Same-Sex Interfaith Couples Face Roadblock to Marriage in Judaism

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/us/same-sex-interfaith-couples-face-a-roadblock-to-marriage-in-judaism.html?_r=0

JAN. 30, 2015


Julia Spiegelman, left, who is Jewish, and Erina Donnelly, who is Roman Catholic, have experienced difficulty planning a wedding that includes elements from both of their religions. Credit Katherine Taylor for The New York Times

By MARK OPPENHEIMER

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — When Julia Spiegelman and Erina Donnelly, two teachers who met as undergraduates at Bryn Mawr, became engaged, they were looking forward to planning a wedding that included elements from both of their religions.

Ms. Spiegelman grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Andover, Mass., and Ms. Donnelly was raised a Roman Catholic.

The two women attend Jewish and Catholic services together, and they had hoped to find marriage officiants from both religions, which they did not think would be difficult. Most non-Orthodox rabbis officiate same-sex weddings, and while they could not expect to find a Catholic priest to officiate, they planned to ask a layperson from Dignity/Boston, a community of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics, to take part.

So one Sabbath morning, they approached the rabbi at their Boston-area synagogue, a liberal congregation unaffiliated with any particular branch of Judaism.

more at link