BUTLER COUNTY — Friday night at the fish fry doesn't have the same dominant social pull it once did.

But it isn't because there are less fish in the sea; it's because there are more.

People from different religions are falling in love every day, placing their clergy in the unenviable position of trying to honor the couple's love while maintaining church tradition.

Mixed or interfaith marriages were first forbade by world religions, but through the years various religions have relaxed their rules to fit the shrinking world.

Hazzan Adrian Caplowe of the Congregation Bnai Abraham pointed out people will inevitably meet each other in different ways and end up falling in love.

One married couple in her synagogue, Roberta and Dennis Gallagher, comes from different heritages. Roberta is a devout Jew and Dennis is a non-practicing Catholic. They were married 32 years ago before a Jewish judge at a Holiday Inn.

"You marry a person because you love them, regardless of their religion," said Roberta. "(Their religion) is something you should embrace because it's a part of their life."

However, one condition she was unwilling to compromise was that the children be raised Jewish. Dennis consented.

"It doesn't matter what religion they're raised in as long as it's stable," said Dennis. "Religion is just something you grow up with."

Roberta said the pair doesn't ignore Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter, but they make sure to emphasize the Jewish ones more. During the Hanukkah festival their children received the bulk of their gifts, and on Christmas they received more practical items.

Roberta said when her oldest son, Ethan, was just

17 years old

, he led a Jewish congregation at Penn State-Dubois. That is an example of how strong the faith in the family is, said Roberta.

"Seeing how we can all get along and still be a family, I think interfaith marriage strengthens the Jewish tradition," she said.

Although the couple is accepted into their synagogue, they would not have been authorized for a Jewish wedding. Caplowe said the synagogue is conservative, which forces it to follow Jewish rules that outlaw performing interfaith marriage ceremonies.

The Roman Catholic Church is less restrictive when it comes to interfaith marriages.

The Rev. Richard Lelonis, director of office for matrimonial concerns for the Pittsburgh Diocese, said the Church requires lots of paperwork but any marriage arrangement is permissible. But first the non-Catholic must recognize the sanctity of the marriage vow, and the Catholic must pledge to make an honest effort to attempt to raise the children Catholic.

George and Rose Pawluk of Butler were married in 1985. George is Eastern Orthodox and Rose a Roman Catholic.

The differences between the two religions might seem small, but they caused a schism in the Catholic Church more than a thousand years ago.

The Pawluks' children were raised Roman Catholic. Like the Gallaghers, the couple decided before marriage on this point, with the proper paperwork signed in advance.

George said his

main concern was that he didn't lose his personal identity and that some of that identity could be passed onto the kids.

"My dad impressed on me the idea that you should never forget where you came from."

He said his parents went through incredible pains to get to the United States. During the Nazi regime in Germany, his parents were placed into a work camp for being Ukrainian.

George said he values the Orthodox Church in his life because the services have many of the Eastern European customs of his heritage.

He and his wife pass on these "ethnic flavors" to their children by exposing them to customs at his church, SS Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The family participates in painting the delicate Ukrainian Easter eggs, or "pysanki," and sometimes attends Byzantine dance performances.

Before marriage, George said he and his wife considered adapting their religious customs a bit. They looked into attending a Roman Catholic Ukrainian Church.

George said the church would have had the familiar customs of his church for him and the Roman Catholic denomination for his wife.

Rose said the differences in their ecclesiastical background weren't that important because each came from devout Christian families.

"You can't have a good marriage without a strong faith in God. Our relationship is structured around him," said Rose.

Even though interfaith marriages are becoming increasingly common, they are not without their headaches. The generation gap between parents and their children can be challenging.

Lelonis said even with today's religious temperance, there is still usually some disappointment that accompanies mixed-faith or interfaith marriages.

"Religion is a conservative force in society. It tries to preserve itself," said Lelonis.

One of the big questions is always, "What about the grandchildren?"

That was crucial to Roberta Gallagher, who said she feels that more than 65 years after the Holocaust, the Jewish faith is disappearing by being absorbed into other cultures.

Edward Case, president of the Web magazine Interfaithfamily.com, said the mother has more influence in deciding the religion of the children.

He said this because in most cases the mother is the nearest to the children as they are growing up. During these formative years, a child's religious background can solidify.

Based on the various studies he has seen, Case said only 40 percent of reformed rabbis — which are the type of rabbi open to the idea of interfaith marriage— will perform the weddings.

The conservative and Orthodox rabbis will always refuse from a doctrinal standpoint.

Roberta said it's tough to argue with thousands of years of advice. But she agrees to disagree.

"The bottom line is that someone is a good person and believes in God," she said.