<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><span style='color:red'>Interfaith marriage 'painful but gratifying' experience, says convert </span>
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (UCAN) -- When Vishwalingam Visagaran married Celine Fernandez, no challenge seemed too big for the Hindu groom and Catholic bride. Â
However, 16 years and two children later, their life remains challenging.
"Interreligious differences have taken a toll on us as a couple, but God has certainly been with us in our struggles and seen us through," Vishwalingam, now a Catholic, told participants attending the Asian Mission Congress, taking place Oct. 18-22 in Chiang Mai, about 700 kilometers north of Bangkok.
The more than 1,000 congress attendees, all but about 50 of them from Asia, are discussing The Story of Jesus in Asia: A Celebration of Faith and Life.
Vishwalingam and Celine were among five people who shared their faith experiences before the assembly on Oct. 19. Vishwalingam, whose Sri Lankan mother settled in Malaysia, narrated how he went from a staunchly traditional Hindu background to become a devout Catholic with the baptismal name Lawrence.
It all began when he met Celine while studying chemical engineering at a Malaysian university. "I fell in love with her instantly," he said.
However, religious differences and the need to uphold his family's reputation put him in a dilemma, he said, and his mother was planning to get him married to "a typical Sri Lankan Hindu girl on whom she could depend."
Much to his mother's displeasure, Vishwalingam followed his heart and married Celine. His family saw her as a threat because they never expected "an obedient son" to make "such a bold and drastic decision" and marry a Catholic.
On the other hand, he "truly loved" Celine and hoped to reconcile with his family some day. "It seemed so simple then, but the situation got worse after the marriage," Vishwalingam lamented.
His mother and his wife could not forgive each other for the hurts they endured, he said, and when his wife could not "give me the kind of support I had expected," he began to lose hope. Celine also suffered two miscarriages.
Despite all that, Vishwalingam freely chose to become a Catholic five years after he and Celine married because "I believe in Jesus Christ." But his conversion to Catholicism further alienated his family because they could not understand why he did so and "they hated my wife all the more."
His story helped illustrate for the congress attendees the trauma sometimes involved in interreligious dialogue. For example, he said the first question Celine asked when they fell in love was whether he would become a Catholic. Her question did not upset him, he pointed out, because he knew she had come from a conservative Catholic family. "But what I did not understand," he continued, "was the need for me to convert because I was not a bad person."
He attended classes on the Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults for some time, but soon gave it up because he found it quite confusing. He said that the stress of the course was more on teaching doctrine than on helping him understand how to translate it in actual life.
Then came the miscarriages. One day, a woman at the church told Vishwalingam that his wife would have a child if he "totally" surrendered to Christ.
He said he could never understand what he had to surrender. Besides, he had developed a personal relation with Lord Krishna, a Hindu deity, and believed that Krishna, like Christ, was an incarnation of God.
As his personal problems grew, however, he began to understand the meaning of Christ's suffering and his willingness to forgive people who hurt him. "That touched me because I was also undergoing the worst situation in my life," he said. Only then, he added, did he understand Christ and his message, and decided to surrender totally to Jesus, and this helped him develop a "very personal relation" with Christ.
He acknowledged he has faced a lot of temptations and sometimes succumbed to them but he asserted that he will never abandon Jesus Christ. Christian life is a continuous struggle to live Christ's message, he said.
In hindsight, Vishwalingam said, it was God's plan that he meet Celine and face all those trials. "God used all those incidents to bring me closer to him," he said. His experience was "painful but gratifying," he concluded, and he would do the same again under similar circumstances.
Celine later told UCA News she insisted on bringing up their children in a "totally Catholic" atmosphere because she believes that is her obligation as a parent. She said she would allow the children to live how they wish after they become adults. If they choose another religion when they reach that stage, she said she would not object, <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>provided they have valid reasons</span>.
http://www.theindiancatholic.com/newsread.asp?nid=4046
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
When he fell in love, the lady asked this guy if he will convert. And look at his reaction, he is sympathetic!! <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo-->
This is what happens if you raise your children as pseudo-Hindus.
