Catholic/Muslim couple

Submitted by Kim (United States), Apr 16, 2007 at 13:17

Dear Lou, If raising your children Catholic is of high importance to you then my advice to you is to marry a Catholic man. A muslim man can indeed marry a woman of Catholic faith, but he is expected to raise his children as Muslims.

Considering your family has the expectation that your children are raised Catholic this will ALWAYS be a point of contention between the two of you. This sounds like a heart-breaking path to follow. I was raised Catholic and married a Muslim man. I recognized that we would always be in opposing corners unless we shared the same faith.

I made the decision to convert to Islam. It has not been easy, but it offers our future children the stability of parents focused on the same goal rather than two people of different faiths trying to make it work. I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but I am being honest with you based on the inter-faith marriages I know of.

I know a Catholic woman who considers every decision made with her Muslim husband a huge battle. He doesn't practice his faith outwardly, but it is so ingrained in who he is that he cannot stray too far from it's importance. Consider carefully. There will be many familial influences on both sides that will make your relationship a stressful one!

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