Catholic and Pagan marriage?

This is really interesting! I'm Catholic, and I know that there are a lot of similarities between the rituals practiced in both of those faiths; however, most Catholics will denounce paganism entirely, so I'm interested to see how you too work this out.

My best friend and one of my BMs is a devout pagan and she is very in to nature, etc. I would just take turns practicing and getting to know one another's faiths as much as possible until you're comfortable with all aspects of practicing. Good luck and good job on being open minded!

I marry plenty of them.

@Rae: We have been together for 9 years, which he likes to point out is longer then most married couples make it now a days. You are right there are a ton of similarities between the rituals in not only the Catholic faith and paganism but all of Christian faith a paganism.

My FH and I are Pagan, though he is still kind of in the discovery phase I suppose. I've been a practicing Pagan (Druid, to be specific) for almost ten years. One of my BM's and dearest friends is Catholic and seems to be enjoying watching a Pagan wedding being planned. If you want, shoot me a pm and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Hi Heather, I was actually raised Epsicoplian, which is very similar to Catholic and my FH is Pagan. Although my religious beliefs aren't that extreme, somewhat laxed his Pagan beliefs are. The wedding ceremony certain things have to be met for him and I'm fine with that. For example, we have to open the circle, enter from the East, the calling of the Gods/Goddess, etc. Our entire ceremony is Celtic/Pagan. And to me I see absolutely no problems with this.

FH was raised catholic, so I can understand where the concerns will be. But it can be done. Your ceremony can be combined and the raising of children can also be combined without any problem.

@Kimm I wish we could join the Catholic and pagan ceremony together but because for my Irish Catholic grandfather and Spanish Catholic grandmother they are vary much faction catholic we are going two different ceremonies.

I'm non practicing Wiccan. FH is non practicing Baptist, as in he doesn't attend church and he doesn't pray at the drop of a hat or even at meals. I think the biggest struggle is probably the kids ask a question that deserves a scientific answer, which I give them, and then he wants to say, "Because that's how God made it." When he gets going on his creationist kick, I just ignore him. When I know the scientific answer, the kids get it. They go to church with his aunt & uncle sometimes. He gets a bit twitchy, but keeps his mouth shut when I choose to wear one of my pentagrams. Other than that, we are peachy keen.

I can't help thinking of how my "bible thumping everyone is going to hell" sister would handle a Catholic/Pagan wedding. I can't even think of how many times she has told me that I'm going to hell. (Good thing I don't believe in hell.)

Then again, she has taught her children that Catholicism is the same as being Pagan because of the saints and angels.

We are having a mixed faith marriage (Jewish/Catholic) and I had to tell her if she couldn't respect my FIL's faith then she didn't need to come.

Cynthis...LMAO@Catholics being pagans because of saints and angels.

I am a practicing Catholic and a certified teacher of Catholocism. You are very right when you say many of our traditions were taken from the pagans the early Christians converted to Catholicism. Most of the traditions were important to the populations Paul and Peter converted, so to except the early Christians, exceptions had to be made. Paul understood this. Sometimes, Peter had difficulties.

In addition, there are many Jewish traditions whose routes can be directly traced to paganism.

I have to tell you it is interesting explaining to non-Catholics, that we don't in fact worship statues, etc. I wish you luck in your marriage and raising your children. My (step)son is atheist and our two grandsons are being raised atheist. My thoughts are truly, to each his own.

My FH is a Catholic and up until Saturday I was an unbaptized person/never associated with religion. Throughout dating my FH I went to Mass with him and decided on my own to go through the RCIA Program. I just completed all three Sacraments at the Easter Vigil on Saturday so I am officially baptized, confirmed, and can get communion.

Had I not chosen on my own, my FH would have never pressured me to become Catholic. That being said, if I hadn't, I would still raise our future children Catholic because that is the wishes of my FH and his family. My parents wanted me to choose my own religion when I was old enough so that is why I wasn't baptized.

I think it can be done as long as the Catholic isn't a strict Catholic, IMO. Best of Luck! Have either of you thought about converting?

I will more then likely be converting by my own will, But not before our wedding in june there will be to much drama if i do so, it will cause problems with my grandparents and i don't want that. we have kept the whole pagan thing under wraps from them because they won't handle it well being devout Catholics. But I have been reading about paganism and am starting to think it is the right path for me.

Thank you ladies for the kind words and support

@ Honey- welcome to Catholic faith

@ Heather- religion is a personal decision and you should do what you are comfortable with.

I know it's a personal decision and i have thought a lot about it over the past few years and we have talked about things like if i would ever join him in a circle or rituals and i have said yes and also about how we are going to raise our kids when we have them. I just want to lean about the faith i really feel as though i am meant to learn about it and find a path in it.

I am catholic and my FH is Buddhist. Because you cansee Buddhism as a philosophy of life as well, and not only as a religion, we agreed that our children will follow the catholic religion but will also learn about Buddhism as a philosophy of life. Once they are grown up, they can decide what they want to do.

HOney....Congratulations!

I am a conservative Catholic. I believe when I Baptized my girls, I made a covenant with God that they be raised in our Faith, receive all sacraments, etc. They both attended Catholic schools for grade school and high school. Cate even attended a Catholic university. However, because my mother is not Catholic, I have chosen to teach my girls about all religions, including atheism. Cate is a conservative Catholic and embraces our faith. My youngest is still searching. To be honest, as long as my daughter made an educated and informed decision, I would be very happy if she chose a faith very different than Catholicism, or if she choice nothing at all.

The beauty of life is its rainbow of diversity in all realms.

Heather, now I completely understand why you can't combine the two at your wedding. But I'm sure there's some elements of both that you can do that no one would even question - if you so desired that is.

Personally I love how we have done the Pagan/Celtic ceremony as it is something that I have never see done before. It is truly something different and unique. Yet there are still some traditional elements about it.

@kimm: i wish i was easy for me to say here this is what i want and how it is going to be done. That has never been me though and in an effort to keep my mother happy and my grand parents in the dark about him being pagan be both decided early on that we would have both weddings, I promised him i'd never take what he believes in away from him, I have a friend who made another dress for the hand binding.

Hi Heather!
So I was looking for information on this situation myself, and this came up! I realize that this was posted several years ago, but I hope you see this. Funny enough, my name is Heather, and I am Catholic and my FH is Pagan! I would love to talk with you and see how you guys have grown as an interfaith couple!

FH is Catholic, I am pagan (small 'p' deliberate - I am unaffiliated with any organized group). We're having a Catholic wedding (pending completing precana).

The priest wasn't totally satisfied with my answer of, "the kids will get to choose and will be exposed to all religions", as he felt this needed more refining.

We live in the NYC metro area, I don't really see how much more refining it needs! All faiths are within our reach here, our friends are of many faiths or none, and I was raised with the simple mantra of "explain things to kids as they ask". If FH desires to take the kids to Mass, he can, but we will be explaining why Mommy doesn't go.

It's a complicated path, but you aren't at all alone.