She will raise their children in a "totally catholic" environment but "ALLOW" them to choose another religion... if they had <span style='color:red'>VALID REASONS!!! </span>
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (UCAN) -- When Vishwalingam Visagaran married Celine Fernandez, no challenge seemed too big for the Hindu groom and Catholic bride. Â
However, 16 years and two children later, their life remains challenging.
"Interreligious differences have taken a toll on us as a couple, but God has certainly been with us in our struggles and seen us through," Vishwalingam, now a Catholic, told participants attending the Asian Mission Congress, taking place Oct. 18-22 in Chiang Mai, about 700 kilometers north of Bangkok.
The more than 1,000 congress attendees, all but about 50 of them from Asia, are discussing The Story of Jesus in Asia: A Celebration of Faith and Life.
Vishwalingam and Celine were among five people who shared their faith experiences before the assembly on Oct. 19. Vishwalingam, whose Sri Lankan mother settled in Malaysia, narrated how he went from a staunchly traditional Hindu background to become a devout Catholic with the baptismal name Lawrence.
It all began when he met Celine while studying chemical engineering at a Malaysian university. "I fell in love with her instantly," he said.
However, religious differences and the need to uphold his family's reputation put him in a dilemma, he said, and his mother was planning to get him married to "a typical Sri Lankan Hindu girl on whom she could depend."
Much to his mother's displeasure, Vishwalingam followed his heart and married Celine. His family saw her as a threat because they never expected "an obedient son" to make "such a bold and drastic decision" and marry a Catholic.
On the other hand, he "truly loved" Celine and hoped to reconcile with his family some day. "It seemed so simple then, but the situation got worse after the marriage," Vishwalingam lamented.
His mother and his wife could not forgive each other for the hurts they endured, he said, and when his wife could not "give me the kind of support I had expected," he began to lose hope. Celine also suffered two miscarriages.
Despite all that, Vishwalingam freely chose to become a Catholic five years after he and Celine married because "I believe in Jesus Christ." But his conversion to Catholicism further alienated his family because they could not understand why he did so and "they hated my wife all the more."
His story helped illustrate for the congress attendees the trauma sometimes involved in interreligious dialogue. For example, he said the first question Celine asked when they fell in love was whether he would become a Catholic. Her question did not upset him, he pointed out, because he knew she had come from a conservative Catholic family. "But what I did not understand," he continued, "was the need for me to convert because I was not a bad person."
He attended classes on the Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults for some time, but soon gave it up because he found it quite confusing. He said that the stress of the course was more on teaching doctrine than on helping him understand how to translate it in actual life.
Then came the miscarriages. One day, a woman at the church told Vishwalingam that his wife would have a child if he "totally" surrendered to Christ.
He said he could never understand what he had to surrender. Besides, he had developed a personal relation with Lord Krishna, a Hindu deity, and believed that Krishna, like Christ, was an incarnation of God.
As his personal problems grew, however, he began to understand the meaning of Christ's suffering and his willingness to forgive people who hurt him. "That touched me because I was also undergoing the worst situation in my life," he said. Only then, he added, did he understand Christ and his message, and decided to surrender totally to Jesus, and this helped him develop a "very personal relation" with Christ.
He acknowledged he has faced a lot of temptations and sometimes succumbed to them but he asserted that he will never abandon Jesus Christ. Christian life is a continuous struggle to live Christ's message, he said.
In hindsight, Vishwalingam said, it was God's plan that he meet Celine and face all those trials. "God used all those incidents to bring me closer to him," he said. His experience was "painful but gratifying," he concluded, and he would do the same again under similar circumstances.
Celine later told UCA News she insisted on bringing up their children in a "totally Catholic" atmosphere because she believes that is her obligation as a parent. She said she would allow the children to live how they wish after they become adults. If they choose another religion when they reach that stage, she said she would not object, <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>provided they have valid reasons</span>.
http://www.theindiancatholic.com/newsread.asp?nid=4046
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
When he fell in love, the lady asked this guy if he will convert. And look at his reaction, he is sympathetic!! <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo-->
This is what happens if you raise your children as pseudo-Hindus.
She will raise their children in a "totally catholic" environment but "ALLOW" them to choose another religion... if they had <span style='color:red'>VALID REASONS!!! </span>