One flesh.
Two persons become one.
Two cultures become one.
In the sacrament of matrimony a man and a woman become one flesh. Their lives become one life. If they are of different cultures the married entity incorporates them all. There are no mixed marriages for Catholics in a sacramental marriage. The sacramental marriage is the Jewish equivalent of Kedusha/Holiness. But with an added benefit that it is open for all Catholics whereas Kedusha is exclusive to Jews (although they are spiritually the same for Jew and Catholic). When a Hebrew Catholic marries a Catholic they both become Hebrew Catholics as one flesh and their family will be Hebrew Catholic. It exists like this for any culture of married mixed ethnic Catholics (A Polish Catholic married to a Mexican Catholic become authentically all of the above). The spouses are grafted together and should partake in each other’s culture and identify with each.
Given the sensitivity of keeping Jewish identity alive within the Church it is in this spirit that individuals who are corporally tied to Israel should incorporate appropriate Jewish devotionals and sacramentals into their “portfolio” of family traditions. It is inescapable that Jewish traditions in Catholic families may take on an added distinction from other cultural devotionals because Judaism is the natural branch Catholicism grows out of. This should privately be embraced. It is special to be not only a supernatural brother of The Lord, but a corporal blood relative, as Christ was an Israelite and a Jew when he incarnated.
The Hebrew Catholic project is a difficult one without a precedent for success. A group who had previoiusly attempted to incorporate their ancestral Judaism and be good Catholics in the 18th century were the much reviled Frankists (reviled by both Jews and Catholics). The Frankists ceased to exist in the early 20th century. Aside from Frankists, typically Jews who became Catholics were assimilated and the traces of their ancestral Jewishness most often was overwhelmed by Catholicism in their decendents. In the Spanish Conversos (coerced Jewish converts to Christianity) we do see traces of Judaic family practices lasting hundreds of years, often outlasting the memory of what they were and where they came from. In our time we now see that assimilation is not exclusively a Jewish issue. An apostasy and assimilation has affected the Catholic world in a shocking way for the last several decades.
If we look out at our present world, we see ethnicity and “diversity” elevated to one of the highest cultural values. It is strange because ethnicity is more a state of being—although often a carrier of values. Nonetheless it has proved to be extremely powerful. For many, ethnic concerns outweigh religious concerns—and for some ethnic ideology has altogether taken the place of religion.
A Hebrew Catholic arrives on the scene with his own ethnic consciousness. For many Hebrew Catholics there is no longer a tangible manifestation of his Jewish ancestry. He is an essence. He knows this is part of him, but he doesn’t know what to make of it. But there is the revelation that ethnicities come with traditions. And the higher revelation that ethnicities within Catholicism come with Catholic ethnic traditions. It is these Catholic ethnic traditions, bonded together, that will endure for generations. Together they can be more robust than purely ethnic or purely religious family traditions. Imparting Catholic ethnic traditions may be your best chance at keeping your grandchildren Catholic, with the added benefit of telling them corporally who they are.
We are at a point in time where many of us have been severed from both ethnic and religious traditions—“deracinated”. The blessing of the incorporation of ethnic Catholic tradition is that many practices are still known and we can begin to pick up the pieces even if we did not receive them from our parents. Importantly, a multi ethnic background is not a dilution. Incorporating diverse Catholic ethnic traditions is an enrichment.
For the Hebrew Catholic, there is a unique difference where it may appear his ethnic traditions are not Catholic. Recent understanding from the Vatican has affirmed that Christianity is built out of Judaism. Thus many if not most Jewish traditions will by nature be Catholic.
So this is how we do it. Ethnicity tells us who we were. Religion tells us what we should become. Assimilation is a problem for all religious people. Now the Catholic can holistically incorporate his corporal histories into the body of Christ. Thus we see that the Jewish problem of assimilating into the secular world is a problem for all. And the solution for all is the answer for the Hebrew Catholic to preserve a Judaic identity in his descendants.
