A local church will hold a 10-mile walk/run Saturday to raise money for a mobile health clinic to serve the area’s needy population.

The event, organized by the Victory Worship Center and its student ministry, Elevate Youth Church, will take place on the University of Arizona Mall. Registration begins at 6 a.m. The run begins at 7 a.m.

The church’s aim is to raise $250,000 to buy the clinic and diagnostic equipment. The clinic would provide services at the church, 2561 W. Ruthrauff Road, and at other sites throughout town, according to a news release.

For more information about the fundraiser, go to www.elevate10mile.org or call the Victory Worship Center at 293-6386.

Khalifa

Nearly two decades of mystery and intrigue may be drawing to a close with the arrest of a man suspected of killing a local imam.

Calgary Police Services in Canada arrested Glen Cusford Francis, a 52-year-old citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, on Tuesday on suspicion of killing 55-year-old Rashad Khalifa, according to a news release issued by the Tucson Police Department.

On Jan. 31, 1990, Khalifa was found stabbed to death in the kitchen of the Masjid of Tucson, the mosque where he worked. The mosque is at East Sixth Street and North Euclid Avenue.

Khalifa had gained international attention for his computer analysis of the Koran and his claims that two verses were written by Satan, not God.

Police say Khalifa had been receiving death threats in the months leading up to his killing because of his controversial interpretation, and authorities in Colorado uncovered a plot to kill him.

According to Tucson Citizen archives, seven people were indicted in Colorado on charges of conspiracy to kill Khalifa.

All seven were believed to be members of FUQRA, a Muslim extremist group that had been tied to terrorist activities.

The plot was uncovered by police in Colorado Springs when they found explosives in a locker in 1989 while investigating a burglary.

Notes on how to kill Khalifa, diagrams and photos of the mosque, as well as planned escape routes, were found by detectives, archives show.

Authorities told Khalifa of the plot but four months later he was found dead in Tucson.

At least six of the seven men were convicted of charges related to the conspiracy.

The seventh, Edward Flinton, a citizen of Pakistan, fled before being arrested in 1996, according to Citizen archives.

It is not clear if Flinton was convicted and none of the men is believed to have actually stabbed Khalifa.

TPD spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said he was unaware of the Colorado arrests but would speak to homicide detectives about it.

Investigators in Tucson learned that a man calling himself Benjamin Phillips arrived at the mosque in January 1990 to study Islam under Khalifa, the TPD news release said.

It said local detectives used information obtained from family members in Georgia and in Canada, along with fingerprints found in Phillips’ Tucson apartment, to confirm that Phillips and Francis were the same man.

Francis was not seen in Tucson following the slaying and authorities learned that he fled the country the following year before returning in 1994, the news release said.

The FBI interviewed Francis in 1994 in Texas where he went by the name of Joseph Wall and denied ever being in Tucson, the news release said.

TPD’s cold case unit began working on the case in 2006 and in December last year, was able to use DNA testing on forensic evidence from the crime scene to tie Francis to the killing, the news release said.

TPD investigators worked with the Pima County Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Service and Canadian authorities to obtain a provisional arrest warrant for first-degree murder with a $1 million bond for Francis.

Francis

Dedication May 31 for community facility honoring Monsignor Carrillo

Joe Hernandez, of Adobe Anvil Iron Works, talks about how he made the metal flowers for the stage and bandshell for the new Monsignor Arsenio S. Carrillo Placita.

A 22-foot-tall, steel lattice band shell with decorative floral details now graces the St. Augustine Cathedral grounds, the signature piece for the Monsignor Arsenio S. Carrillo Placita and Hall.

The placita’s dedication is set for 1 p.m. May 31, said John Shaheen, property director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.

Work on the placita, at 192 S. Stone Ave., will continue until mid-May.

“The idea behind it was, this would be a community space, not just for the parish,” Shaheen said. “The whole placita area is designed to handle craft fairs, farmers markets and such.”

The placita can seat 600 for concerts and 300 for sit-down dinners, he said.

The band shell covers a 1,600-square-foot stage.

