Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Catholic Living in the Modern World => Topic started by: Aleah on April 30, 2017, 06:33:45 AM
-
I have a neighbor who is married to a man that was married before (her first marriage and his second). She has asked that we go out to dinner or have dinner at my house as couples.
How would you address that? As a Catholic I would consider the first marriage valid but as non-Catholics- they would not. I know they are Christians but I don't believe they practice any kind of faith in general.
Would you go out to dinner with them or have them at your house but not go to theirs or just not go out at all?
Thoughts?
-
If they are not Catholic, and it is just you and your husband involved, I don't see a problem, as long as you are there as good examples to convert them. However, I would not get all that chummy with them because they are living in sin.
In truth only Catholics can rightly call themselves Christians. I would rather refer to non-Catholics who believe in Christ as Protestants or Eastern Orthodox. Calling them Christians belittles the title.
-
Unless I am mistaken, if they are Catholic and living in a brother-sister type relationship (celibate), even if previously divorced, then they can receive communion and aren't in mortal sin. Whether that is the case or not, I don't suppose you would have much of a way of knowing without their having seen fit to confide it to you. Things aren't always as they appear.
-
I have a neighbor who is married to a man that was married before (her first marriage and his second). She has asked that we go out to dinner or have dinner at my house as couples.
How would you address that? As a Catholic I would consider the first marriage valid but as non-Catholics- they would not. I know they are Christians but I don't believe they practice any kind of faith in general.
Would you go out to dinner with them or have them at your house but not go to theirs or just not go out at all?
Thoughts?
Jesus had dinner with sinners, we should follow his lead and show the pagans how to behave like Christians and hope they convert. I have to deal with in laws who are pagans like your neighbor, I'm surrounded by pagans everywhere and unless i escape to the desert I will have dinners and get togethers with them. I don't believe we shouldn't go their weddings though, there's a thread on that very subject.
-
Unless I am mistaken, if they are Catholic and living in a brother-sister type relationship (celibate), even if previously divorced, then they can receive communion and aren't in mortal sin. Whether that is the case or not, I don't suppose you would have much of a way of knowing without their having seen fit to confide it to you. Things aren't always as they appear.
With all the Amoris Laetitia controversy being discussed as of late, there has been some allusion in the discussions to this brother-sister type of relationship. Yet, I've never known anyone who has been in such a relationship. Is this form of relationship very common in certain parts of the world?
-
...there has been some allusion in the discussions to [a] brother-sister type of relationship [in a secular legal marriage]. Yet, I've never known anyone who has been in such a relationship. Is this form of relationship very common in certain parts of the world?
This is a good question. Not only have I never met anyone in this sort of relationship, no one I've ever known has told me that they have ever known anyone in this sort of relationship. I'm wondering if anyone on CathInfo (other than poche, of course) actually knows anyone in this sort of relationship.
It seems to be an issue that is pure theory but does not actually exist in reality.
-
This is a good question. Not only have I never met anyone in this sort of relationship, no one I've ever known has told me that they have ever known anyone in this sort of relationship. I'm wondering if anyone on CathInfo (other than poche, of course) actually knows anyone in this sort of relationship.
It seems to be an issue that is pure theory but does not actually exist in reality.
Approximately 36 years ago I met such a couple. We were intending to buy a property from them. We had to pass through their town and they gave us accommodation in their home, on our long journey to view the property.
One was a lapsed Catholic and the other was divorced (from somebody else). The had been living together in sin, but had "found Jesus" in one of those born-again halleluiah types religions. They took it very seriously when they were told that they either had to separate or to marry (the divorce was not a problem). So while they were waiting to be married, they continued to live together in the same house, but did not indulge in marital rights outside the married state.
They told us this was why they slept in separate rooms. Eventually they became missionaries in India.
Truth is stranger than fiction!
-
Approximately 36 years ago I met such a couple. We were intending to buy a property from them. We had to pass through their town and they gave us accommodation in their home, on our long journey to view the property.
One was a lapsed Catholic and the other was divorced (from somebody else). The had been living together in sin, but had "found Jesus" in one of those born-again halleluiah types religions. They took it very seriously when they were told that they either had to separate or to marry (the divorce was not a problem). So while they were waiting to be married, they continued to live together in the same house, but did not indulge in marital rights outside the married state.
They told us this was why they slept in separate rooms. Eventually they became missionaries in India.
Truth is stranger than fiction!
So... What you're saying is the one time you saw it 36 years ago, it involved non-Catholics, the "lapsed Catholic" having formally joined a heretical sect. That is interesting.
-
So... What you're saying is the one time you saw it 36 years ago, it involved non-Catholics, the "lapsed Catholic" having formally joined a heretical sect. That is interesting.
That's exactly it!
-
Why would anyone tell anyone else that they are living as brother and sister unless someone knows the details of their past marriages intimately? Knowlege of that might cause a greater scandal about their past that is really no one's business. There may be more people out there living like that than you think. Some things should be between themselves and their priest. A Cross can be very personal.