Can a Catholic Marry a Non-Catholic?

From the perspective of someone who hasn't been married since becoming Catholic:

A non-Catholic spouse might not help you grow in your faith in a literal way by praying with you or reading the Bible with...but I think it really comes down to how you live out your faith. Maybe you feel called to do some kind of charity work and your non-Catholic partner feels called to do the same. And in that sense encourages you to grow in your faith. I also don't really see one partner going to mass alone as problematic. And if their partner is curious and decides to come then that's great. And if they do decide to come but nitpick the flaws, I don't have a problem with that either. I think we shouldn't be so in awe of our faith that we can't be humbled every now and then by a bit of brutal honesty.

That's my take anyway. I know a couple that's both Catholic but wasn't when they met; and frankly their relationship is much more genuine to me than the couples that met by spouse shopping at church. I think God can bring two people together who at their core share something special...even if their religious practices don't necessarily line up. It may even be an opportunity to evangelize a non-believer; even if they don't convert you're still exposing them to the truth!

Here's a cool thing. My brother and I were raised Protestant. He converted to Catholicism when he was engaged to a Catholic woman. The relationship fell through, but he's a faithful Catholic now, decades down the road. And I eventually converted too.

💯💯💯

I married a Catholic as an ex-Catholic. Felt compelled to return to the faith, finish my Confirmation, and fulfill my responsibilities to God. I can’t explain it—my wife never pressured me, it was never an issue, yet here I am.

I married a non catholic and am still married after 30 years, but it has been a bit lonely as far as sharing my faith goes. I can't talk about faith experiences as he either does not believe or does not understand. I feel real envy when I see a catholic couple praying together at mass.

Catholic have no authority on marriage only God do

In terms of people being not Christian:

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.””
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

They don’t have to be Catholic tho. Just Christian.

Great talk and especially for young couples. What are your thoughts for those of us that are of ripe age, empty nesters, one is Catholic and one Episcopalian. Both devoted. The two faiths are very closely related. Where are the issues in this circumstance?

You should be a passionate Christian & not so much to focus the denomination.

Two of my grandchildren will be catholic and I would like to be the grandparent who supports them. I am not catholic but have studied many beliefs. Should I go to the church and talk to the preist on how to support them as grandma.

I was always taught that the man is in charge of the religious teaching of the family and the man teaches his family and the woman follows the husband.

You marry a non-catholic you tend to break the first commandment which says . There's no other God... I am the Lord thy God. Just to please your spouse who's a non catholic you surely will do so so. And many other reasons that go along with it. How can you marry someone who does not believe Jesus your saviour

Thank you for this video. I'm in relationship with a muslim guy and your video is really valuable for me.

This was a very special video to come across.
I am currently non Catholic. I am a baptized Methodist. At the time, I was dating and became engaged to someone who was a devoted Catholic. I did not start going to Mass more regularly until 2021 (around the time we began dating). I was still uncertain about the Catholic teachings, but did come to love God and the Catholic faith over time. As we discussed marriage and children, I did at the time have beliefs that did go against the Catholic faith. He did stand up for his faith and put that first before anything in regards to our relationship. Unfortunately, we did ultimately separate due to the differences in beliefs at the time.
After the separation, I continued to go to Mass every week (even made sure to go on holy days of obligation), learn more about the Catholic Faith, and now I am preparing to take part in RCIA to become Catholic. Not only did this man guide me towards the faith and help me at the time, I also began to find that for myself even after we separated.
I am extremely blessed that God continued to guide me to the Catholic Faith, despite losing my previous partner over differences in beliefs at the time when I was unsure of Him. I hope that one day my faith grows as strong as his is, as I am forever grateful for his love and guidance to help me become the person I am today with my faith.
Thank you, Fr Mike!

I am a Hindu but i love Jesus ❤and i love Catholic culture ❤

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, my Fiancée is Catholic and I'm on the fence about being Catholic. I've attended Mass at my local Catholic Church and understand I'm welcome to attend Mass and even receive a prayer during the Holy Communion. So I'm thinking to attend Mass as a Christian and be supportive of my Fiance bcos I know how much it means to her. I believe there's many paths to our Lord and only when we fight over which path to take does the Devil win, let's not do that but instead support one another. I have a feeling one day I'll be ready for RCIA but not yet, wouldn't be right with where I'm at with my faith right now. Thank you Fr. Schmidtz

