bradleesargent

My wife called my RCIA director and now the director of RCIA at Holy Cross tells me to listen to my wife. Instead of the RCIA director telling my wife to convert as well, she told me to listen to my wife. If I do that, I don't know if I'll ever become a Catholic. So what do I do now? I am thinking of trying the Maronite church.

Bradleesargent -

It may not help much, but you're not alone. We have a man at our church who was, for over 25 years, a Baptist preacher. Even growing up, he was groomed to be one, his wife's father was one as well. But he was also drawn to the Catholic church even then, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, wondering about the little red light (candle) above the tabernacle. Fast forward many years - he was very active in pro-life groups, said the rosary, and eventually converted to Catholicism. But his father-in-law came and took - took, mind you - his wife out of his house because he converted. Then at some point, his brother dies as well. He lost his family due to his new faith.

I don't have answers; I do have humble prayers. Pray hard, brother.

My wife told me if I go to the Catholic church, she will get me fired from my job and divorce me

Bradlee, don't lose hope or courage. Is your wife specifically anti-Catholic, or is she just unhappy with you as a couple no longer being "equally yoked" once you convert? Catholic churches have the Saturday evening services and you could attend church "for you", then join your family at the family church on Sunday "for the family". You don't take communion there, but it won't hurt you to listen to the Bible (again) or sing a hymn praising God (again). This practice has worked well for us. (And kudos to my husband being accepting of me returning to the Catholic church; I was Protestant when I married him.) Right now, it seems that God is inviting YOU to be the family Catholic. He may not plan that for your family at this time.

I was really excited about attending and joining the Catholic church, but then I realized that it would break my family into pieces and I would end up going to church by myself for the rest of my life without my family with me, and my wife was getting very angry at me for good reason, since, she said, I was destroying our marriage and family by trying to become Catholic. So I lost hope and stopped going to Mass and RCIA, and now, I feel stuck and hopeless, because my brain is still stuck in Catholic mode.