? Do you have children?
We are all about compromise and respect, and of course a deep and abiding love for each other. This is a relatively new topic for us, though as you can see, we have discussed it a bit. Any (name removed by moderator)ut would be appreciated, but no bashing please!
-Have a blessed day!!

 My Dear sister in Christ, 

  Do not let these distractions ruin your relationship. I was in your shoes at one point in time and it ended disastrous. I was engaged to a protestant girl from a Calvary chapel who's family hated Catholics. I was happy to have met someone who was not a drug addict or bar fly, When I went to my priest to ask his advice about interdenominational marriage  he told me to just make sure that you would die for one another if you where going to get married. Her pastor told her that I didn't know Jesus. 

 Do not be over taken by being forbidden from communion, as my ex was mad about that as well. When you take communion in another person's church it is like saying, I accept all of these church's teachings laws I recommend watching

“Catholic Mass from a Protestant Prospective”. on you tube by Mike Cumbie.
Try to recognize that the spiritual awareness in our sacraments for a Catholic is very sacred to us and, to challenge the existence of these sacraments to your BF in an aggressive manner is likely to be taken offensively by him. If you have any questions that I can help you with, please feel free to email me. Much of the faith can be over whelming for us Catholics at times as well, so it is not to be unexpected if a protestant is overwhelmed with the culture shock, of our traditions and worship
Cheers! and God bless,

 

[Jessup]

A couple of people have said the boyfriend should not receive communion from the girlfriend’s church. I could not help but think of what St Paul said below:

Now food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do. But make sure that this liberty of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. If someone sees you, with your knowledge, reclining at table in the temple of an idol, may not his conscience too, weak as it is, be “built up” to eat the meat sacrificed to idols? Thus through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died – 1 Corinthians 8:8-11

If the boyfriend’s communion causes scandal for others then of course he should abstain, but if he does not cause scandal I don’t see a problem with it.

To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law - though I myself am not under the law - to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law - though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ - to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it. – 1 Corinthians 9:20-23

I guess it all depends on the boyfriend’s intention and disposition that only he could fully know…

God bless,

Catholics can not take communion outside of the recognized sacrifice.

 

[BrianGular]

NoodleMutt;:

I will not be converting (though I wouldn’t have any problems with taking RCIA classes to learn more about what he believes in an objective manner, so I can broaden my understanding and respect for his faith). We also have talked about the possibility of children. I would not have them raised solely Catholic, but out of respect for both our denominations, we would have no problems doing an every-other-week kind of thing, so they would be raised with the knowledge of both churches. I struggle with the idea of having a child baptized as an infant… I believe a person needs to make a conscious decision to accept God into their life for Baptism to occur. I would be willing to do so as I’m sure it would mean a lot to my boyfriend, so long as they would learn about Believer’s Baptism in my church as well.

Your story is so compelling to me that I felt led to write to you again.

Writing to you as a parent who is desperately concerned about his children’s salvation, I cannot emphasize enough the means-of-salvation difference between Catholics and Protestants. Every other week at churches that teach fundamentally different things about salvation? That sounds like a recipe for confusion for them and frustration for you or your boyfriend. One of you is going to be frustrated because the kids choose a means of salvation that is incompatible with yours. Or they will choose neither because of the confusion you taught them with.

Writing as a former Catholic now Protestant, I cannot endorse following a faith that includes works-based salvation. I believe that it is Jesus alone who saves. I predict that even though you are both convinced that it will all work out, if either of you are or become more serious about your faith there will be trouble. For example, you may become convinced that your boyfriend–now hubby–is not saved. Or he may be convinced that you need Communion o join him in heaven. Then what are you going to do?

I am frightened by the fact that you and your boyfriend might think love is enough and that it will all just work out. The sky-high divorce rate says otherwise. American society has stacked the deck against marriage. Entering into it with a spiritual divide seems very risky.

 

[Farsight001]

Your story is so compelling to me that I felt led to write to you again.

