(Xenosjeff's Catholic wife has left him because he refused to let the kids go to Catholic school. I shortened the story a bit.)
I then told her that I knew she had lied and that I was not going to allow the further indoctronation of our kids into the RCC. I then asked her why she had ignored my plea to work together on this. Silence. I got mad and told her that she was a coward and a liar and had selfishly gone outside of her place in trying to control what was my responsibility. She is so full of pride but still so intentionally ignorant about the simplicity of the gospel. So she slept on the couch , got up and left early, came back after I had left for work and took her clothes and mary statue. When I got home from work I found she had gone. She is at her parents (next door) and has the kids with her. She says that she is taking "one day at a time". Both kids are worried and sad.
It is my honest belief that I was wrong for getting mad and trying to "Lay down the law" but I told her nothing but the truth about what she had done. Her only way out since she has no biblical basis was to try and punish me with her leaving and taking the kids. She is on a false high power trip right now. She says the only way to make this go away is let her be catholic and let her teach the kids her faith.
I have her threats and punk behavior pointed right at my head. She has turned my life into a weapon to be used against me.
So, is this abandonment? Am I paying the price for speaking the truth to her?
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Assuming that this guy is telling the truth, I'd say that they are both equally horrible parents, based on their willingness to use their own children as pawns in a ridiculous mini-jihad between two nearly identical sects of christianity.
"I got mad and told her that she was a coward and a liar and had selfishly gone outside of her place in trying to control what was my responsibility. She is so full of pride but still so intentionally ignorant about the simplicity of the gospel."
Jeez. I see why she left. You are an arrogant prick who doesn't have a good word to say about her.
"She is on a false high power trip right now. She says the only way to make this go away is let her be catholic and let her teach the kids her faith."
That's hardly a power trip. If you want otherwise (don't want to let the mother have a chance to teach the kids about Catholicism and don't want your wife to remain a Catholic) then you are the one on a power trip.
And, then you cry persecution. Of course.
Nope, you're paying the price for being a complete wanker jeff.
Now go to the bathroom, pull some toilet tissue into your hand and please, don't breed again.
This actually sounds like a genuine dilemma- but maybe if they weren't both so set in their own ways they would be able to sort something out.
One person's "false high power trip" is another person's God.
Whatever happened to the "good ol' days" *COUGH, HACK, WHEEZE*, when non-Catholics were forced to convert before marrying a Catholic, then stuck with wedding vows that ensure the kids are raised Catholic?
Another prime example of someone who's eyes are so heavenward, he forgets he lives on the earth. Raising children should have been something you should discuss with your future spouse long before you married. Additionally, if you are so blind and arrogant as to allow something like this to cause your marriage to fall apart, I think it's safe to say that you don't understand the concept of compromise.
Just a random thought here... could there be the even remotest chance that the mom thought a private school (which, unless things have changed, Catholic Schools are private still aren't they?) might be better than a public one?
I'm just throwing that out there.
During their petty squabblings, the fundie parents completely forget about that which they are trying to protect - their brood.
Guh. Is it bad that I imagined the above said in David Attenborough's voice?
I actually get the feeling that guy married her soley to make her turn away from Christianity and become...a Christian.
Either way, "Me, me, me, she's so selfish!" is not a good defense. I'd make fun of her as well, but she doesn't seem to be saying anything to the death cult.
I wouldn't be so quick to say the wife is a fundie, I really doubt he's giving us the real story here.
I can see the wife wanting the kids to be exposed to both religions or at least not objecting to him telling them about his faith too if there was an agreement to raise them catholic. Then the husband comes up with the idea that because he has a cock what he says goes.
The kids also stand a far better chance being raised catholic than members of the rapture retards cult. Most Catholics I know are pretty normal.
Personally, I gotta side with the wife on this one... yeah, Catholocism isn't GREAT... but I know some very awesome Catholics, like a few of my relatives.
And anything is better than this dipshit.
As a Catholic married to a non-Catholic (assuming she's practicing), she's obliged to raise the children as Catholic. I believe the rules have relaxed somewhat since my parents married, but the non-Catholic spouse used to have to take a vow not to interfere in the religious upbringing of the children.
Nearly 30 years after my mother overheard one careless comment to my then-toddler self, my father still doesn't mention religion even though he must know I now agree with him! Devout Catholics take this shit seriously.
EDIT: Not saying this is right, just that he really shouldn't be looking surprised...
Oh, the irony - don't you see, you're hating her for treating you the exact same way you treat her! From the sound of it, you're both inflexible, dogmatic idiots, each trying to force insane, insignificant delusions on the other!
Moqing Bird said ""As a Catholic married to a non-Catholic (assuming she's practicing), she's obliged to raise the children as Catholic. "
But doesn't the catholic church also require that wives obey their husbands?
Oh man, I just love it when one fundie calls the other fundie's religion invalid! And how the hell did her parents' let him marry her if they didn't marry in a Catholic church and he didn't convert?
If my boyfriend ever tried to "lay down the law" with me, after recovering from the uppercut to the jaw, he'd see my smoke trails from booking it the hell out of there.
EDIT: to NoAstronomer, I believe that the family religion is reserved to the wife, even though she's supposed to be "obedient." I know in the Jewish faith that the wifes religion also trumps the husbands. I believe it is because the women are charged with the upbringing of the children so that's the one little bit of leeway they get.
Knowing RR fundies, this guy issue may be that the wife simply wants the kids to go at school, rather than being homeschooled.
And, seriously, the Catholics may have problems, but at least treat other christians as "brothers in Christs", unlike fringe freaks at RR, who treat catholics as if they were child-sacrificing pagans.
Or, is she paying the price for speaking the truth to you? She has just as strong biblical basis as you do. Get off your high horses and rejoice in the kids going to a Christian school. At least it's not public school, right?
I bet she's had a taste of "working together on this" before, were you just told her what to do, and she was fed up with that kind of "working together".
The kids are worried and sad because you to are bickering like, well, kids.
>>Xotan
If you married a Catholic in good standing with her church (no reason given to suppose the case was otherwise), then you would have had to give a promise that the kids would be brought up as Catholics. <<
That is not entirely correct.
What you have stated is roughly the content of the decree "Ne Temere", issued by Pope Pius X in 1907. It was superseded by Pope Paul VI in the letter "Matrimonia Mixta" in 1970.
While Catholics who are married to non-Catholics are encouraged to present their children for baptism, and to educate them in the faith, the Church no longer imposes any penalty for not doing so.
The Holy See adapts. Slowly, but it does adapt.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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