The shell is decorated with more than 300 steel flowers;1,000 steel leaves and branches; 18 steel butterflies; and a half-dozen steel birds, all crafted by blacksmith Joe Hernandez and two people he hired for the four-month forging job. Hernandez also supervised the installation of his floral work during the past four weeks.

“I just came up with a design (for the flowers),” said Hernandez, who owns Adobe Anvil Iron Works. “Each flower is about seven pieces.”

The flowers range from 24 inches to 12 inches wide. They were airbrushed with color by Fernando Holguin and Chris Andrews.

The placita is a 4-year quest of Tony S. Carrillo to honor his brother, Monsignor Arsenio S. Carrillo, who was the cathedral’s rector for 40 years. Tony Carrillo chaired the 31-person placita committee that has raised about $1 million. It still needs about $150,000 to pay for the sound and lighting systems.

“It’s very exciting to be able to have a facility that is going to be open to the public that can be used for weddings and quinceañeras,” Tony Carrillo said. “The fact that it will spur interest in further development downtown is also important to me and the bishop.”

The placita has been taking shape since last April, as crews transformed the cathedral’s long-neglected space at Stone Avenue and Ochoa Street into a dedicated gathering place.

About 1,200 paver bricks will make up the placita surface, and new restrooms were attached to the exterior of the former cathedral hall. A small grotto in honor of the monsignor is being built at Stone and Ochoa.

Groups wishing to use the placita can call Shaheen at 792-3410.

Joe Hernandez of Adobe Anvil Iron Works explains how he made the metal flowers for the stage and band shell.

Francisco Merancio (left) and Manny De Loreto of Escalante Concrete prepare forms for the steps to the stage and band shell.

Dozens of Tucsonans are expected to make the 40th annual Procession of Holy Friday up “A” Mountain this week.

The public event commemorates Jesus’ walk to his death by crucifixion on Mount Calvary nearly 2,000 years ago.

Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson will lead the procession as participants carry a 16-foot cross and pray the Stations of the Cross, which mark Jesus’ final hours.

Participants will gather at 3 p.m. Friday in the parking lot at the base of the mountain for the procession, slated to begin at 5.

The cross will remain on the mountain until an Easter sunrise Mass is celebrated at 6:15 a.m. Sunday.

Tucsonan David Herrera started Los Dorados/Orphan League, which conducts the procession, 40 years ago to connect barrio families to their faith.

The public is invited to bring pets for a four-hour Blessing of the Animals and Fair.

The event, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Francis in the Foothills, 4625 E. River Road, includes animal adoptions by the Humane Society of Southern Arizona and the Sheriff’s Mounted Posse. Food and refreshments also available.

Admission is free.

For more information, contact Sara Morri at whimsis@aol.com or call 299-9063.

Martha Chavez of Trinity Bookstore helps longtime customer Libby Grabert with religious cards.

Dena Ruggiero walked into Fr Kino’s Corner looking for a job and a little spiritual reinforcement.

“I think that the way the economy is, people are losing hope, losing faith. Places like this make me feel inspired,” she said.

Religious store owners in Tucson have noticed an increase in people coming in who have lost jobs, houses, financial stability and faith. Ruggiero, 43, and others struggling because of the economy are looking to religious stores for answers.

Ruggiero is a single mother of three young children. She had to move her family into a smaller home near Fr Kino’s Corner and thought she’d look for a job close to home.

“I would love to work in an environment like this. It would restore my faith and my hope.”

Andy Corder, 52, owner of Fr Kino’s Corner, 2716 S. Kolb Road, told Ruggiero he had no available jobs.

“A lot of people that have been away from the church for years are coming back because they are turning to the church to help with this time,” Corder said.

Many people are stepping into these stores for the first time and buying Bibles.

At Fr Kino’s Corner, Bibles are being spoken for before they get to the store.

Colleen Bridges, 46, has been working at Gospel Supplies Parable Christian Store, 5611 E. Speedway Blvd., since 2001.

Bible sales for the store have increased in the last six to eight months.

Out of every 10 transactions, about eight include a Bible, Bridges said. They are “helping people come back to the center, come back to what’s important in life.”

Although sales of expensive items have stalled, less expensive items are in high demand.

“As far as what we’ve seen in a shift of products, we see a lot more of the basics of the faith, the basic prayers, people grabbing back onto their faith at the basic level,” Corder said.

