Cantarella, you didn't mention how old your children are, but if they are school age or older I would recommend you do your very best in rearing them Catholic (fully Catholic, not N.O., not lukewarm trad), with or without the support of your husband. My experience with my husband, who was raised N.O. and a little less practicing than he should have been (and a little less knowledgeable of the Faith than he should have been), is that it takes time to progress spiritually. No one, regardless of how little humility he/she has, becomes a model Catholic overnight. And, we all have room for improvement.
I have been married for 18 years to a man who had/has every quality of a "good Catholic", without the blessing of having been born into the Faith. By saying this I (and he would) admit the N.O. he was raised in was very deficient in depth of the Catholic Faith. Some of the "truths" he was taught were even contrary to the Church teachings. By the grace of God, I was exposed to the Faith since birth, although remaining Catholic has been a serious challenge and it has taken much commitment.
We have found that as our children grew older, the Catholic example shown by Mom and the kids, had an effect on Dad. He became more interested in learning about the Faith, more available to join us for daily Rosary, more fervent in his own prayer life. We attended Mass together (at first only because I asked him to), but once the children were old enough to receive Sacraments, he started to ask himself deeper questions. The children would ask him about the Faith (like children do), and he would want to be able to answer them according to the true doctrines. At first he did it just to support me (and probably he didn't want to give me the opportunity to have to "correct" his teaching), but eventually he wanted to learn for himself. Letting the children "lead" prayers and devotions in the home is a great way to teach them the Faith, so we did that alot. Over time Dad wanted to "lead". Eventually the Grace of God penetrated to cause him to act and speak and practice his Faith as a Catholic. Fifteen years into the marriage I was wondering if we would ever "get there." It is only within the past three years or so that the spiritual change is really, noticeable. I admit it has required me to grow spiritually as well.
We raise our children so that they go to Dad for the "answers", and Mom just backs up what Dad says. When the children were younger, they couldn't have detected our different "levels of commitment" to the Faith. I had to pray for much patience during this time, as I don't have the personality to look for "little wins" with an adult, especially when it comes to practicing the Faith. Many of our issues had to do with our lack of virtue individually, not with the Faith itself. And, I'm certain the devil wanted to drive a wedge between us. We went through a time when we couldn't talk about the Catholic Faith at all without arguing. By the Grace of God once more, we have had wonderful priests to do the educating and to provide the guidance. Every single sermon at that point seems to be given "just for you."
My point is, don't give up.....ever. Don't neglect your prayer life, and be firm with your children in learning the religion, even if sometimes it feels like you are doing alone. You won't be alone.....God is in complete control of the situation. He wants you and your husband to make it to heaven together, and you have the responsibility of doing your best to help get your children there too. God gave us His Blessed Mother to be our confidant when the going gets really tough. And, the lives of the Saints.....many more than just St. Monica prayed for a very long time.
Be assured of my prayers for you. I hope this helps.
Topic: Non - Catholic Husband (Read 4434 times)