what do you think about interfaith couple?

Question

I´m catholic and my boyfriend attends to another church (SDA)....we´ve talk about marriage each other, and also we´ve receive advise from a priest. I really will appreciate your oppinion or advise about an interfaith marriege between a catholic and a SDA

Answer 1

Listen to your Priest (that is if he is telling you things according to the Catholic Faith)!

Here is the straight stuff (no fuzzies):

Essentially you boyfriend would be marrying into the Catholic Faith. Mixed faith marriages can be tricky especially if one of the spouse is more into their faith than the other. Do not be surprised if the religious differences become more pronounced over time. It might not be important now, but after children enter into the picture and raising them Catholic becomes a reality, it can get rough. Contrary to popular opinion, raising your kids in dual faiths tends to create agnostics/atheists not more religious people. That is why the Church insists that her children be raised only Catholic.

If you look at the previous answers, you can see how mixed marriage tend to turn out...everyone tends to loose their faith (or it is really watered down). That is why the Catholic Faith has some guidelines.

First Catholics are allowed to marry non-Catholics, (first though you need to get the local bishop's permission for a mixed cult marriage. It is easy talk to your parish priest.) I highly recommend that you and your boyfriend sit down and read the book of Ruth and the Song of Songs (Canticle of Canticles) right away. That will give you a basic scriptural understanding of how important marriage is and how the faith question is resolved.

Here is the basic list to get the ok to get the dispensation of cult,

1. Have to go through Catholic marriage prep.
2. Be willing to practice the Catholic understanding of marital relations (ie no condoms).
3. Be open to having children when God gives them to you.
4. Understand and accept that the marriage lasts until the death of the spouse (no divorcing and remarrying while the spouse lives).
5. Promise to not try to convert your spouse away from Catholicism.
6. Promise to not impede in any way your spouse's obligations to the Catholic Faith and the growth of their spiritual life.
7. Promise to have your children baptized Catholic within a few weeks of their birth.
8. Promise to raise your children in and ONLY IN the Catholic Faith.
9. Promise to not impede in any way your children's obligations to the Catholic Faith and the growth of their spiritual life.

There are other issues but the priest through marriage prep will deal with them.

A NOTE: If your local priest doesn't go through the above numbered steps during the marriage prep, he is not up on his duties and it would be benefitual to locate a better priest. At the time of marriage, not believing in those things brings into question the validity of the marriage especially if one, either openly or in secret intends to do directly the opposite.

As a Note: Any marriage outside of the Church (civil or otherwise) by a Catholic is not considered to be valid and it would bar you from the sacraments.

Answer 2

I'm Protestant and my husband is Catholic. Well, we were raised in those faiths anyway. We both no longer paractice. It just got to be too difficult to give equal time to both religons and neither of us were really involved in church. We decided to use Sundays as "us time". We spend all day together: go to lunch,see a movie, go on a picnic, anything to keep us close. We talked about it and we are both much more devoted to one another than religon so we devote that time to improving our relationship. Sometimes we attend special services like Easter mass or my church's Mother's Day program, but mostly out of family obligation. This may be all wrong for you, but we just had a very hard time either compromising or choosing one church over the other. Good luck and follow your heart.

Answer 3

I have personally seen people in the same Church with completely different faith, portrayed through their behavior and lifestyles.

As long as the two of you believe in God and follow His instructions then it doesn't matter if you come from different Churches.

Not all Christians can fit into one physical Church though they all still constitute the same Spiritual body that God is building on this Earth.

So chill and have a great day :)

Answer 4

My Irish Catholic friend just married an Israeli Jewish girl and they are very happy. They have decided to raise the kids as Jewish. You just have to work out the details before hand so there are no unhappy surprises later on down the road. Good luck.

Answer 5

My and are that you need to have this discussion with each other. If you are both fine with it, then you may have no problems. Discuss how you want to raise children, even if you don't plan on having them (accidents happen). Discuss what rules you plan on having in the house. Will you be expected to convert to vegetarianism? Cook vegetarian? Will you be allowed to drink? Will he be allowed to use Birth Control? Where will you celebrate Christian holidays? Will your child be baptised? Have first communion?

If you are both simply C&E religious (Christmas & Easter), then I forsee less problems. But if you are further into it, discuss, discuss, discuss as much as possible.

Good luck to you both! : )

Answer 6

if you are both of a christion faith there is no problem. as long as you can agree that it is important to raise the kids(when they come around) that God loves us all forgives our sins and all that good stuff yo are fine. The fact that both of you believe in god is an awsome start to a relationship

Answer 7

you are marrying the man,not his religion.maybe he could go to Mass with you one week and you could go to his service the following week,or go to midweek service if offered and keep Sunday Mass,just decide how you will raise the kids,maybe let them choose when they are older and can form a mature opinion,personally I was raised catholic but all the services TO ME like communion,confirmation ,... were for the sake of a camara and my parents,robin

Answer 8

I don't see a problem with that. My sister is Catholic and her husband is another Christian denomination (I forget which).

Together they found a non-denominational church and go there regularly.

Answer 9

find a Christian.u'll get a divorce if u dont.do u think God chose ur soulmate from a nother religion?

Answer 10

it will make ur live difficult in future, esp when u get frequent opposition fr both family members