Popular items are rosaries, prayer books, prayer cards and candles.

At Fr Kino’s Corner, a book called “Pray the Rosary with Scripture Readings” costs $1.75 and is flying off the shelves.

Martha Chavez, 60, an employee at Trinity Bookstore, 3801 E. Fort Lowell Road, said that St. Joseph products are hard to keep in stock.

It is believed that burying a statue of the saint can help you sell your home. St. Joseph home-selling kits are increasingly popular.

At Casa De Inspiracion, 2536 E. Sixth St., co-owner Angie Lopez has noticed the increased popularity of other saints.

St. Martin de Porres is known for his charity for the poor and images of St. Hedwig show her holding a small house.

People are also stepping into religious stores to simply share their stories and find a place to pray.

“People will come in and sit down and just share. They find this very comforting because of all the saints,” Lopez said.

Lopez has noticed days when she is busy attending to people, but at the end of the day the money doesn’t add up.

Prayer requests are also pouring in, and Trinity Bookstore designated a prayer corner about eight months ago where people can leave slips of paper with their requests.

At Fr Kino’s Corner there is a prayer request box and the prayer corner has couches. “A lot of them are for employment and economic relief,” Corder said of the prayer requests.

Chavez has noticed that many people come in not to buy, but to look at statues, read books and listen to the religious music that plays throughout the store.

People say, “I love your store because it’s so peaceful in here,” Chavez said.

“If your world is falling apart the last thing you have is hope – hope and faith.”

A St. Joseph kit to help homeowners sell their home.

———

On the Web

Fr Kino’s Corner

www.frkinoscorner.com/

Parable Christian Stores

www.parable.com/parable/

Trinity Bookstore

www.trinitybookstoretucson.com/

More than 200 people showed up Sunday for the 6th annual Jewish-Muslim Peace Walk that started on Alvernon Way and headed west on River Road .

About 250 people participated in the 6th Annual Jewish-Muslim Peace Walk in Tucson on Sunday, officials said.

The event began at 2 p.m. at Congregation Or Chadash, 3939 N. Alvernon Way, with a ceremony, followed by a walk to Al Huda Islamic School, 2800 E. River Road, where a Thai dinner was served.

This year’s theme was water, because it is vital for life, said Fayez M. Swailem, an event organizer.

Children learned to write “water” and other words in both Hebrew and Arabic. They also made a stop at the Tucson Hebrew Academy, 3888 E. River Road, to sing Jewish songs.

The goal of the event is to promote mutual understanding and to talk about “what’s going on,” said Rabbi Thomas Louchheim, 52, of Congregation Or Chadash.

“It’s good for Tucson,” he said, explaining that his personal goal is for understanding in the Tucson community. “I’m not looking to have a greater impact.”

Farid Farooqi, imam at the Islamic Center of Tucson, took this as an opportunity to also promote understanding.

“If you have differences, that’s fine.” he said. “It’s just like a brother and sister in a home.”

It was also a chance for Ebtisam El-Sharkawy, 18, of Phoenix, to get involved and promote peace.

“It is a wonderful experience,” she said. “I meet people and I learn new things every time.”

Her father is Muslim but she became a practicing Muslim about three years ago after researching her options.

“Islam was the way for me,” said the senior at Arizona Cultural Academy, a private Islamic school in Phoenix. The Phoenix area does not have a similar event, she said.

“We’re fortunate in Tucson that Jews and Muslims are getting along,” said Laurie Soloff, who attends Congregation Chaverim in Tucson.

The event also attracted many who were not Jewish or Muslim.

Art Harvey, 64, learned about the event three years ago at his church, Saint Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church. He walked for the first time three years ago and he helped organize the event the following two years.

“There is so much going on that you just want to help,” he said.

The retired educator splits his time between Tucson and Michigan and said this is one event he looks forward to.

“We walk in each other’s shoes,” he said. “We share stories and get a better picture of where we’re coming from.”

Fayez M. Swailem, 67, who attends the Islamic Center of Tucson said the event has helped the community.

He said the walk was a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Since that day there has been much more dialogue and understanding between Jews and Muslims in Tucson.

