The reality of dating a non-Catholic
From someone who dated a few and almost married one
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Will, my husband, is a convert to Catholicism. He converted while we were dating, though this decision was not because of our relationship (while that certainly was an avenue through which the Lord blessed him on his journey to the Church).
For the majority of our prior friendship, Will happily attended Anglican (ACNA) churches in the diocese he grew up in. He had many friends who shared this denomination with him, and for most of his life was never presented a compelling reason to leave this church.
It wasn’t until he moved to a small town far from home that the Lord led him to open his heart to the Church through a local Catholic Bible study. Honest conversations with Catholic friends who genuinely cared about him (and didn’t try to argue with him until he felt stupid!) led to greater openness to the Church. One day, the Holy Spirit gave him the gift of grace in understanding the truth that the Eucharist is the real, living, full Body of Christ given for us, as outlined in Catholic teaching. The rest is happy history.
Will was Anglican when we started dating, and while I hoped for his conversion, I knew I needed to let the Lord work in his own heart. I adopted the same posture with other non-Catholics I dated before him, as well as in cheering on the spiritual growth of Catholics I previously dated, too.
From my experience, the most important thing about dating someone who is not Catholic (as well as being friends and family members) is…