In today’s marriage prep class, I hear a very good sharing from an old couple married for 47 years. Unlike Protestant churches, especially the Chinese ones, the Catholic church does not forbid catholics marrying not catholics. The wedding will be blessed by the church as long as they agree to raise the children as little catholics. In wife of the old couple is a very typical religious old woman for all of her life. She sharing is funny to listen, but the content is not very relevant, typical along the line of good faith helps bonding in marriage.
On the other hand, the husband’s sharing is very interesting and I find much connection with his story. He was not a catholic when he was married, he never go to church many years into his marriage. Like others in western culture, he appreciates Christian value, so he is happy seeing his kids go to church on Sundays. Moreover he can enjoy some quiet time of his own when the wife and the kids are away in church. Things changes when the kids grow into teenagers, start getting rebellious and stop going to church with mom. He figured that he can’t force the kid go to church if he doesn’t go to church himself. He calculated it will be only a few more years before the kids turns into adult and move away, so he won’t have to suffer the boredom of church for long. In order for the kids grow up with good value, he set an example himself and start going to church. After being many years of non-Christian, he finally accept the faith and baptized as a Catholic.
The moral of the story is that his wife never force him go to church, she just let God do the work. Couples have different faith can live a happy marriage, going to church together or not is irrelevant. God always has his plan, it could be better for them in those years letting the husband escape from church. When the time comes, things will happen on its own. I don’t mind going to church, I will probably do the same thing as the husband to force my kids to go to church. However, I want to retain my right to doze off on boring priests. After all, it is not my fault falling asleep, why can’t the priest talks more interesting?