You are a funny man. I disagree to a degree, my reply is, of course, going to be complicated and drawn out. Maybe if I just say Galatians 5:1-6 you'll understand. Maybe, if I say 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 you'd understand more. Maybe...if I said 1 Corinthians 7:8-16. I say this because I've been married and just as King Solomon threatened to split a baby in two, so does the Lord if you are not married to someone who will help you complete your walk with Him; it is here we agree. I love how Jesus said he did not come here to bring peace, He saved my life by disrupting what I was indoctrinated to believe and was watching fall short. When a person is a goal acheiver, the loss of a marriage could be deadly; I am a living example, but, because I've come to recognize I've never been married before because I am married to Jesus first, I survive and am healthier than ever before. Do I feel pain? Yes. Do I get lonely? Yes. Do I know what being with someone after the honeymoon has worn off feels like? YES. So now, when Imeet people I stop to take them all in. Does the Lord let their smell be pleasing to me? How much justifying do I need to make to appreciate their perfume. We were warned that we true Christians would smell like death to those who are dying, and so when I watch people I wonder? Do I smell like death to you? Children are a huge factor even for a woman like me who is 50. I am consoled by knowing how old John the Baptist's mother was when she conceived and carried him. But the wisdom God gives me and the current state of our affairs gives me even more rest. I'd rather fight now for a better world so that when my daughter is ready to have a child it will be one I can bless her bringing into it a child. For now I don't, but she is only 12 so hopefully I've got a few years to do some damage. There is no greater gift than to have a child, of course, besides Jesus; and for this, even my daughter was jealous. She once kicked my dog out of her stroller because of her jealousy at the affection I showed him. And as Genesis taught us in Genesis 3:22, in my opinoin, God stood with the animals and they both wait to see when we humans are finally going to get the picture.

Why does this even matter we are all Children of God and are here to help others come collider to him?? This sis when religion goes too far.

What's up Fr mike. I am somewhat struggling here myself. What are your thoughts on 1 corinthians 16-17? Can a spouse be sanctified through the catholic party? My wife has had some negative experiences with the church and had become something of an estranged Christian. She believes jesus is god, has a relationship with him but does not attend mass or other church related functions. Her issues are with the church not so much god but on a spiritual level I worry.

the fact that you have to promise to indoctrinate your children is beyond gross, and one of so many reasons i could never be a catholic.

Yeah no thank you...

Because in Orthodox church this is not allowed. Why is it allowed in Catholic church? Isnt the the old(true) way that you cannot marry that person?

So is it a sacrament in Catholic church?

If you are teyig to convert tgat pwrso. I would say its ok

Fr thank you so much for this guidance . However I have a question, can a Catholic marry a Muslim?

I have been with my girlfriend for 2 years and we love each other and want to get married through the Catholic Church.
When we talk about our faith she accepts how strongly I practice my faith. She says that she can’t promise me that we will be going to mass every Sunday when we are married in the future. It’s hard for me to hear that because I don’t want to be going to church alone on sundays.
What should I do?
I try to not force her of course, I don’t want to push her away from the idea of going to church with me every Sunday but i don’t know if it’s okay for me as a man to be going to church alone if I am married in the future.
Any help?

My boyfriend is still Christian but not Catholic and it sounds a lot easier (if we are to get married one day) if I just leave the church and convert, but is that a sin? Can I still go to heaven if I start going to a non-Catholic church?

If a catholic and a Lutheran get married. What business is it of anyone else. God doesn't care which denomination you or your spouse are. Presbyterian, Methodist, catholic are all denominations. I left the catholic church because of all the abuse of children. Then the pope who according to the pope is Christ on earth. Swept the abuse under the rug. Nuns physical and physiology abused children as well. There attitude was oh I am a nun so what I do is accepted by God. Jesus was not a catholic. He didn't start a church that allows its priest to hurt little children.

I'm not Catholic, I married my Catholic wife 37 years ago. Our son has been raised Catholic for 17 years. We recently decided to begin the RCIA. I have a lot to learn - but it's the wise thing to do.

Be nice to me, I'm typically much better behaved than Catholics and that was before my Bible addiction 😂

Being born again is when God takes a dead in sin sinner and brings them to Spiritual live with Christ ,so they will repent and believe. Unless God causes the new birth first, none would come to Christ because their deeds are wicked.This is why salvation is 100% of the Lord.

I know this is random but what is your haircut Farher Mike

When my sister was dating my now brother-in-law, she gifted him a rosary we picked up in Lourdes, France. He said one night he was holding the rosary, and he smelled unmistakable scent of roses. He was a non-practicing Protestant at the time who was brought up by devout Protestant parents.
When they got engaged, he voluntarily converted to Catholicism unbeknownst to his parents. And they got married 3 years ago, and they go to Mass every Sunday

Can a Catholic marry a Jew?

