Can a person be both Roman Catholic and Jewish?

Question

Is it against the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church to claim both Roman Catholic and Jewish as your religion? Also, what would the Rabbi say? (My mother's mother was Ashkanazi Jewish.)

Answer 1

You cannot be both.
The Jewish view says that if your mother was Jewish, then you are 100% Jewish, regardless of what you believe.
Since you are Jewish, you might as well learn about your own religion, right??
For a rabbi/a synagogue/classes in Judaism near you:
http://www.chabad.org/centers/default_cdo/aid/15676/jewish/Advanced-Search.htm

Answer 2

Allonyoav explained it correctly. Let me add a little more to it. You cannot be Jewish and be Christian. You can convert to Christianity from Judaism. Also, by Jewish law you can return to Judaism with very little trouble.

If your mother's mother was Jewish. Then by Jewish law your mother was Jewish. Therefore you are Jewish also. Being Jewish is passed down through the mother and not the father. I have no idea what religion you practice, but if you wanted to you can emigrate to Israel as a Jew.

It is against the teachings of both Roman Catholicism and Judaism to be both. It is sort of like being a Democrat and a Republican at the same time. Or a Catholic and a Baptist. So I am afraid the answer to your question is no.

Answer 3

The rabbi would say that human sacrifice is an abomination and that the belief that God would become human is the ultimate heresy!

I like what Inat said: If your mother is Jewish, learn about Judaism! It is very different from the Christian/Catholic version of Judaism! You have a wonderful heritage -- don't throw it down the drain. Read "Constantine's Sword" by former Roman Catholic priest James Carroll to find out how the Roman Catholic Church shaped Jewish/Christian relations.

Shalom
.

Answer 4

No. According to Judaism, you cannot be both Jewish and Christian--and if you're a Catholic, you're a Christian.

However...If you WANT to be Jewish, you could choose to be...
There's a concept in Judaism of the child who was taken captive. This happened often throughout history, when a Jewish child was taken from his/her parents and raised as a Christian. The idea is that the child had no choice in the matter, and that s/he can return to Judaism.

This concept is sometimes extended to Jewish kids who were raised in an alien faith by their parents. They aren't responsible, personally, for forsaking Judaism.

Jews consider any form of Christianity to be idolatry. What else is it when you worship a man as if he was G-d? So no, you can't be both Christian and Jewish--not if you believe the Jewish scriptures, anyway. Christians--who really don't--will try to tell you that you can, but they're wrong.

Read the first part of Deut. 13.

Answer 5

There are some incompatibilities in the doctrine, ie in most strains of Judaism, Jesus is recognized only as prophet, if He is recognized at all, while Catholicism (as a Christian faith) recognizes Him as Lord and Savior.

Are you referring to belief or to culture? You can celebrate your cultural heritage as a descendant of Ashkenazi Jews and as a a descendant of Roman Catholics, but it is your beliefs that determine who you are more than the culture that you celebrate.

Your Rabbi might ask "Do you follow the Commandments?" while your priest might ask "Do you love Christ, seek Him as the Way to the Father, and celebrate Him in the Eucharist?" If you say 'yes' to the latter, your beliefs are more Catholic without rejecting the whole of the teachings of Judaism. Indeed, they are called Judeo-Christian beliefs for a reason, and no Christian can call him- or herself such without acknowledging the moral and theological base of Jewish beliefs.

Answer 6

Nope- any belief in an anthropomorphic God having children is completely against Judaism. In judaism, the messiah is 100% human- he is no more divine than you or I.

Heres a short summary of why Jews don't believe Jesus is a Messiah, and thus why Judaism is incompatable with any form of Christianity

Here is why we don't believe that Jesus was the messiah in simple terms:
1) The dead were not resurrected
2) The Jews did not beome priests to the other nations
3) There is no world peace
4) The temple is not standing
5) There is no temple service
6) There is no parah adumah or its ashes to render us tahor
7) The messiah is from the House of David. your house/tribe is inherited from your father. Your father is your BIOLOGICAL father- there is no adoption in Judaisim to another father- if God is the father of Jesus- then Jesus cannot be from the House of David as God is not frm the House of David.
8) Human sacrifice is completely forbidden in Judaism- remeber God stopping the sacrifice of Isaac? The idea of a human being sacrificed is the opposite of anything from Judaism!
9) You have to atone for yourself! An essential part of the atonement process is being repentant. Someone cannot be repentant for you- you have to do it for yourself. ONly communal sins can be forgiven communally- not individual, private sins!

And no- the messiah does NOT proclaim himself- he will be recognised by his deeds- not by his claims- in other words, through doing the above he will be recognised as the messiah. On top of that- mashiach is a HUMAN being, with HUMAN parents- the idea of an anthropomorphised God going around and impregnating young woman is completely alien to Judaism- though it fits very nicely into the pagan religions of the time which had their heroes being fathered by gods (ala Hercules and his daddy Zeus)

NOTE ON MESSIANIC JUDAISM/JEWS FOR JESUS
Both of these are deemed as nothing more than Christian sects using deceitful means to convert Jews. EVERY Jewish denomination denounces these sects as Christians and nothing more. However, by Jewish law, once a Jew, always Jew- whether born or converted. Thus once a person is Jewish they are always judged by Jewish standards, and if they revert/convert to a different religion they are still considered Jewish by Jewish law. BUT, someone practising a religion other than Judaism is considered outside of the community, may not be a member of the community, receive any community honours, be a representative for the community, be buried in a Jewish cemetary, marry a Jew or be treated as a Jew for the purposes of the laws of mourning. However, since they never stop being a Jew- they merely have to repent, return to Judaism and go to mikveh in order to once again be a full member of the community.

Answer 7

There are two aspects to being Jewish, the ethnic heritage and the religious heritage. Israel is a true nation, of course, just like Germany, Switzerland, Uganda, Bolivia, China, etc.

So you can most certainly be Jewish in your ethnicity and something non-Jewish in your religious beliefs. I've known Jewish people who are agnostic, atheist, and fundamentalist Christian, for example.

All this to say, yes, you can be Roman Catholic (in your religious beliefs) and Jewish (in your ethnicity).

Answer 8

No, one can not be born into a religion, it is a choice that each must make for themselves.

Catholics and Jewish practice the same rituals and traditions, they are the same.

Call no man rabbi, call no man father, they both circumcise at 8 days old, neither believe in baptism, by submersion, each believe in the rituals of the alter, and the sacraments of the dead, marriage, and atonement. They teach that their priest have the power to forgive sins, and sin can only be forgiven by speaking of repetitious prayers. They both trust in Moses, the 10 Commandments, the laws of Moses, and in the Prophets.

My mother was roman catholic a religion.
I am African American.

Your mother is Jewish, a religion.
You are Hebrew Israeli

Answer 9

You're Jewish...doesn't matter if you practice another religion-you're Jewish since Judaism goes through your matrilineal line. But you cannot practice both, you either practice one or the other. But you're still a Jew.

Answer 10

Let's imagine a boy - he was conceived by a jewish mother - so jews will consider him as jewish -
Now in the course of his life he converts to catholicism, and this happens sometimes -

Result of our little story : catholics will consider this person as catholic as jews will carry on considering him as jewish -