The AHEPAN_AHEPA_75th_Anniversary_Commemorative_Edition - 11

FEATURE
*********************
THREE UNIQUE VIEWS ON THE FUTURE OF
AHEPA, THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH AND
HELLENISM
IN AMERICA
The Future of
Hellenism in America
Looking at the future of Hellenism in America, there is
both good news and bad news.
First, the bad news. The demographics are not good.
The era of migration is over. In 1995, the last year for
which data are available, the number of immigrants coming
to America from Greece was only 1,300. If one factors in
returnees to the old country, there may even be a net loss
through migration. To make matters worse, the Greek
American population, along with other well off and well
educated groups, has a low birth rate (as does Greece
itself). In other words, we are not reproducing ourselves
either through immigration or family size.
So what are the numbers of Greek Americans?
According to the 1990 United States census there are some
900,000 Americans who state they have some Greek ancestry.
Of these, about 200,000 are immigrants, 400,000 are
American born of full Greek parentage, and 300,000 of
mixed parentage. Needless to say, not all of those who
acknowledge Greek ancestry identify themselves with the
Greek American community. Independent survey data
indicates that some 600,000 Americans report themselves
as Greek Orthodox, a figure that probably comes closest to
the number of identifying Greek Americans.
To compound matters, the Greek American population is
relatively old. The children of the great wave of immigrants
in the early decades of this century are now
themselves reaching advanced age. Along with our immigrant
forebears, this " second generation " has been at heart
of the organizational life of the Greek-American community.
In a decade or two, there will be few around with living
memory of the pioneer Greek immigrants.
If these prognostications weren't gloomy enough, we
THE AHEPAN * SUMMER 1997
must also confront the growing ratio of intermarriages.
Since 1980, over two-thirds of Church marriages involve a
non-Orthodox. But even this figure understates the real
number of intermarriages as we can safely assume that virtually
all those who marry outside the Church - a large, if
unknown, number - are marrying non-Greeks. At one
time, Greek parents hoped their children would marry
Greeks, now they hope their children will marry within the
Greek Orthodox Church.
These elemental facts mean that, if there is to be a future
for Hellenism in this country, a primary
concern must be with non-Greek
spouses and the children of the mixed
marriages. The core question is what
happens to the children of intermarried
couples. Common sense suggests
that these children will have less of a
Greek identity than those who are the
offspring of two Greek-American parents.
Furthermore, for the large
majority of the grandchildren of the
immigrants and later generations Greek
language competency ranges from
meager to nonexistent, even among
those with solely Greek ancestry.
Now to the good news. The Greek
Orthodox Church could be on the
verge of exponential growth within
American society. We are seeing two
exciting spiritual developments within
Christian Orthodoxy in the United
States. One is the emerging movement
toward pan-Orthodoxy; the other
is the phenomenal growth of Orthodox
monastic orders in recent years.
1--::'·
at _Nort~w~st~.!'!,,., ,, . , ,, ~;,_.\
a life-long Ahepan, is
professor of Sociology
University in Evanston;~ * * ·* .
Illinois. Born in
Chicago of parents
coming from Northern
Epirus, he is the
author of many books
and published pieces
in the New York
Times, Washington
Post and many more.
Continued on page 12
II
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