Theology, schmeology

Jewish mothers and Catholic mothers are almost exactly the same, except for the food: Jewish food is much better. My wife is Catholic, I'm Jewish, and when we met she didn't know from bagels, Chinese food or deli. She still buys lousy pickles, but that doesn't make me love her any less.

How Catholic, you ask? I have a sister-in-law who's a nun: a medical missionary, actually. When we met she was running a hospital in Ghana that her order had built. She gets as much of a kick telling people about her Jewish brother-in-law as I do talking about my sister-in-law, the nun. I think we both regard the other as a slightly exotic creature.

My point in all of this is to tell this story. Our children are baptized Catholic as well, and my wife takes them to church semi-regularly. I rarely go, except when one of our children is altar serving (I always hope that she'll sneak me a wafer, but she never does.)

One Sunday my wife was out of town and I, for some unknown reason, decided to take the kids to 9 o'clock Mass. On the way out after the service an older woman, whom I didn't know but apparently knew I was Jewish, stopped me. "You know, you're half Catholic," she told me. My reply: "Actually, you're half Jewish."

Have a theological question? Just ask!