Interfaith Catholic brides please help

Can you describe to me what kind of process you had to go through, what religion the non-catholic is, where you decided to have the ceremony, what officiant or officiants, did you have to promise to riase kids catholic, etc? What kind of stuff did you have to go through? I know I have to set up an appt with a priest, but I'm pretty nervous!

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I am Catholic, my husband is Jewish.

We got married in a Catholic CHurch, by a priest and a rabbi, her name is Rabbi Renee Feller. She was GREAT!! (www.rabbireneefeller.com)

We met with the priest, he asked us questionsa bout how we planned to raise our children, what it meant to be interfaith, etc....it was all your views and stuff...

In order for the priest to be able to co-officiate, he had to get approval from the bishop, we signed a paper to ask for permission and he sent it, no big deal...he said it is almost always guaranteeed YES< but has to go thru the formalities...

We did not have to make promises to raise our children catholic, altho the Priest HIGHLY encouraged it...HIGHLY...because he is a catholic priest and is supposed to....

Hope this helps!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I'm Catholic and mu husband is Hindu. We had 2 weddings - one entirely Catholic and the other entirely Hindu. This was mainly because his family is not in the U.S. and could not come to the wedding here.
We went to see the priest and it was no bog deal. We ended up having a priest who is a friend of the family marry us at my parents country club but we could have been married at the church.
You actually have fewer restrictions if you marry a non-Catholic than if you marry a Catholic (meaning you can marry outside of the church by a priest).
If you have any other questions - email me at [email protected]. I was nervous too but it was really no bog deal. Both priests were really accepting of our marriage and that we were both keeping our religions (and didn't even pressure us to speak about raising our kids Catholic)
Do not stress. It is your wedding and the priest will not be as tough on you as you expect. If he is - look for someone else.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I was raised Catholic and my fh Lutheran. I am not a very religious person. The priest that I wanted to marry me is a dear friend of the family, married my parents, baptized me etc... I wanted him to marry us out of tradition, not religion. Because of the fact that I am not religious and my fh is I felt that our children should have someone in their lives that could guide them when it comes to religion until they were old enough to make their own decision. It was this reason that we could not honestly sign the paper saying that we would raise our children catholic. My priest knew that and said that tons of people sign it and never bring their children to church. He said, 'why do you want to start your marriage off in a lie?' That was it for me. So as to much disappointment to my mom we have decided to get married in a lutheran church, fh's church.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I'm Jewish and my DH is Catholic. We were married on the beach at our hall y a priest and rabbi. We got theri names through our hall and they never asked questions aout how we were raising our kids or anything like that.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I am Catholic, my FI is Greek Orthodox. We are getting married in the Catholic Church and having another ceremony to bless the marriage in the Greek Orthodox church. The priest at St. Catherine's said only I had to promise to raise the kids Catholic, and my FI only had to be aware of that....in the Greek Orthodox Church, he has to promise to raise the kids Greek Orthodox...We decided to raise the kids Catholic since I had gone to Catholic school my whole life, and he isn't very religious. We will expose the children to both religions, since they are basically the same faith, we don't think it will be that difficult. I was surprised - the Catholic church was open to have a Greek priest participate, but the Greek priest was not allowed to co-celebrate.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I am Catholic and my FH is Jewish but non-practicing. I have friends who had lots of problems with the catholic church. They won't go out of the church and marry you at an outside venue, they won't marry you to a non-Catholic, and they make you do 8 weeks of pre-cana and say you will have children and raise them catholic. (There are always priests that will do it for you especially if a friend of the family, but I just don't want to go crazy trying to find one.) So, we decided to find an interfaith minister or check out a catholic priest not affiliated with the church and get married at the hall. My parents seem to be OK with it for now.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

JENSUN


OMG....your story sounds so much like mine


Im catholic and FH is lutheran

his church is very accepting and welcoming to me but i will never change my faith- i was raised catholic but they do not care

my old pastor told my mom all about the rules and she got so upset about them 'kicking me out' as she put it

at first she was more upset about me saying i would raise my kids lutheran but not now
FH is more religious and he will be a better role model for our future offspring

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

Im catholic and my fiancee is jewish...decided to skip the whole interfaith thing (cause honestly we will never be married by faith or joined by faith, and thats ok with both of us..we respect eachothers religions and traditions) so we decided to get married at the reception site by a judge. We are still going to get married under the Chuppah and he is going to break the glass cause thats what we both want (i love those traditions!!). About kids..we haven't fully discussed it, im open to either relgion so as long as whatever we choose to raise our child we follow through with then im fine!

