In a few weeks (as I write this) the Jewish Holy Days will be here – Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. [Editor’s note: today, September 21] And again I wonder, am I a Jewish Catholic or a Catholic Jew? There is a difference. The noun, the second word, conveys the fundamental identity; the adjective is a modifier.
An Irish Catholic is not the same as a Catholic Irishman. Until 32 years ago, I would not have entertained any thoughts about what the two phrases in the title signified. I was an agnostic Jew who fasted on Yom Kippur and celebrated Passover with a family Seder, but otherwise – no religion.
My wife, a cradle Catholic who loved all things Jewish (including me), could cook kugel, matzo ball soup, etc., better than my mother or grandmother ever could, so the ethnic yearnings I might have had (primarily culinary) were satisfied.
After my conversion, the place of Jews and Jewish history started to matter. Studying Catholic teaching, I discovered that Judaism was the foundation of the Catholic faith. And I began to wonder: what was my identity – Jew or Catholic?
At the first
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