Welcome back to our America at 250 faith series, where Free Press writers reflect on belief, history, and the freedoms that shape American life. Today, First Things editor-in-chief and devout Catholic R. R. Reno offers an intimate reflection on his interfaith marriage to his Jewish wife—and how she taught him that “God can write straight with crooked lines.” —The Editors
Juliana is Jewish, and I’m Christian. We’re both devout, and we’re happily married. Although we were young when we got married and our religious views were immature, we knew that we did not want a secular ceremony. We sensed that whatever compromises our marriage might require, we wanted to hold fast to our respective faiths.
Juliana’s rabbi could not officiate at an interfaith ceremony. In those days, constrained by a strict prohibition, very few rabbis would perform an interfaith marriage. We both dismissed the idea of helicoptering in a compliant rabbi. So, our wedding ceremony took place in the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, the Episcopal parish where I grew up, on a cold night in late December.