I wasn’t always a good Catholic. I disregarded my faith and made myself uncomfortable as to not make my boyfriend uncomfortable. We got pregnant and I hoped he’d marry me. We now have 3 children 10, 6 and 2. I’ve come back to my faith but over the years of me getting closer to Jesus, we’ve gotten significantly further apart. One second of the day he loves me, the next second it’s him saying he hates me or he thinks I hate him. 13+ years and we’re still not married. I do my best to let him be who he is but I correct what is immoral. He takes it as me thinking I’m better than him. I don’t want him drinking and screaming anymore. I don’t want him cussing so casually that I’m getting reports from the teachers at school that my kids are cussing. I live by a “know better, do better” rule. So much so that when I call him out for doing the wrong thing(i.e. cussing) he’ll recall a time where I cussed and he didn’t call me out. To which, I’ll agree that I was wrong in that instance and then he gets mad for me admitting and acknowledging that I was wrong. I feel defeated because I’ve stayed around this long for my family to be whole and it seems more broken. To top it off his mom is Muslim and thinks the problem is because I have two pet snakes and I keep the devil around her son and if I get rid of my snakes he’s going to all of a sudden stop drinking and screaming and cussing. And to her, it’s going to be my fault if my kids grow up badly because I’m the mom and that matters more than what the dad does. I take the kids to church, I had them all baptized and had to do it secretly when their father was at work. What kills me is he’s so smart and strong willed that if he used his talents God’s way, we’d be unstoppable. But years of experience and WISDOM have shown me we are not our potential. He uses his intelligence to deny Jesus is Lord. I’m very sad.

Father Mike I am a Catholic baptized and raised. I moved towards episcopal to baptize my children because of all the things I didn’t like about Catholicism. My husband is Methodist and non practicing . We married in a Methodist church and I regret it. I am now attending Catholic Church again regularly. My question is, could we renew our vows at 25 years of marriage in the Catholic Church? I would like to do this. I guess I need to pray for my husband to start attending mass with me. Maybe he’ll get baptized in the Catholic Church .

Lutheran here, 100% correct.

As a christian, I wouldn't yoke myself to someone who was not christian,as the bible says. So, I guess I think that a protestant and a catholic could get married, but a christian should not marry an atheist or a muslim,etc. Christians shouldn't marry anyone that rejects Jesus Christ,who does not have Jesus as Lord over their life. It does surprise me too that this is the stance of the catholic church, because looking at how upset the Lord was with the Israelites intermarrying in the old testament with people of pagan faiths, I would never think it was okay to marry a non christian, ever. I just found that interesting.

Religion is a core part of your life? Poor things

Father Mike, I liked this video 4 years ago when I was about to marry my then fiance. She was not catholic, though raised so. Her family was all about it, but after a few trials, we figured out we were not meant for each other. I since have met a new person who a bit more aligned with me and my faith. The reason why I'm reaching out, however, is because one of her friends is goign through some issues and I think they can use some guidance. To not share the story publicly I'd love to see if theres a way I can contact you directly and ask for your advice and perhaps get you in touch with them. He's a recent convert to catholicism and she's not. They recently got married and I know he has a slightly twisted version of what being a catholic is, mostly clouded with fire and brimstone protestant beliefs. I know he means well, but I also know he needs some guidance so he can lead a better catholic life, even beyond his relationship. So I'm hoping you can help them out. Please let me know whats a good way to contact you directly (if you feel comfortable with it) as I'd love to help some friends out. Thanks and God bless!!

Excellent Talk ✅💯

I don't know but this sounds like "my way is the only way" 🤷🏾‍♂️

❤️

Can a Catholic Priest marry another priest.

Actually you do not have to involve the Catholic church at all. You can just ignore it and if you have children, raise them however you please.

This was very helpful, thank you very much

If I had to do it over again, I would marry a non-Catholic, because restricting myself to my fellow Catholics has meant that I didn’t get married at all. I would rather have someone who is okay with me being Catholic than have no one at all.

I was baptized Anglican and I'll be marrying a Catholic man next summer. I've been attending mass weekly with him all summer and the mass never fails to choke me up at some point. My intention is to convert; I'm meeting with the parish RCIA director soon!

Just don't marry to anyone who believes the earth is 6000 years old and yoga is Satanic. It's not a religious advice, but a common sense that marrying to a intellectually inferior primate will ruin your life.