Writing to you as a parent who is desperately concerned about his children’s salvation, I cannot emphasize enough the means-of-salvation difference between Catholics and Protestants. Every other week at churches that teach fundamentally different things about salvation? That sounds like a recipe for confusion for them and frustration for you or your boyfriend. One of you is going to be frustrated because the kids choose a means of salvation that is incompatible with yours. Or they will choose neither because of the confusion you taught them with.

Writing as a former Catholic now Protestant, I cannot endorse following a faith that includes works-based salvation. I believe that it is Jesus alone who saves. I predict that even though you are both convinced that it will all work out, if either of you are or become more serious about your faith there will be trouble. For example, you may become convinced that your boyfriend–now hubby–is not saved. Or he may be convinced that you need Communion o join him in heaven. Then what are you going to do?

I am frightened by the fact that you and your boyfriend might think love is enough and that it will all just work out. The sky-high divorce rate says otherwise. American society has stacked the deck against marriage. Entering into it with a spiritual divide seems very risky.

Catholics don’t have or teach a works-based salvation. Never have, never will. You may have once been Catholic, but you clearly were not a knowledgeable one. Works-based salvation is specifically rejected in the Catechism in no less than 6 places.

Also, the divorce rate is sky high because people don’t know what love is. They think their strong emotional attachment, their near pathological need to have the other around, or great sex, is love. They also think it possible to fall out of love. True love, however, endures all things. I don’t want to offend anyone, but in my view, a divorce is a sure fire sign that one or both parts of a couple never actually loved the other to begin with.

 

[PJM]

=NoodleMutt;9847820]Firstly, as a new member, let me just say that I hope I’m posting this in the correct area!

Okay, so as the title of this thread states, my (serious) boyfriend is a devout Catholic. I was raised Anabaptist and I still hold a lot of those beliefs, but I currently attend a non-denominational Bible Church.
We both have a great level of compromise. I don’t mind attending Mass with him and watching him play in his parish’s worship band, and he doesn’t have a problem attending my church which is much different than his.
We both obviously believe in the same things and we’re both Christian, however I have a few concerns for things in the future that perhaps some knowledgeable people in the same situation (or beyond it) could answer.
As far as he is concerned, he already knows he can cross himself in my church and nobody would mind at all. He can take Communion with us, pray with us and attend any and all classes and activities with us. We are totally accepting of anyone wishing to worship God and hear his Word.
For me, it’s a little different. I cannot participate in certain activities within his parish and I have only a very basic understanding of Catholic sacraments, the importance and relevance of most rituals, Confession, the religious importance of Saints etc (because those things hold no religious importance or merit in my denomination). I was raised to believe that you have to speak to no one but God himself to ask forgiveness of your sins and deliverance from evil. There is no Earthly link from us to God, and we do not pray to anyone but God himself - doing so would be worshiping a false idol. (We do not recognize Saints, so praying to one for us would be the equivalent of praying to George Washington, or any other historical figure - no religious or spiritual merit, per se).
It bothers me that I am a baptized Christian and I cannot take Communion in his parish. I also do not cross myself which sets me apart a bit. He has no problem with this because I’m Christian and I have great faith, but is aware that I’m mildly put-off by the Communion thing. I understand that Catholics believe they are members of the one true church, and the only one that ‘matters’ so to speak. It seems to me that Catholics are a relatively closed-off community of believers (not to say they are not willing to share and teach their beliefs), whereas my church welcomes people from all walks of life and religion to learn about and grow in God’s Word and worship Him in faith and fellowship, hopefully accepting Him into their hearts and lives, if they have not done so already.
Since we are now exploring marriage and our future together, I should mention that he’s not worried about any of it and knows that everything will be fine when that time comes. I do have a few things of importance to me that I am unwilling to budge on. Those being that I will not be married by a Catholic priest, I do not want to be married inside a Catholic church or in a Catholic ceremony, I will not be converting (though I wouldn’t have any problems with taking RCIA classes to learn more about what he believes in an objective manner, so I can broaden my understanding and respect for his faith). We also have talked about the possibility of children. I would not have them raised solely Catholic, but out of respect for both our denominations, we would have no problems doing an every-other-week kind of thing, so they would be raised with the knowledge of both churches. I struggle with the idea of having a child baptized as an infant… I believe a person needs to make a conscious decision to accept God into their life for Baptism to occur. I would be willing to do so as I’m sure it would mean a lot to my boyfriend, so long as they would learn about Believer’s Baptism in my church as well.

