Sharing Common Things In Mixed Marriages

[obvious_ron]

For those of you in mixed marriages…What is there that you share with your spouse? You can’t share in the Eucharist. You can somewhat share the mass or services at your spouse’s church. But what about at home? Do you pray together? Do you read scripture together? What things are you able to do as a couple?

 

[alice24]

Discussion! We talk about religion a lot, and did this before marriage also. I got closer to god through this, and we both benefit.

 

[jlc2k2]

This! We actually discussed religion a lot more before I converted.

Also, prayers before meals and I went to Mass with him.

 

[TheLittleLady]

If it is a Catholic/Protestant mix, there is a great video with a study guide called “Common Ground”.

Observing Lent together can be something shared, I love sharing the Stations of the Cross with my Protestant friends/family.

 

[obvious_ron]

Thanks! I’ll check it out!

 

[obvious_ron]

I think that part of my struggle is that I’m really just beginning to get serious with my Catholic faith. I grew up Catholic, but for the past twenty years or so, I’ve been fluctuating between different faiths. I was chrismated into the Orthodox Church in 2006. More recently was my beginning to attend my fiancee’s Protestant church. However, the Catholic Church has ever been with me.

My fiancee has been letting me do my own thing on most any area of my life, religion is among those areas. The irony is that the longer I stay in this relationship, the stronger my desire to remain Catholic becomes. As this occurs, attending both churches is becoming less attractive.

 

[TC3033]

Respect…We respect each others faith background. If you can’t respect each other, then most likely you’ll really struggle. From my side, my wife (Catholic) really enjoys my church back home and attending that church whenever we can, and we’re united that it’s not right how some Catholic churches/parishes look down upon the non-Catholic spouse/parent.

We pray together each night, and really align in many faith aspects so religion hasn’t really been a big issue in our marriage. The only issue that I’ve really seen hurt my wife is how excluded I can be by her Church.

 

[oldgraymare2]

Respect…We respect each others faith background. If you can’t respect each other, then most likely you’ll really struggle. From my side, my wife (Catholic) really enjoys my church back home and attending that church whenever we can, and we’re united that it’s not right how some Catholic churches/parishes look down upon the non-Catholic spouse/parent.

We pray together each night, and really align in many faith aspects so religion hasn’t really been a big issue in our marriage. The only issue that I’ve really seen hurt my wife is how excluded I can be by her Church.

I agree with you regarding respect.

I also think and believe that there has to be mutual respect for each other’s faith beliefs. I agree that if that’s not there, the couple will also struggle.

My husband is the one who is not Catholic in our marriage.

He told me recently that he feels closer to the Catholic faith than he does to his own faith background.

He likes going to Catholic churches and shrines with me, and likes going to Mass with me, too.

He’ll pray with me, too.

He is a God-fearing person and he told me that his own faith has increased because of my own faith, too.

 

[TheLittleLady]

and we’re united that it’s not right how some Catholic churches/parishes look down upon the non-Catholic spouse/parent.

We pray together each night, and really align in many faith aspects so religion hasn’t really been a big issue in our marriage. The only issue that I’ve really seen hurt my wife is how excluded I can be by her Church.

I am going to start a new topic, because I hear this sort of thing on the forums. Would like to know details of how this exclusion is manifest.

 

[Rosalie]

My husband is a lapsed Catholic who no longer practices any faith. We discuss the Church and theology and related current events. He says grace before dinner. He reads Bible stories to our daughter. He comes to Mass for important feast days.