Should a Catholic Marry a Non-Catholic?

and you just said that's why i'm catholic so this question is actually about a little bit about being catholic it says should a catholic marry a non-catholic or is it necessary to be of the same faith as your spouse it is not necessary i can think of lots of marriages that a catholic married a non-catholic and they had a deep love for one another [Music] but man i can't i can't imagine not being married to a catholic myself there will be obstacles there will be struggles there will be certain limits to the intimacy you can have there will be certain limits to sharing your heart with the other there will be struggles in raising the children when there are conflicts in faith between spouses that does paint uh the marriage in this with a certain color right again it's not impossible i know plenty of marriages where there's a beautiful love but those marriages are going to bear in themselves and in this way it can be a hopeful thing as those couples work out their differences as they find common ground as they as they emphasize the things they they do share in common um without ignoring the things they don't that can be a sign of the very friction and tension but also the hope that exists between catholics and non-catholics at large we could look first at you know catholics and other christians uh there's a shared baptism there's a shared basic faith there are differences that we have that shouldn't be undermined or shouldn't be just tossed aside because they're significant um but there's we share much more in common than than what we don't hold in common that's true so the the say you have a catholic and a protestant for example they marry and they share that faith in christ but where those tensions are in their marriage and how they work them out and hopefully coming to a place of deeper unity that can be a gift to the whole uh ecumenical conversation right that can be a grace for the whole desire that all would be one that's christ's prayer that all would be one as you father and i are one so i would say if you if you are entering into such a marriage just go with your eyes open you're going to have additional struggles and tensions and difficulties grace is enough to work through them and hopefully they can bring about a deeper unity and if both of you are honestly seeking the truth seekers find and so there's there's hope in there there's struggle but hope that's how i would put it what about you wendy what are your thoughts yeah i think one of the things that you know podcasting for people who are interested in matters of faith we kind of can assume that our listeners are on that journey of growth in faith because why would they be listening but many of you and just like us have people you love who are dear to you who don't appear to be on that journey in the same way don't seem to place a high value on having been given the gift of catholic faith if they you know indeed are baptized catholics um and so sometimes the matter of what church i you know my parents took me to or something can seem kind of irrelevant and when we used to do marriage prep work many of the people that we were teaching in classrooms um were you know only one member of the couple was catholic and so that's fairly common yeah very common yeah and so it was kind of this marriage preparation that kind of forced both of them to learn a little bit more about the catholic faith including the catholic one who probably hadn't paid super close attention or had gotten distracted by other things in life over time and so it was a time of like reorientation and for us teaching you know what an opportunity to like share the gospel just you know what you're not gonna make it without the lord's help and let's talk about that let's talk about why sacraments you know what what is god all about what is faith why do i want them in my life why do i want them in my marriage yeah and why be married what is god you know what is god's purpose in all of that so it's a beautiful opportunity to really reflect when you're making such a life-changing decision as to be married and i i have to trust the lord knows what he's doing sometimes it can seem sort of maybe to parents of a child who's wanting to marry someone who's not catholic it can cause you know a lot of disappointment or anguish and yet if you open that up to the lord he may be doing something wonderful this kind of relates to our last question about trusting that god is all-powerful and does bring good out of all things um even what you were saying about the the you know the lord's desire that we would all be one his whole church so there's a lot going on in people's lives and marriage is the time of entering into marriage is a time of and incredible graces are available there um so i would just encourage people who are thinking about this if your faith is important to you um you know let that be present then in all your relationships to some degree and especially in any dating and courtship that it would be open and that it would be you know a treasure that to be honored and revered and loved by the person that's gonna love you for your life and so yes it could be a non-catholic if that's what the lord is doing in your life but the sense of desiring that greater closeness that is possible and just all the goodness that that brings to your children and to your community when you are of the same faith we can't not hold out that as a greater good yeah yeah you have to hold that out and and the church recognizes that the the norm is for a catholic to marry a catholic because there has to be a a dispensation granted is that like a a special permanent special yeah it's not normal for a catholic to marry a non i mean it's normal in the sense that it happens quite often right but it's not normal in the sense that it's the way the church would hope it would be um the divisions in in christendom are not what the lord wanted right the lord prayed that all would be one and the historical divisions among christians are some of the greatest scandals that have ever befallen christianity so again the couple will bear in their relationship the wound of that that scandal but it can be as we're saying and i just want to underscore let it be an opportunity to press into what do you really believe and why uh if you're in dating in a protestant let his or her questions challenge you if the protestant is dating the catholic let his or her faith challenge you seek together seekers find yeah and the truth is not afraid of our questions as i like to say the question is are we afraid of the truth we shouldn't be we shouldn't be you

Channel: Theology of the Body Institute

Views: 7,443

Keywords: Should a catholic marry a non catholic, should a catholic marry a protestant, can a catholic marry a non catholic, can a catholic marry a non believer, can a catholic marry a protestant, can a catholic get married to a non catholic, can a catholic get married to a protestant, can a catholic get married to a non believer, should a catholic get married to a non catholic, should a catholic get married to a protestant, theology of the body, theology of the body insititute

Id: ERXPEJRoqMo

Length: 8min 43sec (523 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 30 2020