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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]If your religion is so strict that you cannot attend a service of another faith, then don't go.[/b] (But also, in that case, don't even think of marrying him because it's not fair to either of you.) If you don't observe that strictly but you're uncomfortable just because it's so different, that's understandable, but it's a hurdle you'll have to get over if you plan to stay with him. You can't expect never to participate in these activities with him or his family if he is married.

You can go to Mass and sit there politely and quietly and that will be fine. You don't have to sing, kneel, pray, or take communion. Just sit respectfully, maybe bow your head when everyone prays, but you don't have to pray yourself. I am Jewish and have been to various Christian services and funerals. This is what I do. I don't believe Jesus is G-d and I'm not going to repeat a prayer that says so. I'm not going to sing a hymn that says so. I'm not going to genuflect to the cross. Etc. But I will sit quietly, I will bow my head out of respect, I will enjoy the lovely music and sing along if it is not too religious in content, and if a prayer is offered that does not invoke Jesus -- like a general prayer for peace that just says "in G-d's name" (or something similar) then I will say "amen" with everyone else.

You have to do what you are comfortable with, and only you can know that. But if it's not outright against your religion to go, you may find it interesting on a cultural/anthropological level, and repeated exposure will likely increase your comfort zone.[/quote]

In OP's defense, not long ago (two generations ago for my family), Catholics were not allowed to attend the services of other religions. My grandparents intermarried in the late 1930s and my grandfather was a Protestant minister. His own Catholic wife and children never set foot in his church or heard him preach. My father lived at the intersection of three neighborhoods in his hometown: a working class Irish neighborhood, a mixed-income AA one, and a lower-MC Jewish one. My dad remembers being chased home from Catholic school by Protestant boys, overshooting his own street in his haste, and taking refuge in foyer of the Temple on the corner. He was discovered of course. The kindly old men did not usher him out until the crowd of hooligans grew bored and dispersed. He was even offered an after school job doing odd jobs at the Temple, but was in pretty mortal fear of voluntarily entering a non-Catholic house of worship on a regular basis.[/quote]

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