Ezra Lyons, 9, who is Jewish, has been coming coming for about three years.

This year he came with a friend’s family. Ezra’s favorite part of the day is “meeting new people and making new friends.”

Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Congregation Or Chadash blows a shofar at the 6th Annual Jewish-Muslim Peace Walk on Sunday.

The conflict between Islam and Christianity in the 15th century is the topic of the next lecture in the “Celebrating the Retablo Lecture Series” at the University of Arizona Museum of Art.

Cynthia Robinson, an associate professor of Medieval and Islamic Art History at Cornell University, will address the topic at 5 p.m. Friday in the UAMA Retablo Gallery.

Robinson’s topic, “Pomegranates and Pietàs: Conflict and Contact between Islam and Christianity in the Age of the Retablo de Ciudad Rodrigo,” is the latest in a series of lectures celebrating the 49-panel, floor-to-ceiling altarpiece that once adorned a cathedral in Ciudad Rodrigo, in west-central Spain.

UAMA, at Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

For more information, call 621-7567 or visit artmuseum.arizona.edu.

Sure, folks may pamper their pets – but worship them?

Find out more about animals’ roles in religion with the new educational program launched at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona’s resource library, according to a news release from the organization.

The program, titled “Souls Like Us: The Roles of Animals in World Religions,” features displays, resources and materials at the Society’s resource center, 3402 E. Kleindale Road.

The Souls Like Us program includes materials that examine religions ranging from Christianity to Wicca, from Buddhism to Judaism.

Anyone wishing to learn more about this or other animal topics can call 881-7408 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays to make reservations.

Use of the library is free, but donations are welcome.

The 16th annual Tucson March for Life will be held Saturday, beginning with a 9 a.m. Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave.

A 30-minute rally will follow at the cathedral hall, with a keynote address by John Tabor, director of Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

The march will begin at 10:30 a.m., leaving from the cathedral and ending two hours later at Holy Hope Cemetery, 3555 N. Oracle Road. The march marks the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

The event is free and open to the public. Organizers emphasize it is a nonaggressive prayer event and that offensive clothing, signs or behavior are not welcome.

It starts with 9 a.m. Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral

The 16th annual Tucson March for Life will be held Saturday, beginning with a 9 a.m. Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave.

A 30-minute rally will follow at the cathedral hall, with a keynote address by John Tabor, director of Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

The march will begin at 10:30 a.m., leaving from the cathedral and ending two hours later at Holy Hope Cemetery, 3555 N. Oracle Road. The march marks the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

The event is free and open to the public. Organizers emphasize it is a nonaggressive prayer event and that offensive clothing, signs or behavior are not welcome.

Jesús Diaz, a baker at Tortilleria y Panaderia Real, 1427 S. Fourth Ave., holds a <em>rosca </em>Monday afternoon. Rosca is a sweet bread in Mexican and Latin American cultures that is used in the celebration of the <em>Tres Reyes Magos</em> (the Three Kings).

Jesús Diaz, 21, and his family will gather to celebrate Día de los Reyes Tuesday and eat rosca, or Three Kings’ cake, but if he finds a plastic baby Jesus doll in his slice, he’ll have to host a party next month.

It is a tradition in Mexico and other Latin countries for families to celebrate the Día de los Reyes Magos, or day of the three kings, on Jan. 6,when the three kings visited the baby Jesus and brought him gifts, according to the Christian tradition.

Some Tucson families have been passing on the tradition for generations.

Families sit together at the table and eat rosca, a wreath-shaped sweet bread decorated with coarse sugar, sugar figs, citron, and dried fruit.

But what makes the sweet bread different from any other pastries are the few plastic dolls stuffed inside to represent baby Jesus.

If someone cuts the bread and finds a minidoll, they have to host a party with tamales Feb. 2, said Jesús’ mother, María Diaz, 53, owner of Tortilleria y Panaderia Real, 1427 S. Fourth Ave., a family run bakery that began making roscas a few weeks ago for the holiday.

She said the order of roscas has been up “quite a bit” this year compared to last year, when the bakery sold about 40 of the cakes.

Inserting the plastic doll is mostly a Mexican tradition that developed during the last century. Historically, the cakes had a bean or candy in them, but the finder of the bean and candy often shirked their party-hosting duty by eating it.

