Posted by Leo
on 12/20/2008, 8:57 pm, in reply to "The Ethnic Church and the Hellenic Identity"
...the bulk of every parish will eventually consist of persons of mixed ethnic heritage. Whether those children, much less their grandchildren, will opt for any kind of genuine Greek identity can not be taken for granted. Judging by the history of other ethnic groups in America, we can assume the strongest impulse of most children with mixed ethnic heritage is to simply identify as "Americans."
The writer is obviously not familiar with the development and progress of U.S. ethnic groups. IIUC immigrants' grandchildren tend to want to reclaim some of their ethnic identity/ies, and they often hand some of it/them down to their own children and grandchildren. In the "pure" homeland form? Maybe not. The Famine ended long ago in Ireland, though it lives on in many Irish-Americans' hearts and minds, whose ancestors it forced to move here.
...In the United States, the loss of a homeland language always has signaled the end of an ethnic community.
This is simply not true. America is home to hundreds if not thousands of ethnic communities, and most Americans no longer speak their ancestors' non-English languages. Why the writer can't see this all around him, especially in New York - I've lived there - is beyond me.
the existence, of a viable Greek America is at stake
As a non-Greek, this is none of my business. I'm hoping for an Orthodox America! Not in my lifetime, obviously, but I think Yanks will be more open to whatever Greek culture has to offer them if they're Orthodox, than if they're Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Wiccan, atheist, or whatever. Face it, when we convert, we become One Body with the Orthodox Greeks ... and Russians, Serbs, Romanians, Bulgarians, Arabs, Ukrainians, Carpatho-Russians, Albanians, Georgians, Aleuts, Tlingits, Yup'ik Eskimos, Tanaina Indians, Mexicans, etc etc etc. "Becoming Orthodox" can help remove Americans' 'Eastern World' blindspot, and then who knows, they might even like ouzo! (Though that ain't difficult!)
Sincerely,
Leo
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