I don’t think “happy medium” churches are in the cards - Lutheran / Methodist. We are both happy in our respective churches, and happy with each other’s walk with God.

Has anyone been through the same thing, or are currently going through it? How is it working for you? Advice? Clarity? Do you have children?
We are all about compromise and respect, and of course a deep and abiding love for each other. This is a relatively new topic for us, though as you can see, we have discussed it a bit. Any (name removed by moderator)ut would be appreciated, but no bashing please!
-Have a blessed day!!

MY dear friend in Christ;

Here is why your boyfriends option are limited to ONLY the CC.

Everywhere in the Bible, because God is “unchangeable”** **“For I am the Lord, and I change not”; God has with complete consistancy taught

Beleive in only One God** Mark 12:29 **“And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God”

Always ONLY His ONE set of Faith beliefs** Mark 11:22** “And Jesus answering, saith to them: Have the faith of God” SINGULAR.

And Alway’s only one Church [the NT alone has more than 100 passages that prove this]
**John.10: 16 **“And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. **So there shall be one flock, one shepherd” **

TRUTH is and can only be SINGULAR per topic.

God’s Truth cannot be, as in signature and Bishop Sheen explain; be “comprimised”.

So your boyfriend CANNOT, maynot, in conscience accept anything that the CC; the ONLY Church and faith founded by God, and protected by God [both biblically proveable].

It IS NOT my deisre to discourage you; but TRUTH is THEE TRUTH. Amen,

 

[sinscriven]

Buddhist soon to be marrying a Catholic girl here, so I’m in the same boat in a lot of ways, but I get to fill out the much cooler Dispensation of Cult form rather than the less interesting Dispensation of Form one.

I think it’s important to emphasize that to make inter-faith relationships work it is not merely sufficient to just tolerate your partner’s faith, you should embrace it, learn from it, make the parts that matter your own. Because what happens when you just keep to your own faith and tolerate theirs is that resentment breeds, especially when you have to make concessions or compromises then you feel like you have to sell yourself out to make them happy and vice versa, and then bitterness starts.

For example, you mentioning being okay with an every other sunday thing for mass. Not possible. Mass is a requirement and skipping out on it is a mortal sin. He and the kids must go to every mass unless someone is dead or dying. Are you okay with that? Are you REALLY okay with that? He has a spiritual obligation to raise your kids Catholic to the best of his ability. Are you okay with that too? The priest will ask you this before even thinking of shipping off your dispensation to the Bishop.

Whether you like it or not, the Church will be a significant portion of your life because of your guy’s obligations to it and you have to be okay and content with playing along on some level. If you start getting obstinate and closed minded it will breed nasty trouble really fast.

I also think that embracing their faith is not only good for harmony, but good for personal growth. I was raised as an Adventist and became disillusioned with Christianity and especially Catholicism before I met my S/O, and she encouraged me to keep my mind open about it and I started going to mass with her regularly, I went to youth groups, I helped with the food pantry, all things that I would not have been exposed to had I continued to be stupid and stubborn and I learned a tremendous bit about my partner and how she became the person she is now.

And on the other end, she accompanies me to temple to meditate and to sit and listen to the dharma talks. Things that more conservatives catholics would balk at, but she does this for me, to be supportive of me and to understand me more, and to just learn more and become more educated herself. And the oddest thing happened. All of the dharma talks on mindfulness, non-self, compassion, living in the moment, breaking delusions of ego, etc etc. led her to a personal breakthrough. All the stories and proverbs that she heard in mass that seemed abstract to her now rang with astonishing clarity to her. It’s deepened her Christian practice significantly and I couldnt be more happier for her.

