Accepting the fact that marriages between Christians...

Accepting the fact that marriages between Christians and Jews continue at a high rate, a Culver City couple recommends in a new book that an “intermarriage prenuptial pact” be considered by couples whose religious backgrounds differ.

“The best time to grapple with the Christmas tree versus Hanukkah menorah and the baptism versus circumcision dilemmas is before they happen,” say Rabbi Sidney and Betty J. Jacobs about their proposal in “122 Clues for Jews Whose Children Intermarry,” published by Jacobs Ladder Publications. They also published the stereotype-stripping “Clues About Jews for People Who Aren’t” in 1985.

Even if such a pact was not made a legal contract, the authors illustrate how much exploring respective “religious inventories” could facilitate a couple’s decisions on home, finances, holidays and children.

The Jacobs, who say they are dismayed at the rate of intermarriage, nevertheless counsel parents in one chapter (titled “How Can We Stop It?”) to be reasonable and make the best of the situation. Short of conversion by the non-Jewish partner, “there are others areas where Judaism can--and must--be kept alive in the intermarried household, especially where children are involved,” they wrote.

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Retired Archbishop Dom Helder Camara from Brazil and activist evangelical Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine, are among the speakers in a Peace Sunday meeting at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The four-hour interfaith rally, which begins at 1 p.m. Sunday, was organized to support U.N. efforts toward disarmament and environmental concerns. Also speaking is James Jonah, assistant U.N. general secretary. “We view the United Nations as a sort of global homeowners association,” said Sister Edith Prendergast, of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese.

POSTSCRIPT

The Los Angeles chapter of Dignity, a homosexual-oriented Catholic group barred from meeting for weekly Mass in Catholic-owned facilities, has accepted an offer from St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hollywood to meet there, starting Sunday. President Rafael Vega said the chapter considered “numerous invitations” from Protestant churches.