A recent study in Lebanon has prompted comment from Bishop Jean Laffitte (Seretary of the Pontifical Council of the Family) about the challenges faced by Catholics when married to a Christian of a different denomination or to a person of another religion.
Cindy Wooden
National Catholic Reporter
April 11, 2013
Full article: here
Catholics need to know that marrying someone from a different Christian community or, even more so, from a different religion will create extra challenges in their marriage, but church leaders also must learn how to help people in mixed marriages meet those challenges, a Vatican official said.
“We can express a positive judgment only when the conditions are met for a family life where the values and purposes of marriage are respected, and where a common faith in God helps the spouses to weave together an authentic communion of life and love,” said Bishop Jean Laffitte.
In an interview for the family council’s website, Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, the Maronite patriarch, said Lebanon “is a mixed society: in schools, universities, towns and cities. We all live together,” and, naturally, that has given birth to many mixed marriages.
The study said there are positive experiences of marriages between a Christian and a Muslim in countries like Lebanon, where followers of the two faiths have lived side by side for centuries. The diversity of the country is one of its riches, which is reflected in the number of mixed marriages and strengthened by them as members of the communities grow closer, the study said. However, it also found that different understandings of the family, conjugal life and the roles of men and women can make Catholic-Muslim marriages a challenge.
Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai said, “the judgment about mixed marriages is positive,” because they contribute to peaceful coexistence, including on a social and political level.
However, he also said, “we try not to encourage mixed marriages in order to preserve the faith and traditions” of the various communities, because studies show that often couples handle belonging to different faith communities by one or both of them limiting or eliminating their involvement in the community.
Commenting more on mixed marriages in general, Laffitte said social, cultural and political realities can have such a huge impact on how the couples are able to live their marriages that it is the responsibility of national bishops’ conferences to study the phenomenon and design pastoral responses.
