Question about interfaith marriages that involve kids (specifically Jewish & Catholic)

If you or someone you know has an interfaith marriage and kids, would you mind sharing how they are raising their children?

Are they choosing 1 religion so the kid/s will have some kind of religious instruction? Or are they raising the kid/s with the knowledge of both religions, but are not sending them to any kind of religious instruction?

Thanks!

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Re: Question about interfaith marriages that involve kids (specifically Jewish & Catholic)

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Posted by stephanielyse

I don't know any interfaith couples who are raising kids, but I'm Jewish and FH isn't and I know lots of people who have one Jewish and one Christian parent (don't we all). From what I've observed (and I don't claim to be any kind of expert) kids who are raised to respect both religions tend to become 'not anything' when they get older, they'll have a Christmas tree and maybe a menorah, but that's about it.
FH and I have discussed it and if we have kids, we will be raising them Jewish - they'll go to Hebrew school, get Bar/Bat Mitzvahed, etc. He wasn't raised in a very religious home and doesn't have any ties to the church and is really getting into Judaism the more he learns about it, so he is fine with all of that, so long as we can have a Christmas tree, just for the tradition of it. So we'll have a small tree each year and decorate it, but otherwise will have a Jewish home.
Did I go off on a tangent?

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you didn't go off on a tangent at ALL! thank you for your response

it totally makes sense.

Re: Question about interfaith marriages that involve kids (specifically Jewish & Catholic)

My dad is Jewish and my mom Catholic. I was raised learning about both religions and celebrating all holidays. When I was 18 I decided to chose Catholism on my own because my parents got divorced. That was the religion that I was raised with during the later part of my teenage years.

I think the children should be exposed to both religions let them chose what the feel most comfortable with when they get older.

Re: Question about interfaith marriages that involve kids (specifically Jewish & Catholic)

Most of my friends with interfaith marriages are either one or the other, but celebrate both. Sounds odd, I know.

Re: Question about interfaith marriages that involve kids (specifically Jewish & Catholic)

That is what we have decided to do. I am praying he never takes back his assurances that we will raise our children Jewish. It is very important to me and I think he understood that if he wasnt willing to agree to that, then I was not sure if I could marry him. My grandparents are both holocaust survivors and I am very tied to the religion. We will have a tree and he will eat corned beef and cabbage but our children will go to Hebrew school and get bar mitzvahed.
It frightens me to think that our children would be raised any other way, it is really too much a part of me. FI never goes to church and he only keeps lent and celebrates xmas with presents and his family does say grace. So lets hope this works.
My only real problem right now is that he has not made it clear to his family how we are choosing raise our children and I know that when they find out all hell will break loose.
Sigh.

Re: Question about interfaith marriages that involve kids (specifically Jewish & Catholic)

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Posted by LisaJill

We will have a tree and he will eat corned beef and cabbage but our children will go to Hebrew school and get bar mitzvahed.

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LOL, My family's all Jewish, but my parents eat Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick's day!

Growing up, the only interfaith families I knew were raising the kids basically one or the other, and in most cases it went by the religion of the mother. I knew one case where the father eventually converted to Judaism. The kids who were raised Christian rarely knew much about their Jewish roots, and came to *me* for answers, because their dads didn't know!

My personal opinion is that if religion (as a general topic) is important to the parents, they should choose one to raise their children, yet make sure the kids are exposed to other faiths, so they can get an idea of what they like and don't like about each one. Make it so that it's not about presents and celebrations (because those are fun no matter what), but of actual belief structures. I have a friend who is pagan, but she's always said that when she has kids they're going to Temple with Aunt Rachel at least once (I CANNOT WAIT!).

Re: Question about interfaith marriages that involve kids (specifically Jewish & Catholic)