Help Me, Jacksonville's Catholic Ladies! (Or Anyone Who's Married in a Catholic Church)

whitneyface

This is my first post here, so first off, hello!

Okay, now down to business. My fiance is Catholic and I am not. Though I've been baptized in the Baptist church I am no longer religious and consider myself agnostic. It's important to my partner that we get married in a Catholic church, but he doesn't have a connection to any churches in Jacksonville, since he lives out of state. And country, but that's not important.

I'm contacting a couple churches near me, but I thought if anyone here knew of churches with priests who are comfortable performing interfaith marriages. It's hard to tell, as I believe the majority do, but I'd really love a ceremony that's as open and affirming to both of us as possible.

I've read some horror stories online about priests who didn't seem to respect or even directly address the non-Catholic partner during pre-marital counseling, churches that severely limited the choices the couple could make regarding the Biblical passages that were read, etc. I know there's a flexible church out there (just like I'm trying to be flexible), and I just thought maybe someone here might have a great suggestion.

Thank you for your time!

megguinness

try St Catherine's in orange Park or St Luke's in Middleburg... I havent been to either one in a few years but I remember them both being relaxed... good luck to you

whitneyface

Thank you for your help, I'll check them out!

LouWho19

We have a weird situation because we attend one church (St. Pauls in Jax Beach) and are getting married in another (Basilica in St. Augustine) and our first priest moved, but I will say that we've had good experiences with the diocese. We happen to both be Catholic, but when we went on the Engaged Encounter weekend, most of the couples there were interfaith and I thought they addressed that openly and were very respectful. Just my two cents that I think you'll be pretty respectfully by the diocese!

Out of curiosity, are you willing to raise your children Catholic?

amandacardoza

Try Mary Queen of Heaven in Orange Park.  Father Denis is a fairly new priest.  He just was ordained about 5 years ago....had a wife and children prior to him becoming a priest.  He has always been very easy to talk to and has gone the extra mile for my family.  I was going to go to the engaged encounter (It's like $200-300 for the weekend) but I read you have to room with a stranger of the same sex instead of your partner and that kind of freaked me out.  I will be attending some one on one classes though with Father Denis and we're going to go from there.  My fiance was raised Catholic (and so was I) so it is a little easier, but we have a child which puts a kink in the grand scheme.  Good luck to you though hope this helped....keep us posted!