Catholics/inter religious marriage

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Expert: - 12/13/2011


Question
Dear Father
Why inspite of knowing the threats it can pose to christianity ,the church is so linient on the issue of inter religious marriage and because of an absence of strict guidance from church we are losing our kids to other religion...?

Answer
Marriage is a natural right.  A man and a women have a fundamental and natural right to Marry. The Church cannot deny one man and one women the right to Marry each other if they wish to do so---and as long as there are no known impediments.

With an inter-faith or inter-religious marriage one needs to receive a "dispensation" for the reason you mention.  If the marriage poses a threat to the Faith of the Catholic Party, the Church can deny that person a "dispensation." to Marry.  In that case the person would be impeded from marrying because the marriage would pose a danger to the Faith.  Since marriage is supposed to be a help to salvation and not inhibit salvation, one does not have the right to Marry when the marriage would pose a danger to the Faith of the Catholic.  

It is the role of the priest who is preparing the couple for marriage to ascertain whether or not the marriage would pose a threat to the Faith of the Catholic. In most cases I suspect a couple would be determined to Marry even if the non-Catholic party was clearly hostile to the Catholic Faith.  However if I were the priest I would simply inform the couple that in conscience I cannot marry and if they insist on marrying I would not perform the wedding, nor would the wedding take place in my parish.

All of this is a judgment call on the part of the priest. I am also not sure if inter-faith marriages or inter-religious marriages are the real problem.  Consider: If the Catholic Faith was truly important to the Catholic party---why would they choose someone as their mate who was openly hostile to their Catholic Faith? The inter-religious/interfaith marriage is a symptom of the greater issue.

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Father Dave Bechtel

Expertise

I am a Catholic priest in good standing. I am from the Diocese of Scranton PA. I can answer most any questions on the Catholic Faith accurately. My specific area of study is Systamatic/Dogmatic Theology. One of my interests specifically is on the differences between Catholics and Protestants. If you have general questions about the Catholic Faith/issues pertaining to the Catholic Faith, or on Catholic/Protestant issues I feel more then able to answer your questions.

Experience

Formerly I was a member at CARM (Christian Apologetics Research Ministry.) I was a member from 2006 until around 2009. On this website I would respond to many threads attacking or asking questions about the Catholic Faith. I have also had correspondence with some Protestant apologists over the email. Robert Zinz of a Christian Witness to Roman Catholics and Mike Gendron who wrote a book called "Preparing Catholics For Eternity." I was not a priest at the time of correspondence with these people, nor were they aware of my aspirations to be a priest. I have had some polite conversations over the email with some Catholic professors of theology, some orthodox, some not so orthodox in their teaching. I answer questions on Wiki-answers about the Catholic Faith from time to time. None of this is to mention my day to day experience with people in the parish and in the surrounding community.

Education/Credentials
Bachelors of Science-- University of Scranton PA Masters of Arts Theology---Saint Mary's Seminary and University Baltimore MD Masters of Divinity--- Saint Charles Borremeo Seminary Philadelphia PA

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