The Austrian Catholic Church is now permitting the contracting of religious marriages between Catholics and Jews without the previous conversion of the Jewish party to the marriage, thus making it possible for the bride and bridegroom to retain their own faiths. This permission is being granted in order to cut down the growing number of civil marriages which makes it necessary for both parties to declare themselves as without any religion or for both parties to become cither Christians or Jews.
Not only does the Catholic Church here feel that this permission will do much to prevent civil marriages between Jews and Catholics but it hopes that after such a marriage the Jewish party will submit to concersion. No change has been effected in the custom of requiring the non-Catholic party to the marriage to sign an undertaking agreeing that any children resulting from the union will be brought up as Catholics.
It is alleged that a similar practice has been introduced into the Catholic Church in other countries.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