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

My fiance was Protestant and he converted to Catholic. He wanted to before we met, so it was so much easier for us, come time the wedding. I don't know if you two are considering conversion? If so, it is a very easy process, he will need a sponsor (I was my fiance's) and for six months, he would have to go to classes and at the end the sixth month he was confirmed in a ceremony. But if he doesn't want to convert, the way it usually goes is, when you have kids, they take your religion.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I am Catholic and my husband is jewish. We got married at our hall with a Deacon and a Rabbi-both were recommended through our hall. Before the wedding we discussed how we wanted to raise our children-catholic so we had to make sure our marriage would be recognized by the Catholic church. We both signed paperwork on both sides that we will try our best to raise our children Catholic/Jewish. Our marriage was recognized by the church and we will be able to Baptize etc our children. It was a beautiful ceremony we incorporated both religions 50/50 and it was a true representation of both our faiths.
BOth Officiants did ask our plans on how we are raising our children-my advice TALK ABOUT THAT!! not just for the answer to that question, but for yourselves.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

We're having a priest marrying us at our hall. He is the nicest person, very easy to talk to. The coolest priest I ever met. He didn't make us promise anything. His name is Fr. henry Fehrenbacher. I'm pretty sure he's listed in the NY phone book. FM for his info (I have it at home.)

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I'm Catholic, FH Episcopalian. My priest was not to kind to us, so have decided to get married at a community church on long island. They have been very nice to us. community churches however cost a bit of money, but is worth it to us.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

Thank you for all of the advice. I guess I should just make an appointment at my church. FH completely refuses to sign anything about raising the kids catholic, etc. We're having our own arguments about this, which is why I find it so dofficult to talk to anyone about it because w're really struggling with our own decisions. Thanks so much for letting me know I'm not alone..

For those of you who listed priests, are they affiliated with the church and recognized by the vatican?

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I was raised Catholic, my fiance is Jewish.

We are getting married at the hall. I was opposed to it in the beginning because I am so used to church weddings but where we picked has the most gorgeous ceremony spot that it was actually ok with me to have it there.

We originally were going to have a priest and a rabbi. However, after looking into it, there is no true Roman Catholic priest that will perform an interfaith wedding outside of the Church. I couldn't ask FH to get married in a Church, just as I would never expect him to ask me to get married in a temple, so that was pretty much out. Even if we had decided upon the church wedding, yes, we would have had to vow to raise our children Catholic. This was another thing I was not willing to promise.

So, we asked around, met a bunch of people, and finally came up with a wonderful woman to perform our ceremony at the Cottage. She was actually raised Jewish but is ordained by the New School as an Interfaith Minister. She follows all kinds of religions and the friend from whom I got the recommendation saw her perform a ceremony that incorporated four different religions (Judaism, Hinduism, Zoastrianism, and Buddhism). I figure if she could handle that, a simple Jewish-Catholic wedding would be a piece of cake.

Marymoon - FM me your email address. The original plan was to have a priest from my college that I loved come and perform the ceremony with a rabbi. When I emailed him to ask him about it, he wrote back some very helpful information and requisites to have a priest perform the ceremony. I have the email saved so I can forward it to you if you want.

Believe me, I understand what you're going through. Letting go of the tradition that I was so used to was difficult but after examining all options, this felt the most 'us'. That's what you guys need to find, what is the most 'you'.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

Hi Marymoon! I am protestant and my FI is Catholic. We are getting married in my church with my minister, as well as a co-officiant, my FI's uncle, who is a Deacon in the Catholic church.

For his uncle to do his part of the ceremony, he has told us we must go to Pre-Cana and FI has to fill out the paper work to have our marriage recognized by the Church. My church is very accepting towards having another officiant, which is a big relief for me (and his mom, I'm sure). If I am required to sign something stating I will raise the children Catholic, then I will not sign it. I think the burden of religion will be placed on me, therefore our children will be raised Protestant.

Re: Interfaith Catholic brides please help

I am Catholic and my FH is Greek Orthodox. We are getting married in my church first and then in his on the same day.

We plan to raise our children with both faiths. We are really inter-christian more than inter-faith, so I am hoping it won't be too difficult to do. We've met with both of out priests and they have been very supposrtive, thus far.
Neither church has pressured us into raising our kids catholic or greek orthodox.

When FH and I 1st started dating, we discussed religion early on. He said to me that religion is not supposed to seperate people, but rather bring them together.

I also want to mention that our greek priest encouraged us to really learn the differences about the two religions. He said I should learn about the GO relgion and my FH the catholic religion. I think this is great advice.