With situations like that, that’s why I think you do yourself a disservice by trying to maintain a wall between your faith and his by merely being just an observer. Sure you can’t take the Eucharist, but it’s not something you really by into anyway. You can do pretty much everything else and be involved and really live and share your faith with him. It will be a great way of bonding between the two of you, and creating synergy will make a much healthier loving relationship than one where you’re merely trying to co-exist.

 

[Jessup]

I didn’t realize this thread was still ongoing. I had posted earlier, but I wanted to add I always hear about these stories online. It always makes me wonder why the two people dating cant’ just be happy they are not dating a closet pill head. Someone who is going to spend the months rent on dope or go out to the nude bar until 2am on a Wednesday and miss work the next day. I know this sounds pessimistic but I would be happy dating a girl who is protestant knowing that she doesn’t spend all night at the bar picking up men if I’m working midnight shift. I tend to look at the quality of the person, I’m Catholic but I see it in my future marrying a Mormon, because they are the only girls I know who aren’t at the local bar every weekend drinking whiskey and craving attention,giving me a guilt trip for not smoking pot. But I guess having a matching denomination is much more important then these things. I suppose its where you come from and the quality of people which gives you the luxury of letting interdenominational prayer become the shear force which splits the beam of the relationship.
Anyway,…I wish the best for you and your BF that things work out
Cheers! and God bless,

 

[peace2u2]

I just wanted to point out to you that both my spouse and I are cradle Catholics. The difference is that he is an unbeliever and I am a believer. I know that sounds strange for a baptized Catholic to be an unbeliever but he was never taught anything about who God is or taught how to pray which strengthens out relationship with Him. He does not care to be informed and just prefers to keep things as they are. It is a constant struggle because I feel compelled to share who God is and to talk about God’s greatest gift to us, His Son, Jesus. Pray for his conversion!

So you don’t necessarily have to be in a protestant/catholic relationship to have struggles.

I think the key for your relationship would be for you to learn about what is really going on in the Catholic Mass. And if your boyfriend is as devout as you say he is then he would know better than to worship God in your protestant church and receive communion there.

This link provides short video clips on the catholic mass. I hope you take the time even just to watch the 1st one. Its short, 3 minutes long. And I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

olgcparish.net/education/true_magnificence.html

 

[Elizium23]

I just wanted to point out to you that both my spouse and I are cradle Catholics. The difference is that he is an unbeliever and I am a believer. I know that sounds strange for a baptized Catholic to be an unbeliever but he was never taught anything about who God is or taught how to pray which strengthens out relationship with Him. He does not care to be informed and just prefers to keep things as they are.

Not strange to me, not strange in the least. I am a cradle Catholic who, after his 13th year in Catholic school, spent 11 more hating the Church as an agnostic. I was angry at myself and I blamed God for my failures. I am unsure whether it would have changed my situation if I had been a sexual abuse victim, but thankfully I am not, and I learned that I couldn’t blame God or myself or the Church for all of my problems forever, and I forgave everyone, and I rejoined the Church, and here I am, another 12 years later. I underwent some genuine trials that humbled me and tore me down to nothing, and in the process of building myself up again, I found Christ and I want Him in my life forever.

During my period of hatred, I was a serial monogamist and cohabitated with a number of girlfriends. I punished two of them with abortions. Of all the girls I loved, my later conversion would have been a sure disaster for any of those relationships except for one. And that one is the girl whom I alternately abused and neglected and left utterly rejected and broken. I will never marry someone who is divorced or unbaptized or pro-abortion. At 40 and unemployed, I may never marry at all. I just know that if I ever find myself at the altar pronouncing my vows, I am going to be 100% sure that I can love her - and her children - 'til death.