Like the Diaz family, Miguel Medina, 27, has been making dozens of roscas in the past couple of days as the lead baker for Food City’s bakery, 2950 S. Sixth Ave., which sold more than 500 of the small cakes last year.

He said that unlike roscas made in Mexico or at other bakeries in town, Food City, for liability reasons, bakes them without the dolls but includes the figurines in the box; customers stuff them into the cakes themselves.

But the celebration of Día de los Reyes is more than eating rosca.

It begins the night before, when children leave a pair of shoes out in the living room and wake up the next day to find gifts in or near their shoes, said Ramon Lopez, a manager at Food City.

“This holiday is the whole deal, the gifts, the get-together with family and the excitement of seeing if you’ll cut a slice with a little doll,” he said. “Because if you do, you better be ready to host a party.”

Some children leave grass and buckets of water outside for the three animals believed to have been used as transportation for the three kings: a camel, a horse and an elephant. The custom resembles another, when many children leave cookies and milk for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

The holiday is as important as Christmas for most people in Mexico, Lopez said.

This is a rosca with a figure of baby Jesus baked into it from Tortilleria y Panaderia Real.

LEFT: Lead baker Miguel Medina, of Food City, 2950 S. Sixth Ave., makes a rosca Monday afternoon. Food City sells the holiday sweet bread without the baby figurines baked in; they are provided separately.

Mmmmm!

'Anybody with any experience with the Holocaust would know it would be impossible for a girl to be throwing apples for seven months without being caught.'

Holocaust survivor and author Sidney Finkel

in his Northwest Side home, with a poster of his book, "Sevek and the Holocaust: The Boy Who Refused to Die."

Oprah believed him. So did literary agents, book publishers and movie producers.

But Holocaust survivor Sidney Finkel of Tucson says he never bought the concentration camp love story told by Herman Rosenblat.

“I knew the story was a lie,” said Finkel, 77, who was in some of the same Nazi concentration camps as Rosenblat as a young Polish boy. The two were liberated to England together and have known each other since they were teens.

Finkel, who wrote his own memoir and speaks to 7,500 students and adults a year about his experiences, worries that Rosenblat’s made-up story damages the credibility of all survivors.

“It creates doubt in people’s minds,” said Finkel, a retired appliance salesman and the father of five and grandfather of nine. “Everyone’s memoir is in doubt now.”

On Saturday, Rosenblat, who lives in Florida, recanted the story of a girl who saved him from starvation during the Holocaust by tossing apples and bread over the concentration camp fence for nearly seven months. The story was to be the subject of a memoir and a major motion picture.

After liberation, Rosenblat and Roma Radzicky met in New York on a blind date and, during conversation, discovered Roma had been Herman’s angel, or so the story went. They have been married for more than 50 years.

But now Rosenblat, 79, admits the story was untrue, and Berkley Books has canceled its plan to publish Rosenblat’s memoir, “Angel at the Fence,” due out in February. As of now, the movie deal is still on.

“Anybody with any experience with the Holocaust would know it would be impossible for a girl to be throwing apples for seven months without being caught,” Finkel said.

He also said Roma years ago shared details with him about her whereabouts during the Holocaust that put her living 200 miles away from the concentration camp.

And Rosenblat’s brother, also a survivor, told Finkel before his death that he was angry at Herman for making the story up, Finkel said.

“He just loved the publicity,” Finkel said of Rosenblat. “He wanted to be able to tell a great story and he must have felt the true story wasn’t good enough, so he made it up. It’s very bad for the Jews and it’s hurting all the survivors.”

In 2005, Finkel published his memoir, “Sevek and the Holocaust: The Boy Who Refused to Die.”

Finkel, who changed his name from Sevek to Sidney, has spent the last 14 years telling his story to about 100,000 children and adults in Tucson and around the country, he said.

He and his wife of more than 40 years, Jean, live in Tucson eight months out of the year. They live the rest of the year in the Midwest.

Finkel, who was liberated from the German concentration camp Buchenwald on April 11, 1945, tells his story so the world will not forget the horrors of the Holocaust. But he worries about the impact Rosenblat’s fabrication, which is making international headlines, will have.

