Sephardic Bnei Anusim forebear/s who was/were forced to convert from Judaism to Catholicism. In regards to the second issue, in Rabbinic Judaism, a person's Jewish status is determined in one of two ways: Thus, natural-born Jewish status of a child (male or female) comes from its mother, via its maternal grandmother, via its maternal great-grandmother, and so on. As a consequence of the number of generations that have passed since the forced conversion of the Anusim ancestors of the Sephardic Bnei Anusim, the likelihood of a broken direct maternal Jewish lineage in that time (or the difficulty in producing documentary evidence proving otherwise)
Handbook of Denominations Handbook of Denominations The Handbook of Denominations, also known as Abingdon's Handbook of Denominations, by Frank S. Mead and Samuel Hill, is a reference work on religious denominations, particularly but not exclusively Christian ones, based in North America or extensively represented there (i.e., the Roman Catholic Church). Published by the Nashville, Tennessee-based United Methodist Publishing House, is intended to be an authoritative guide to the history, polity, and doctrines of various religious groups. The work is periodically updated to keep pace with changes in the groups chronicled and to document the formation of new groups. The book was ranked 323rd