Pradeep Srinivasan

[pradeep6757]

Hi,

I am a Hindu boy originally from India, and have been dating an ****Malaysia India Catholic girl, who is very spiritual, devout and law abiding. I am not very religious, so I don’t feel very strongly about my religion, but I don’t want to convert. However, I am open to go to the Church and masses with her. I have a few questions if someone can kindly answer:

What is the Church’s stand on such a relationship? I am planning to marry by Catholic Christian rituals, and also Hindu rituals, one followed by the other. Does the Church allow this?

Catholic will be something that my parents cannot accept, and I cannot go against them. I myself will probably will not be very happy about this. Is there a way out in this situation?

if my kids are Catholic, will they be allowed to participate in Indian Hindu ceremonies? Also, if they are Catholic, can someone please suggest situations, where it will be very conflicting for the kid(s) to be a part of both of the religions?

Thank you.

 

[thephilosopher6]

What is the Church’s stand on such a relationship? I am planning to marry by Catholic Christian rituals, and also Hindu rituals, one followed by the other. Does the Church allow this?

Though the Church discourages its members from marrying non-Catholics, and more so, non-Christians in general (i.e. those not baptized), if you attain permission from the local Bishop, then a Catholic may marry even a non-baptized/non-Christian person.

Catholic will be something that my parents cannot accept, and I cannot go against them. I myself will probably will not be very happy about this. Is there a way out in this situation?

That’s a situation you have to figure out on your own. If you parents will not allow you to marry, then maybe don’t marry. But this is wholly your problem.

if my kids are Catholic, will they be allowed to participate in Indian Hindu ceremonies? Also, if they are Catholic, can someone please suggest situations, where it will be very conflicting for the kid(s) to be a part of both of the religions?

Absolutely not, especially if the rituals are polytheistic in nature such as Hindu rituals. If you are going to marry a Catholic, then you must agree to have the children raised Catholic in every way. This is the rule of the Church whenever a Catholic marries a non-Catholic. So the children must be baptized and raised Catholic, they cannot be “apart” of any other religion in anyway. There is no getting around this.

 

[pradeep6757]

Thephilosopher6, Thanks for your clear explanation.

 

[dshix]

I am sorry you have to work through this challenging solution. Inter-faith marriages are a challenging thing through and through.

I appreciate your openness to the practice of the Catholic faith for your family, but I do need to ask - do you think one of the religions is true and the other false? It is not logically possible for them both to be true. As the father of a household who is raising the souls of your children, you should have a vested interest in guiding them in the truth so that they worship the right deity. By practicing both religions, you would, by definition, be offending the true God by practicing the one which is false.

Just some food for thought. Before you enter marriage, I would recommend carefully studying these religions and trying to discern which is true. I encourage you to read this site, catholic.com, to study the Catholic religion. If you would like to read a book which summarizes the teachings of the Catholic faith, look into a catechism such as the “Baltimore Catechism” which is written for children, and easy to understand.

I think you will find that Catholicism has, more than any other world religion, the most solid evidence of being founded by the True God. Please stick around and ask questions! We’d love to help you navigate these difficult questions.

 

[TheLittleLady]

A wise man once said, a fish and a bird may fall in love, but where will they live?