My parents are Hindu. I am trying to figure out a way to tell my family that I am in love with a Catholic girl. How do I go about it in the best way?

The Constitution declares India to be a "sovereign socialist secular democratic republic".

But often people use Secularism and secularization which are ntirely different(What is the difference between secularism and secularization?)

• Secularization is the change of society from close recognizable proof with religious qualities and organizations toward nonreligious qualities and secular organizations.
• Secularism is the guideline of the partition of government organizations and individuals ordered to represent the place from religious dignitaries and religious establishments.

[Catholics and Catholicism as topics,hence answering from that perspective]

Marriage is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. As such, it is a supernatural institution, as well as a natural one. The Church, therefore, restricts sacramental marriage to men and women who meet certain requirements.

In order to get married in the Catholic Church, one must be:

• A Baptized Christian

Both partners do not have to be a Catholic in order to be sacramentally married in the Catholic Church, but both must be baptized Christians (and at least one must be a Catholic). Non-Christians cannot receive the sacraments.

For a Catholic to marry a non-Catholic Christian, express permission is required from his or her bishop. A Catholic can marry an unbaptized person, but such marriages are natural marriages only; they are not sacramental marriages. The Church, therefore, discourages them and requires a Catholic who wishes to marry an unbaptized person to receive a special dispensation from his or her bishop. Still, if the dispensation is granted, a non-sacramental marriage is valid and can take place inside of a Catholic church.

When such a non- sacramental marriage takes place the said marriage can only take place before or after the IIS7 can never be during the mass which happens when a sacramental marriage takes place.There are unconfirmed rumours that some priests have conducted the marriage ceremonty of a non sacramental marriage during a mass since the persons involved were influential persons.

The fact remains that if such a thing has happened it should be reported immediately to the concerned higher ups since in the house of god no influence should normally work.

Today a number of persons are opting for mixed marriages.Due to various pressures and in order to be eligible for property they opt for various ceremonies.First they have a catholic ceremony and then they have a non catholic ceremony.

What is the effect of having both the ceremonies?

To be eligible for marriage as per the Hindu Marriage Act both the parties have to be hindus.Herebelow is an extract of the said act for ready reference.

The Hindu Marriage Act,1955

1. Short title and extent.-

(1) This Act may be called the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir1 , and applies also to Hindus domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends who are outside the said territories.

Thus it would mean that a person has to be converted and if already married as per Hindu rites and rituals it would be deemed that the person is converted.Hence if a person has a hindu ceremony besides a catholic one it means that they are converted to Hinduism. So also if a hindu becomes a non hindu he/she loses his right to family property as per Hindu law.

What is the effect of Marriage under the Special Marriage Act?

Effect of marriage on member of undivided family- The marriage solemnized under this Act of any member of an undivided family who professes the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina religion shall be deemed to effect his severance from such family and thus would lose all family property rights.

What does Canon law say?

Can. 1108 §1. Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local ordinary, pastor, or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and before two witnesses according to the rules expressed in the following canons and without prejudice to the exceptions mentioned in can. ⇒ 144, ⇒ 1112, §1, ⇒1116, and ⇒ 1127, §§1-2.

Can. 1125 The local ordinary can grant a permission of this kind if there is a just and reasonable cause. He is not to grant it unless the following conditions have been fulfilled:

1/ the Catholic party is to declare that he or she is prepared to remove dangers of defecting from the faith and is to make a sincere promise to do all in his or her power so that all offspring are baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church;

Can. 1127 §1. The prescripts of ⇒ can. 1108 are to be observed for the form to be used in a mixed marriage.

§3. It is forbidden to have another religious celebration of the same marriage to give or renew matrimonial consent before or after the canonical celebration according to the norm of §1.

Formerly it was mandatory for the children to be baptized as catholics.

Canon 1127 forbids any other type of religious celebration of the same Sito in costruzione is rumoured that some priests have even attended the said celebration. If priests have participated then such type of participation by the priest is totally wrong and goes against the fabric of canon law.

Thus If any person has both the ceremonies he/she ceases to be a Catholic. Do you know of some persons who have opted for both ceremonies? It is your duty as a catholic to tell them and the Church the truth.

………………………………..

The Catholic Church teaches that if a Catholic were to marry a non-Catholic, both parties must promise to raise the children Catholic. That is the hard truth to deal with here. If both parties do not promise this and they "marry" outside the Church, it would be an invalid marriage. That would mean, objectively, the sin of perpetual fornication and estrangement from Christ in the Eucharist.

If you both were to promise to raise the children Catholic, their is a serious obligation to do so. Even so, the marriage would be valid, but not sacramental. This is because both parties are not baptized, and the sacramental flow of grace from one to the other would not be present.
It would be considered a valid natural marriage but a non-sacramental one.

 Taking all of this into consideration, although the Church rightly discourages such mixed marriages and for very good reasons, she does not forbid them.

[So in simple terms it depends on whether you could make your parents accept to raise the children Catholic.

If it is not possible, the girl will no longer be a Catholic. So the issue don’t exist at all.]

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church
2. Does a Catholic who gets married in the Church as well as performs a Hindu Marriage remain a catholic?