Will my husband have to raise our children Catholic if he converts?

[BibleBabe]

Here is my situation: My husband and I were baptised and brought up in the Episcopal church. We have young children who are baptized and going to Protestant church. He is converting to the Roman Catholic Church and I am not. Does the Catholic Church expect him to raise our children in the Catholic faith? Please answer what is the official position of the Catholic Church in such a situation.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Certainly the Church would expect him to do his best to share his Catholic faith with his children, but that does not mean that the Church would require him to convert your children against your will. Your husband should certainly be sympathetic to the fact that you both married with the understanding that your children would be raised Protestant. You, in turn, should be sympathetic to the fact that your husband will feel compelled in conscience to share with your children his understanding of Christianity.

If you feel able in conscience to do so, it may be a meritorious act of faith on your part to allow your husband to raise your children Catholic. In the conversion story (Rome Sweet Home) that she wrote with her husband, Kimberly Hahn describes how she decided, while she was still Protestant, that for her to allow her children to be raised Catholic by her convert husband would be for her a positive acknowledgment on her part of her husband’s spiritual headship of their family. You might wish to read her thoughts on the subject to see if this is something to which you can in conscience agree.

Recommended reading:

Spiritual Headship by Jimmy Akin
Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn
When Only One Converts by Lynn Nordhagen (editor)