"If all pulled the same English only immigrants can assimilate or go home routine that one of the OCA parishes has then frankly there'd be barely enough folks to fill one parish."
You know, that's just awful. We have a Greek immigrant family where only the young daughter speaks English. While our Divine Liturgy stays about 40-50% Greek, those of us who speak Greek make it a point to speak Greek with them, talk about the old country and generally try to make it as easy as possible for them to feel part of everything and I think we are succeeding. Our in Ethiopian families, the kids all speak perfect Englsih, but the parents have a very hard time. One of our old Greek ladies grew up in Ethiopia (her father was a Greek doctor there) and she speaks Amharic so she talks with the parents and makes them feel welcome. This year they participated in our festival with some great Ethiopian food and were very proud to have helped the parish. Anyway, it seems to me that's the way to handle things with immigrants in the absence of a completely or nearly completely ethnic parish.
Tell you wife please that I am very sorry to hear of her experience. It is a disgrace.
The irony is that the person who said this with regards to immigrants is 3rd generation Russian.
It'd be great if someday it's commonplace to have enough Orthodox to fill 10 English parishes and a bunch of ethnic ones to boot (though still hardly an excuse for being exclusionary in either circumstance).
We're really happy with the parish we go to now. (And as much as I drown on about Slavonic hearing the Gosepl readings and Sermon in English is especially helpful)
In Libertyville, Ill., with a large Serbian population, the Divine Liturgy is offered in Slavonic and English separately. I have been to churches with mixed-language services and I can tell you that it is not the ideal situation. It is broken and for those who understand both languages it is very repetitive.
I prefer either completely English or Slavonic service because I understand both languages. I enjoy Greek liturgies and can follow them sufficiently by rote and by rudimentary understanding of liturgical Greek buzzwords.
But the fullness of the Divine Liturgy is achieved by participating actively in the entire Divine Liturgy uninterruptedly.
Some parishes try to accommodate heterogenious groups of Orthodox believers and that is charitable and good. But they should encourage these groups to either get one of their priests to visit or to establish their own parish.
A large number of Russians in my former OCA church is planning to do just that. My Serbian parish just got a full-time priest, so that was not an option either.
The weight of tradition is not to be discounted. In Serbia, vernacular is allowed in the service but most people prefer Slavonic with Apostol and Gospel readings and the homily in vernacular.
With Hispanic population increase a mathematical certainty, English may not be the only language of our children's children. So, I owuldn't place my bets on English as something set in stone.
The Jews did not find it hopeless to retain Hebrew as biblical language even though most don't speak it, and Israel re-established Hebrew that has been forgotten for more than 2,000 years, even when Christ walked the earth, and is now a living language once again.
Never forsake your roots to accommodate the world. Rejecting the language of your culture is like disowning your parents and grandparents. It means cutting off your own memory, denying where you came from and ultimately who you are. Some people don't mind losing their identity. Others do. Cultural preservation of a nation is not chauvinism.
Rather, American insistence on relativity and mixing of everything and all is patently counter-cultural, and chauvinistic in its own right. Do not think for a moment that there is no such thing as American culture. You better believe there is one, and it resists any change.