returning Catholic

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mrhav

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After forty years I am returning to the Church. Here is my situation. I am going through the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a few weeks and I need all the prayers I can receive. My wife, who is not Catholic, is tolerating my return, but is having a hard time accepting me returning to the Church. I must go to mass every week and not eat meat on Friday, etc… I just need prayers from all to help her understand my situation. As time goes on maybe she will accept me as I am. Is there any one who has been is this type of situation, and how did they handled it?
Peace be with you.
 
I came back to the Church and my husband followed soon behind me! Study up on your faith as we all get a bit rusty. It will help in explaining things to your wife as she is certain to have many questions.

God bless you and

:blessyou:Welcome Home!
 
I can see the husband returing, but if the wife is not willing to even think about the Catholic Church, what can I do? She sees only the Methodist way, only ,and is very stubborn about it. She will have nothing to do with the Church. She is very embarrassed when I even mention the Church. I am going to continue to go to mass and and go through the sacrament of reconciliation as soon as possible. I have to tread on eggs shells, I am stubborn, also.
Don’t get me wrong my wife is a very good woman and has very high values. I do love her with all my heart. I just pray she will continue to understand what I am doing for my salvation. My adoration for our Lord is very high and above anything else.
Mrhav:
 
A Catholic friend of mine had been married to his Methodist wife for more than 10 years when he ‘reverted’. She was pretty horrified at first–but 5 years later she became Catholic herself and remains, with him, a dedicated Catholic today. As our late great Pope John Paul II said, “Be Not Afraid”.

God bless.
 
you might want to read Rome Sweet Rome by Scott and Kimerbly Hahn which tells his conversion story, and how she resisted and how they worked through the issues together.
 
mrhav said:
I can see the husband returing, but if the wife is not willing to even think about the Catholic Church, what can I do? She sees only the Methodist way, only ,and is very stubborn about it. She will have nothing to do with the Church. She is very embarrassed when I even mention the Church. I am going to continue to go to mass and and go through the sacrament of reconciliation as soon as possible. I have to tread on eggs shells, I am stubborn, also.
Don’t get me wrong my wife is a very good woman and has very high values. I do love her with all my heart. I just pray she will continue to understand what I am doing for my salvation. My adoration for our Lord is very high and above anything else.
Mrhav:
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Wow! My husband comes from a devout Methodist background as well.

His mother was horrified and did not attend any of the rites he participated in while entering the Church. A lot has happened since back then and in two weeks she will attend her grandson’s First Communion Mass! Does she love the Catholic Church? Not really, but when she went to Paris recently, she actually attended a Mass at the Basilica there and brought our son home the Church bulletin and lots of little goodies from the gift shop there. If being Catholic is a crime, she is guilty of ‘aiding and abetting’! 👍

Be patient and prayerful. You are setting a wonderful example for her (though she doesn’t know it yet) and once she sees how much this means to you, she’ll be even kinder and gentler about it. Puzzleannie made a good recommendation on reading the Scott Hahn book and I also suggest you seek support or at least read the testimonies of those at the Coming Home Network. Many were in your situation but were actually ministers in other faiths who had to convince a spouse that Rome was the way home.

Many blessings!
 
I returned to the Catholic Church a year ago. My husband, who is Jewish, was initially surprised that I wanted to return, but he said as long as I didn’t expect him to go to church with me he was ok with it. He agreed to have our marriage convalidated so I could receive the sacraments again.

When I first returned and was just going to Mass on Sundays there was no problem. Now that I am getting more involved with my parish and want to participate in other activities my husband doesn’t like it.

For example, during Holy Week I wanted to participate almost every day and he became very upset and said he felt like I was putting the Church before him. I tried to explain that it was just one week a year and I had discussed it with him a couple of months before, but that didn’t seem to help. After a long conversation we compromised and I attended the Good Friday service and the Easter Vigil Mass and skipped the rest. Neither of us was particularly happy with that, but it seemed to be the most reasonable solution.

The only ongoing argument we have is my attendance at Mass on Sundays when we are on vacation. He just does not understand or care that it is a sin for me to skip Mass. His reasoning is that he doesn’t complain about me attending Mass the rest of the year, so I should be willing to give up Mass for him the 2 or 3 Sundays each year we are on vacation. He views my desire to attend Mass while on vacation as a rejection of him. We have not resolved this issue yet, and last time we went on vacation I did not attend Mass.

He has no interest in religion whatsoever, his or mine. I wish he would ask questions about it. I have tried to explain to him why it is now so important to me and he has difficulty with that because when we married I was no more interested in religion than he was and had not been to Mass in years.

He has never attended Mass and I have asked him to just go with me once so he can see what it’s like. I asked him to take me to a synagogue so I could see what a Jewish service is like, but he won’t do that either.

I try to explain Catholicism to him and I talk to him about Mass. We have had some good conversations about religion, but he just isn’t interested in participating.

I hope he will change his mind and become more interested, but I don’t think that is likely to happen anytime soon, if ever.
 
mrhav said:
After forty years I am returning to the Church. Here is my situation. I am going through the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a few weeks and I need all the prayers I can receive. My wife, who is not Catholic, is tolerating my return, but is having a hard time accepting me returning to the Church. I must go to mass every week and not eat meat on Friday, etc… I just need prayers from all to help her understand my situation. As time goes on maybe she will accept me as I am. Is there any one who has been is this type of situation, and how did they handled it?
Peace be with you.
Click to expand...
MrHav, you are in my prayers. It is a joy for me to hear your returning. Be strong and trust in Jesus.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
A Catholic friend of mine had been married to his Methodist wife for more than 10 years when he ‘reverted’. She was pretty horrified at first–but 5 years later she became Catholic herself and remains, with him, a dedicated Catholic today. As our late great Pope John Paul II said, “Be Not Afraid”.

God bless.
Click to expand...
 
How did he get her to see the light? My wife wouldn’t even think about entering the Church at present time. I don’t want to push her. Any answers you can get for me would be very appreciated.

Mrhav
 
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