Finkel is a source in a recent New Republic magazine story that led to Rosenblat’s admission that the story was untrue.

Historical records prove Rosenblat was at Buchenwald and other camps, according to the Associated Press. But he admitted in a statement through his agent that he fabricated the story of the girl and the apples.

“I wanted to bring happiness to people,” Rosenblat is quoted as saying. “I brought hope to a lot of people. My motivation was to make good in this world.”

In the tale, which he entered in a short story contest in the 1990s, Rosenblat wrote about how his mother died in the Holocaust. She later came to him in a dream, telling the 11-year-old she would send him an angel.

The angel appeared in the form of a 9-year-old girl.

The couple reportedly never told anyone the story for nearly 50 years, until Rosenblat wrote about it.

The story captivated the world. The Rosenblats twice appeared on the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” with Winfrey calling it “the single greatest love story. . . we’ve ever told on the air.” It was made into a children’s book, was to be published as a memoir and filming was to begin in March.

But for years, rumors swirled among survivors and historians that Rosenblat made it all up. How could a girl toss apples over a concentration camp wall for seven months, undetected?

Finkel said the story trivializes the horrors of the Holocaust.

“The Holocaust is not a happy story,” said Finkel, whose parents, two sisters, nine uncles and aunts and dozens of cousins died in the Holocaust.

As many as 6 million Jews and others died between 1933 and 1945, according to Yad Vashem, an organization dedicated to preserving Holocaust history.

“It is our families bones, their deaths. I am very angry at him. He says he did it to make us happy, but it was a lie.”

Finkel said the story also provides ammunition to those who claim the Holocaust was a hoax.

The horrors of the Holocaust were so great, some survivors end up trying to “outdo” others in how terrible their experiences were, he said.

But Finkel is determined to keep the history of the Holocaust alive by sharing his experiences.

“This is the purpose of my life,” he said.

More couples celebrating cross-religious holidays

<strong>Arnold Friedman</strong> holds his daughter <strong>Leela</strong>, 6, as she hangs a dreidel - a small top - on their mantel Thursday night. Watching is Leela's mother, <strong>Poornima</strong>, who is Hindu and likes to celebrate Christmas. Arnold Friedman is Jewish.

Rachael and Alyssa Montgomery are pretty particular when they make their lists for Santa Claus. Two years ago, they asked for reindeer bells. Christmas morning, the bells were under the tree.

Last year, 9-year-old Rachael and her 12-year-old sister requested elf shoes. Sure enough, red felt slippers with curled pointy toes and scalloped green trim were delivered Dec. 25, the perfect gift for a pair of nice Jewish girls.

Rachael and Alyssa are products of an interfaith marriage and their parents, Brian and Jodie, have spent years navigating the “December dilemma” that faces an increasing number of families during a month that holds both Christmas and Hanukkah.

“It’s been an evolution and at some points, quite difficult,” Jodie Montgomery said of the couple’s 17-year interfaith holiday journey. “It took us a while to find out what works for us as opposed to what we thought our parents or others wanted.”

What works for the Montgomerys is a religiously steeped Hanukkah and a “cultural” Christmas celebration. Their Catalina foothills home features menorahs, dreidels and stories of the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple in 165 B.C.

It also features Santa figurines, stockings by the fireplace and a Christmas tree with presents – but no manger scene or Nativity readings from the Gospel of St. Luke.

Some might think children would get confused in such an arrangement, but the Montgomery girls are not.

“Hanukkah is remembering the Jews during the war and they found a small amount of oil and it lasted eight days,” Alyssa explained. “Christmas is more just a celebration of the holiday and Santa. We don’t go into Jesus and stuff.”

Marriage numbers unclear

Estimates of the number of interfaith marriages vary, but what is universally agreed upon is that people are falling in love across religious boundaries that are becoming more porous with each passing of the mistletoe.

According to a 1990 Jewish Population Survey, the most recent numbers available, 28 percent of the 2.6 million married Jews in the U.S. were in an interfaith marriage.

In Tucson, the numbers are even higher, with 46 percent of the 7,211 married Jewish couples involved in intermarriages, according to the 2002 Tucson Jewish Community Population Study.

