ASIA – Married couples of different faiths: a growing phenomenon, an opportunity for dialogue and love
Bangkok (Agenzia Fides) – Interreligious marriage is a complex reality and a growing phenomenon in Asia. It should not be demonized, but requires specific pastoral attention, because it represents an opportunity for a dialogue of words, love and life. This is affirmed by the Movement of Christian Families (MFC), a network of small family groups which, placing the Gospel of Jesus Christ at the center, live the spirituality of the couple and of family life in Asian countries. such as India and the Philippines (where it originated in 1956) and many other nations on the continent.
At the Movement’s recent Asian Convention, held at the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Bangkok, attended by over 100 delegates from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar , the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, the focus was on interreligious dialogue in family life, with a reflection that, given the pluralistic societies of Asia, aimed to understand how to build bridges with people and communities of other faiths, starting with family life.
What are known in the jargon of the Catholic Church as “mixed marriages” (between a Catholic spouse and a baptized non-Catholic spouse) or marriages “with religious disparity” (between a Catholic spouse and a spouse who follows a other religious creed) are seen as “opportunities given by the Holy Spirit for a humble, reverent, yet ever eloquent witness to the Christian faith”. By discovering and living the Christian foundations of interreligious dialogue in tradition, scripture and Church documents, families born of such unions can “build mutual respect and understanding between spouses of different faiths, and live and to prosper the mission of the Christian family in Asia”.
The Congress noted that the growing phenomenon of marriages between Catholics and people of other faiths is a sensitive issue. In Bangladesh, inter-religious marriages with a Catholic spouse represent around 12% of the total, and the figure is similar in Pakistan, where there is also a phenomenon of “forced marriage” with the abduction of young Christian girls. The trend is very strong in Sri Lanka, where 70% of marriages in the Diocese of Galle, for example, are between Catholics and Buddhists. In other contexts, such as Myanmar, marriages between Buddhists, Christians and Muslims are still taboo for cultural reasons. Father Michael Peters, an Indian theologian who has studied intermarriage in several dioceses in southern India, confirmed that “such marriages are constantly on the increase in India” and that the Indian Church “is open to support for couples in this situation”.
According to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, anthropologically and sociologically, this trend is the result of the technological revolution which, in recent years, has generated radical changes in the way young people build their interpersonal relationships and also their couple relationships. . The new technological tools contribute greatly to the growth of mixed and culturally unequal marriages in Asian countries. Furthermore, in pluralistic societies, work environments are created which bring together thousands of young people from different backgrounds and allow them to interact. “In this scenario, young people fall in love, and religion and faith matter less,” notes Peters. If these couples bring “great wealth to the Church”, they also pose difficulties, especially in countries where religious affiliation has implications in civil law. In India, for example, different religions have their own laws and customs that govern matters relating to family life, such as marriage, divorce and inheritance.
Whereas in the past the Churches of Asia discouraged mixed marriages, these relations are today generally authorized, subject to a dispensation granted by the bishop – as provided for in canon law – provided that the couples agree to raise their children according to the Catholic faith and that the Catholic spouse can continue to practice the faith. Often, the main obstacle to intermarriage or culturally unequal marriage is the parents and relatives of the couple, who are not open to this type of marriage.
The priest or parish priest, the congress notes, are called upon to provide specific pastoral assistance to families whose marriages present religious disparities, since there are sometimes cases where the unbaptized spouse refuses the Church’s conditions for the celebration. marriages and refuses to have children baptized. Or, some unbaptized partners agree to the terms initially, then reject them after marriage. Moreover, if the Catholic spouse is a woman, the chances of raising children according to her faith are slim, especially in India and other countries where the society has a patriarchal structure.
How, then, will this spouse and the whole Catholic community deal with a situation where the child follows the religion of the unbaptized partner? This is why the Movement of Christian Families has noted the need and reiterated its commitment to accompany spouses in post-marital encounters, to help the Catholic partner of a marriage with religious disparity to continue to practice the faith, and to help couples to build their bonds and to live in mutual respect and love. Parishes and local communities should invite couples to “fraternal meetings”, listen to them and help them solve their problems.
The Asian convention expressed the wish that the diocesan family commissions, in the different nations, develop means of caring for these families, by helping the spouses to understand each other, to respect the freedom of the other, to understand and to adopt the moral values of their respective traditions.
The phenomenon of mixed and culturally unequal marriages in Asia – it has been observed – is part of the general crisis in which the institution of marriage also finds itself on the Asian continent. In Thailand, 40% of marriages end in divorce, and for young Catholics, it is very rare for a Catholic to share the same faith as their partner. Since 2005, according to data from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, the overall divorce rate has increased in most Asia-Pacific countries, and by around 25% on average in the region. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 22/11/2022)
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