40. Accept people as they are

Dear Father,

Hi. Previously on April 3, Father Vincent and some other ones came to our church in Sacramento and I was there to tinh tam, and one thing you guys said got me curious. You guys said that we should be able to love everybody and accept them for who they are. If so, then why do people have to convert into being catholics once they're married, that's not exactly accepting them for who they are if you make them convert now is it? Please email me back with an answer, that would be great. Thank you and have a nice day.

Answer:

My dear lil sis/bro.

Thanks for listening and asking question.

Here's what I mean by "accepting people as they are."

If you ask your friend to go out for ice cream, bowling, seeing a movie, partying, or clubbing and he/she refuses your invitation… but you still consider him/her as your friend, then I call that love and "accepting them as they are."

Same thing to marriage. In marriage, the Church asks people to join the Catholic Church when they marry. They can refuse and the Church still blesses their marriage. There is no "Force," no "Must"… because force is not right and won't do any good to marriage.

Why do the Church ask them to join Catholic when they marry? There are many reasons to it. One is "compatibility." That is, the more the couple agrees with one another the better the relationship. Religion does play a BIG PART in their lives. If they are different in religion, then it's just very difficult for them to be faithful with their own religion if not sacrificing their time for one another, and vice versa… I mean you have to skip Sunday mass or Feastday to go to different churches or pagoda with him/her, or you have to sacrifice time with one another if you decide to go to Church while he/she does something else…

I hope you understand what I mean… Don’t hesitate to drop me another question if this is not clear.

In Christ,