I'm Catholic, He's not

md.law.girl

Can I still get married in the Catholic Church if he isn't Catholic and has no intention to go through RICA? He's still Christian, just not Catholic. 

Tami87

Yes! He doesn't need to convert to get married in the Catholic church. However, you will both have to promise to be open to having children and raising them in the faith (this is part of the vows). For him this would mean no interfering with your efforts to raise the kids Catholic. So be sure you on the same page with your plans for the religious instruction of future children and are willing to make this promise.

professorscience

Absolutely!  You will probably be advised to have a wedding without mass, but you can totally get married.  I would say it's something you both really need to discuss before making any huge plans, because he will be asked to agree to support you in your faith and (essentially) to raise your children Catholic.

MobKaz

""Absolutely!  You will probably be advised to have a wedding without mass, but you can totally get married.""

You may be advised by some priests, but it is not necessarily the case.  My daughter's FI was not Catholic and they had a full nuptial Mass.  Vowing to raise the children in the Catholic church, IS, however, universal.

bibliophile2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_im-catholic-hes-not-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:828ee211-4710-41df-8380-53adc61a494bPost:5623d62a-4a09-4e1d-99e1-0523136b35b1">Re: I'm Catholic, He's not</a>:
[QUOTE]""Absolutely!  You will probably be advised to have a wedding without mass, but you can totally get married."" You may be advised by some priests, but it is not necessarily the case.  My daughter's FI was not Catholic and they had a full nuptial Mass.  Vowing to raise the children in the Catholic church, IS, however, universal.
Posted by mobkaz[/QUOTE]

If, for whatever reason, the second party is not baptized, then a full mass is always out of the question.

As others have said, the promise to raise children Catholic must be made by the Catholic party. The non-Catholic must only promise not to interfere. Both promise to raise children according to the laws of God and his Church in their vows, but those things leave some room for interpretation for the non-Catholic, who would be allowed to expose children to his/her faith.

MobKaz

Bibliophile.....I read this:  "He's still Christian, just not Catholic.", and I just immediately assumed/inferred he had been baptized.  Thanks for the clarification!

TeaForMe

I'm Catholic but my husband is not (raised in an Evangelical Covenant church). We had no issues whatesoever in having our wedding in the Catholic church. We did opt for a ceremony without mass (I personally felt it would be more welcoming/comfortble for his family who is used to a very different church service if we stuck with just the ceremony, but others may disagree that was not a good reason... just what seemed right to us). But it is my understanding that we could have if we had chosen to since he was baptized.

I also think during our preparations with priest, when we had to promise (verbally or written, I don't remember) to raise any children in the catholic faith, I was the only one who had to commit to it, which may have just been our priest at the time - a very old, very liberal and very unusual priest who was hard to read (he also told us there was a closed circuit camera with a direct line to the pope when he left us in a room to fill out our pre-marriage surveys )

professorscience

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_im-catholic-hes-not-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:828ee211-4710-41df-8380-53adc61a494bPost:5623d62a-4a09-4e1d-99e1-0523136b35b1">Re: I'm Catholic, He's not</a>:
[QUOTE]""Absolutely!  You will probably be advised to have a wedding without mass, but you can totally get married."" You may be advised by some priests, but it is not necessarily the case.  My daughter's FI was not Catholic and they had a full nuptial Mass.  Vowing to raise the children in the Catholic church, IS, however, universal.
Posted by mobkaz[/QUOTE]

<div>I did not say it was a requirement, I said it might be advised.  Many people will suggest having a wedding outside of mass when one of the parties is not Catholic, because the whole wedding should be unifying.  When one member of the couple is excluded from the Eucharist, it's not very unifying.  In fact, many people suggested to my husband and I that we have a wedding without mass because, while I am Catholic and he is Catholic, most of my family is not Catholic and many people thought they would feel left out.</div><div>
</div><div>ETA: My understanding of children is that the Catholic party has to pledge to teach the children the truth (my wording is probably off), and the non Catholic has to pledge not to interfere with that.</div>

[Deleted User]

Yes! I'm a Catholic convert getting married to an Atheist, and the priest and I will be the only Catholics in the room. Obviously, that situation calls for a wedding outside Mass, which is a very beautiful service indeed. Our priest has been very accommodating in creating a service that worked for both of us and also our families, who are Mormon. We asked our dads to choose our readings from among the given options, and they will be our readers as well.

My fiance has racked up tons of good sport points already by going through Engaged Encounter and all the marriage prep. He even sat down with my spiritual director and went through a few sessions in RCIA to get the lowdown on Catholicism. He's going to make a great hubby :-)

Hilraythebride

I am not Catholic and my FI is, we are going to have a full mass at our wedding.  He said he really wanted the mass and I thought it would be a really beautiful and yes unifying experience.  Althought I am not able to take the Eucharist, I think the prayers and readings during the mass will be very uplifting and unifying.

It is all a personal preferance though, everyone is sure to have different feelings on this.  After going to our Engaged Encounter this weekend, I think our wedding will be beautiful with a full mass.  I plan on converting to Catholisism just not before the wedding. We will be raising our children catholic but the timing isn't right for converting to Catholisism.