Should I become a Catholic even though my Hindu husband may divorce me if I do?

[vincenta]

I am a married and the mother of three. I was a Hindu when I first got married, and am on the verge of joining an RCIA class at a local parish. But my husband, who is Hindu, has told me in no uncertain terms that we as a family are Hindu and will remain Hindu. He is totally against this “new interest” of mine. I know he will divorce me if I convert to Catholicism.

I am torn between my love for Christ and the desire to be baptized, and my love of my family, my husband, and children. What should I do? I do not want to go behind his back, and yet I know that baptism is required, as well as so much more, of a Catholic.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

If you are convinced in conscience that Christ is God and that you must follow him through the Catholic Church, then you must become Catholic even if it may cost you your husband and family. I understand that this is easy for me to say since I am not the one facing the possibility of such a tragedy, but it is the only answer I can give you because it is the truth. When Christ calls us to follow him, we are being called to follow him down the Via Dolorosa to Calvary. If you have not already seen the movie, I highly recommend Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ as an illustration of what the call to be Christian entails. If your husband will agree to watch the movie with you, all the better.

Perhaps it will reassure your husband if you explain to him that your conversion does not mean that he will have to convert against his will and that your children will not be able to enter the Church without his consent until they are mature enough to make that decision for themselves. It will be difficult for you to be the only Christian in your family, but you can offer up your spiritual loneliness to Christ and ask Christ to use it in union with his own suffering for the eventual conversion of your family. It may be that you are being called to be a spiritual monstrance (a monstrance is the container that holds the Blessed Sacrament during eucharistic adoration), bringing the love of Christ to your home and radiating the grace of Christ to your family.

We will keep your family in prayer here at Catholic Answers and ask our readers to pray for your family, too. God bless.

Recommended reading:

A Marriage Saved in Heaven by Robin Maas
The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur by Elisabeth Leseur
When Only One Converts edited by Lynn Nordhagen