Pennsylvania family raises one child Jewish, one child Catholic

A mixed-faith Jewish-Catholic couple chose to raise their two children according to separate religions, one Catholic and one Jewish, NBC’s Today website reported.

Rather than select one belief over another or raise their offspring practicing both faiths, the Greenbergs of New Hope, Pennsylvania — Diane who is Catholic, and Bob who is Jewish — decided to split the family down the middle, rearing their daughter according to Catholicism, and their son according to Jewish tenets.

“I didn’t know where my kids were going to wind up, what was going to happen. It wasn’t like we were trying to keep score and I wanted them to be definitely Catholic or definitely Jewish. I did want them to be well-rounded,” Diane told Today Sunday.

“Before we were married, we both felt strongly that we would like to pass religion on to our children and we had to come up with something, so we talked about bringing up one child one way and one another,” she said.

Their daughter Katie was baptized and attended the Catholic Church’s weekly religious education program, while their son, Steven, received a brit milah (Jewish ritual circumcision) and attended Hebrew school run by Chabad-Lubavitch.

Ultimately, the decision had mixed results with Katie, 24, retaining her Catholic faith, while Steven, 21, identifies as agnostic.

“I didn’t think much about it when I was a kid. And my parents were very good about it. There was never any pressure from them. It was really just normal for us. I think it made sense for them so we went with it,” Katie said.

“And I think they did a good job with it. I felt like I got exposed to a lot of viewpoints and beliefs and opinions, which was pretty nice,” she added.

Bob however, didn’t see much difference between his son’s upbringing and his own.

“By and large, Steven’s experience was not a whole lot different than mine except that he didn’t get through the very important ceremony of the bar mitzvah,” noted Bob.

“My religious education came to an end with my bar mitzvah. After that, I didn’t go to the synagogue. Of course, I didn’t go to synagogue before that,” he said.