What do I do about dating an SSPV Catholic?

[livelovelaugh18]

I have been dating an SSPV Catholic for two and a half years now. He truly is my best friend, and both of us want to marry each other sometime in the not too distant future. However, the fact that he attends a SSPV church and I attend a Novus Ordo church makes it seemingly impossible. I love the Traditional Latin Mass and attend it very frequently, but I believe that the SSPV is wrong.

I am so upset over this and I don’t know what to do. I have been praying and discerning about what I should do, but still have no answers. I would love to be able to somehow be able to explain to him why the SSPV is in error with the Church, and for him to understand and recognize that his church is wrong. I just don’t know how to do that.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

For those who don’t know, the SSPV is the Society of St. Pius V, which is a group that does not believe the Catholic Church has a currently reigning pope (i.e., sedevacantism). They are about as far from the Catholic Church as one can get while still having a plausible claim on being Catholic.

Quite honestly, I don’t think you are going to be able to use argumentation to win over your boyfriend to a right understanding of his Catholic faith, and trying to do so would not be good for your relationship anyway. The fact is that it is more likely that he will convince you to go sedevacantist than that you will convince him that Pope Francis is the currently reigning pope.

The one thing I think you could do won’t be easy, but it would be a prudent course of action. You could tell him that you cannot marry anyone who is not a Catholic in good standing with the Catholic Church, which includes recognition of the currently reigning Pope, and therefore you are ending your relationship. If he truly loves you, this alone will cause him to reconsider his opposition to the Church. If he does not, then you both will be free to find a spouse who will share your religious faith.

In either case, you will be taking a step for yourself that will make it far more likely that you will be able to have a truly Catholic family life.