“You don’t always choose who you fall in love with,” said Frank Williams, an ordained Methodist minister and director of social services at Casa De La Luz Hospice. “Interfaith marriages are rising across all faiths because we are less dogmatic within our faith traditions these days and society is more pluralistic.”

Arnold and Poornima Friedman, radiologists at University Medical Center, are the picture of pluralism. Arnold is Jewish and Poornima, Hindu.

Although Hindus do not normally celebrate Christmas, when Poornima Friedman moved from her native India at 26, “I just fell in love with the festivity of the celebration.”

Arnold Friedman said he didn’t think Christmas would be an issue in marrying a Hindu, but learned differently early on.

“I had gone to the farmers’ market in New York and bought a fresh wreath,” Poornima Friedman recalled. “I hung it on our door and when he came home, he got very upset.”

Friedman’s visceral reaction arose out of a childhood when he felt forced to participate in Christmas rituals in public school. After explaining that to his wife, she said she understood that “we absolutely do not do Christmas inside the house.”

The Friedmans have menorahs set out in the house for Hanukkah, including one that is made from small oil-lamp clay pots normally used for the Hindu festival of Diwali.

“Because our (Hindu) festival is in the early fall, there’s really a vacuum in my life in December,” said Poornima Friedman. “I really like the festivity of Christmas. If my husband didn’t object, I would have a Christmas tree; I would celebrate it in a cultural way.”

Instead, there have been small compromises. She said she has been able to talk her husband into outside “holiday lights,” and a snowy, glittered “winter wreath” hangs over their fireplace.

“As long as they aren’t Christmas lights,” Friedman said. “And wreaths are actually pagan, so I rationalize it that way. But I’ll draw the line at having a Christmas tree.”

Compromise and respect are keys in interfaith families, according to Brian Montgomery.

“It was more important to Jodie to have a Jewish household, but she respects that there are a couple of (Christian) holidays that are important to me,” he said. “It took Jodie awhile to understand that Christmas for me was about family and culture, not religion.”

This compromise has worked for them, Montgomery said, and they are confident their children get the best of both holidays without religious confusion.

Some oppose joint holidays

Not everyone agrees that combining the two holidays is the way to go.

“The strongest advice I give couples is they make choices that work for their individual families and then no matter what other people say to them, they can say, this is how they practice,” said Stephanie Aaron, rabbi of Congregation Chaverim, a reform Jewish congregation.

“However, I also think it can be very confusing to kids if both religions are practiced, but some people feel they just can’t choose one religion over the other.”

Williams said the holiday conflicts with interfaith couples depend greatly on the involvement of each person in their particular religion.

“If the couple is not deeply involved in one religion or the other, they can kind of move back and forth very easily as a cultural practice,” said Williams, who is trained as a marriage and family counselor. “The difficulties come when one or both of the partners are really very strong in their religion.”

Other couples he has counseled alternate years between Hanukkah and Christmas, and some celebrate both each year, normally one as a cultural celebration and one religious.

Once children come along, the difficulties increase.

“Many interfaith couples think they are fine and then they have children and the difficulty becomes, ‘What do we do with the children?’” Williams said. “In general, I think children need consistency in religious upbringing to avoid confusion.”

Dennis Rivera, who was raised Pentecostal Christian but no longer practices, agreed.

“Part of getting married by a rabbi was that I agree to raise any children Jewish,” said Rivera, who married Rachel, a practicing Jew, 11 years ago. “So Christmas really hasn’t been a big issue. We adhere to the Jewish holidays 100 percent.”

Rivera said his sons Sam, 9 and Benjamin, 8, are not sheltered from Christian traditions, “but they are comfortable with their Judaism.”

“They know Christians do what they do and we do what we do,” he said. “But being a mixed couple is very interesting. For a lot of our Christian-Jewish friends Christmas becomes a big conflict, but for us, we’ve been very clear so we can enjoy the holidays.

“We have a nice Hanukkah and it works fine for us,” he continued. “I don’t screw it up by throwing Christmas into it. Although I do miss Christmas morning; that’s never changed.”

Rachael Montgomery wears the elf shoes she got in her family’s “> ” width=”314″ height=”640″ />