 

[peace2u2]

Not strange to me, not strange in the least. I am a cradle Catholic who, after his 13th year in Catholic school, spent 11 more hating the Church as an agnostic. I was angry at myself and I blamed God for my failures. I am unsure whether it would have changed my situation if I had been a sexual abuse victim, but thankfully I am not, and I learned that I couldn’t blame God or myself or the Church for all of my problems forever, and I forgave everyone, and I rejoined the Church, and here I am, another 12 years later. I underwent some genuine trials that humbled me and tore me down to nothing, and in the process of building myself up again, I found Christ and I want Him in my life forever.

During my period of hatred, I was a serial monogamist and cohabitated with a number of girlfriends. I punished two of them with abortions. Of all the girls I loved, my later conversion would have been a sure disaster for any of those relationships except for one. And that one is the girl whom I alternately abused and neglected and left utterly rejected and broken. I will never marry someone who is divorced or unbaptized or pro-abortion. At 40 and unemployed, I may never marry at all. I just know that if I ever find myself at the altar pronouncing my vows, I am going to be 100% sure that I can love her - and her children - 'til death.

Thank you for sharing your story; It gives me hope that my spouse an anti-cradlecatholic will enjoy the freedom that Jesus offers us in repentance and conversion.

I liked how you said that when you found Christ, you wanted Him in your life forever. And, that is exactly what I went thru during my 2nd conversion. I now want Jesus to be the center of my life and to be able to invite Him into my life throughout the day in conversation with Him and not just out of obligation to show up at Mass on Sunday. I feel as though He has blessed my life enormously inspite of the cross that I carry.

I thought I knew who Jesus was and I guess to a certain degree I did, yet I came to realize, by the Voice of Truth, that I was in grave serious moral error. My faith was based on what I thought was right by what I was taught by my parents no matter the contradiction going on between my mind and my heart.

I was taught that its a woman’s choice to have a baby because its her body not the man’s body and we are the ones who carry that baby in our wombs and have to take care of it, not the man. For many years, I was very pro-choice, that was until my 13 year old daughter taught me a thing or two about life.

I thought I covered all the bases with drugs, alcohol, puberty, chastity, yet, it never occured to me to bring up the topic of abortion. She would teach me that after a female egg is fertilized it becomes a zygote, a one-celled organism, and if development is not hindered by nature or man it becomes an embryo and on to becoming a baby born 9 months later. She would tell me that there are women who kill their babies when they are in the womb in this stage of life. How do I say that its not really a baby or its not really killing when we know saying abortion is just a nice way of saying it.

I thought how do I pass this torch of death that was handed down to me on to my daughter? I knew that everything that I taught my child would be judged someday by the Prince of Peace and I suddenly had no courage to pass this torch of death on to her.

Which brings me to the link you provided about this man telling people that he was going to raise his daughters with values, but if they make mistakes, he didn’t want to punish them with a baby.

Those words he spoke sound so horrible. I really wonder if one of his daughers came to him, unwed and pregnant if he would tell them I don’t want to punish you with a baby. ? Suppose she were married and in a commited relationship and came to him and said I don’t want to be punished by this baby so i think I’ll just have an abortion? Is it just wrong if we are married. Of course not. Abortion is not the answer to a much more complex problem with society.

As parents we have gotten very lazy in our moral teachings. What happened to teaching our children that sex is a gift from God to married people that is 1 man and 1 woman?

Perhaps my daughter’s voice and that of her friends who hold the same beliefs will be the voices that echo across this Nation to lead others into the beautiful gift of God’s great mercy and love by standing up for the culture of life!

 

[SteveVH]

Perhaps my daughter’s voice and that of her friends who hold the same beliefs will be the voices that echo across this Nation to lead others into the beautiful gift of God’s great mercy and love by standing up for the culture of life!

As a youth minister, I’m really impressed with many of our young people today. They give me a lot of hope. You should be very proud of your daughter.