My husband & I have decided that we would like to attend church services with our children. We "belong" to differant faiths.
I was raised in the Orthodox church,specifically the Russian Orthodox church. My husband was raised Catholic. Neither of us are going to convert to the others religion.
We would like to raise our kids in both churches and as they get older let them decide which faith is best suited for them ( even if it is something completly differant) We would be attending both churches as a family.
Anyone else out there that has done this? How did it work for your family?
*Edit* - I really appericate all the input. We dont want to just choose one church to belong to, i remember going to church as a kid and not enjoying ( or appericating it) becuase i felt forced into the religion my parents choose for us. I wanted to experiance something differant, and didnt have that chance until i was older. I do think that both churches are important to who we are and our ancestry.
Thanks for all the responses...and for being polite. Im glad im not the only mama out there with kids who have parents that belive differently. My mom wasnt raised orthodox but converted because its what my dad belived, and thats just not the right choice for me.
Here is a site comparing & contrasting the two:
http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html
Seriously, I understand your point of view, but sometimes, when children are involved, something's gotta give.
Why don't you try a non denominational church? Believing in God and Christ and learning to live an intentional life is really what's important, right? I grew up United Church of Christ and my husband Catholic. We have found the perfect non denominational church that we all love and where we all "get" the message!
I have not done this but, you guys are awesome to do that for your family. What open minded parents to let your kids experience both sides. My sister in law was raised catholic and yet her mother is mormon. Interesting blend there yet she remains catholic to this day and raises her family that way as well.
Taking your children to both churches should not be a problem as long you keep an open and honest, running discourse with them about the differences in worship practices between the two churches.
I raised by Atheist parents who sent me to Catholic High School. As an adult I attending Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist and Methodist churches, and, occasionally, temple with Jewish friends. I am now Baptist, basically because I happened to be in a Baptist church when I heard the call and was saved. I chose to remain Baptist because I like the way they handle the Bible's teachings. My son attends church with me and has only known the Baptist church since my church hopping days ended years ago. But, he is free to experience other churches and religions if he wishes. Since we have friends of various faiths he is exposed to different views and I expect that he will make his own decisions.
So, take your children to both churches, educate them, and they will decide on their own. I really don't think you will confuse them.
God Bless
Don't worry what other moms think and do what you think is right.. the only downside i can see is confusion but god is god you know.. you can sort of explain the small differences in saying that some people believe x and some y and neither are "wrong" just different opinions. I think it's great you are both willing to give each other's religion a chance and that speaks to a healthy marriage! And kudos to being cool with letting your kids decide what to believe, you don't see that too much these days!
I would start by talking to your priest. "We" (I more than my hubby!) are "slowly" converting to Orthodoxy. I've been ready for a while, but dh has issues with needing "proof" of God. He is very supportive of our son being raised Orthodox, however. My best friend is Orthodox, and her dh is RC. They have a baby, and she has been baptised Orthodox. Our priest is very understanding and helpful in these situations! It is my understanding that Orthodoxy and the RCC are pretty understanding of each other, and willing to work with the family in situations like these. I think the main concern is that the children be baptised in the Holy Trinity. I would meet with the priests at each church and explain your situation. Best of luck!
We are a two religion family. I am Jewish and my husband is Catholic. Neither of us will convert to the other. By Jewish tradition our daughter is Jewish and I will do my best to teach her the Jewish Faith. My husband says he will teach her the Catholic faith. Once she is older we hope she will decide which way to go. I just fear that with the commericalism of the Catholic holidays she will want to choose that and be more like her friends (we live in a city where there are very few Jewish people, we don't even have a temple here)
I am Pentacostal and my granddaughter has decided that she doesn't "Need a middle man to speak to the diety who gave her life"(Doesnt go with us anymore, shes 17) and my boyfriend is Baptist.
I go to my church and he to his, and during special times we'll go together to both :)
I'm Mormon and my husband is Holiness (his family even attended a snake handling church when he was younger!) Our girls go to both churches, but more often mine as Daddy isn't real active in church. Occasionally, he will go with us and I love having him there! (The message is good, but the fact that I have help with the kids and we are together as a family is the best) I am not very comfortable in his church, but that is for several reasons. (My church is quiet, his is not. Their services are at night, close to bed time on a Sunday night with school the next morning-I'm a teacher. etc)
The girls seam to like both, but they are under 3 and they get to run around at Daddy's church and I am trying to teach them to sit quietly at both and be reverent and respectful. My church has sunday school, his does not. Mine also has a nursery for children under 3. His only has about 30 members and only about 10 show up regularly. As they get older, and start school, they may have to skip Daddy's church as it would interfear with school in the morning.
My ex-husband is Baptist and I am Catholic. When our kids were born we baptized them Catholic. Before and after our kids came along we would go to both services. On Sunday morning we would attend mass with my family and on Sunday afternoons we would attend Baptist service with his family. We rotated every Sunday. This worked great. Now my boyfriend is also Baptist and we do the same. Last Friday night my daughter did her confirmation. My boyfriends entire family and my ex-husbands family all attended. You would not believe their reaction. They all really enjoyed our mass. They had never been to a catholic service. I have always believed that I will let my children decide what religion they want to carry one. I just made sure we exposed them to both. Who knows, they might pick another religion. Best of luck.
I depends on how compatible the religions are. My husband is Jewish and I am Catholic. You can't practice both religions at the same time because although they have a lot in common, the central beliefs of one faith negate the central beliefs of the other. For me, not being able to raise my children Catholic would have been a deal breaker for me, so my husband agreed that they would be Catholic. They have been baptized, receive the sacraments, attend Mass and religious education, etc. That said, we do celebrate Jewish holidays, my children learn Jewish prayers, we attend services once a year, and if my husband were observant, we would probably trade off weekly services at temple and Mass. My pastor said that an ideal interfaith family worships together, and he would rather have a Catholic go to temple every other week and skip Mass that weekend than to keep the family divided in worship. We are not members of a temple so that's a moot point.
So I think that your idea of attending both churches as a family is wonderful, but I'm not sure on the idea of not having your children identify formally with one religion or the other in childhood. I don't know anything about Russian Orthodoxy, so you may want to consider things like participating in sacraments, eligibility for religious education, etc. While it's great to be exposed to two religions, by not formally belonging to one you may be denying your children some rites of passage that could be important to them. So you just have to weigh what those are in both of your churches and how important it is for your children to be able to participate on those rites and rituals. For example, from the Catholic standpoint, having children receive the Eucharist and participate in Penance are a big deal to the parents and kids - are your husband and kids OK with them not being able to participate in those? Are there things from your religion that you think would be valuable and by not picking a religion now, you prevent your children from being able to do them?
