Interfaith question??

vicky7139

So we have not had our baby yet...but I am a planner and trying to look into interfaith traditions for our Team Green baby.  If we have a boy, we would like to respect my husband's Jewish faith by giving our baby a bris/naming ceremony and if its a girl we would do a naming (both at our home).  I am Catholic and my family and I would like to honor the tradition of baptising the child (no matter the gender.) 

As far as future ceremonies, I think that after infancy we will be exposing our child to both faiths and allowing them to choose their own path.  Neither of us are extremely religious, however the traditions are important to us and our respective families.  

 Has anyone ever heard of this being done before, or done it themselves? Looking for some advice on this matter.  This is our first child so we are not sure if we can do this...

 Let me know your thoughts ladies!! Thanks.  

MsCat19

I was raised Catholic, my ex husband Jewish.  Neither of us were active in either faith community.  We both celebrate the big holidays. We chose to not have a ceremony for either faith, because that's an initiation into the faith.  My daughter went to events at both church and temple and chose to be baptized last year at age 7 and will have her communion this year.  We left it up to her though - she didn't have to choose either if she didn't want to, and has chosen to not continue on with religious ed after this year.  I don't know how much this will help you if at all, but it's what I did!

Ruby412

I am Jewish and my H is Catholic. We are having a Jewish baby naming for our LO. We plan to raise her Jewish for formal education (Sunday School, Hebrew School, Bat Mitzvah, etc.) But, she will have exposure to all holidays, occasional visits to church and learn about both religions.

While neither of us are at all religious, we felt it was important to give our LO some form of religion as a base. As she grows up, she can get more into it or not. But we wanted to give her something to lean on if she needed it.

My H is not super happy with the Catholic church these days and we both love how open and flexible reform Judaism is, so that's why we went with that.

shmoos

I am Jewish and my H is Catholic (additionally my mother is Jewish and my father is Catholic), our child will be raised in the Jewish faith.  I was raised as a Jew, my parents made that decision before they got married, and my H and I did the same.

.Quite frankly, I dont understand how you can baptise a child and not raise it as a Christian, as I thought baptism is a sacrament and an agreement with the Church.  I would imagine it would be difficult to find a priest to perform the ceremony if he knew that you did not intend to raise the child as a Catholic.  Of course, I may be completely wrong about some of this, so I apologize in advance if I am.  Additionally, if you did get married in a religious ceremony, you may have agreed to raise your children in that faith.

I also dont understand how you could simultaneously teach a child that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior, vs Jesus being a man who existed, but is not the Messiah.  I dont mean to be snarky, but I really think that forcing a child to choose between those two beliefs is unfair and is confusing

These are just my personal opinions, as someone who was not given a choice, and I am glad that the decision was made for me.  I am sure that other people feel differently, and I am certainly not saying that my opinions are the correct ones!

 

JaimeG183

I also didn't think the church would let you baptize if you are going to do both

 

Eilis123

My husband and I are both Catholic, but I grew up Lutheran and want my child exposed to both traditions (they aren't that different...it's more cultural than dogmatic differences).

We're baptizing and raising her Catholic, and I am active in my parish, but when we go home to visit my parents in Michigan she'll go to Lutheran Church, and learn all the great old Lutheran hymns, and experience Christmas there, and the Saint Lucia festival, etc.

I don't feel the need to share this information with my priest. I choose to be Catholic when I was 21.  There is a lot I love about both Catholicism and Lutheranism, and aspects of both I disagree with, and I have managed to integrate them and I am happy with that.  I have both my BA and my MA in theology so I feel pretty comfortable with it.

I am very religious, but I prefer to be so on my own terms.  I'm going to teach my daughter to be the same way by exposing her to both.

 

orriskitten

We are going to be doing something similar. My mom was Jewish, my dad is Catholic, so I was raised as both. DH's family is Lutheran with their own special set of customs, being in Iceland.

We are going to do a Jewish naming ceremony and a Baptism. The Baptism is going to be at a Unitarian church since the Catholic church is much more strict. We want her to have the bare necessities at the start of life, so when she chooses what religion she wishes to practice, she can have been a part of it since very early in life. My mom did something very similar for me. In addition, we are going to be doing a ceremony in Iceland in which "godparents" (translated to witnesses in English, but similar to godparents here) witness the recognition of the child. I do believe it is similar to a baptism. 

We are not going to teach her to believe one thing, but will let her know what the various religions believe in general. I was brought up this way and really found it interesting. It will also include religions that we do not have a family tie to as well. It is her choice when she is older, and I will not sway her in any direction, just give her the principles and let her decide what resonates with her.