I suppose the situation is unique where I live, there's 13 Orthodox parishes within an hour of eachother. At least 4 are all english, 1 mixes slavonic into the music sometimes, one (where I attend) is mostly slavonic with dual gospel readings and prayers in english and some other parts and some music in english, i suspect the others are mostly ethnic (Ukrainian, Armenian, etc), though i haven't been to them.
When you've got 3 'Russian' parishes within 15 minutes of eachother (not to mention a Ukrainian Orthodox and a Ukrainian Catholic) I think rather than telling immigrants to get lost, the parishes should work together to serve the needs of the flock. 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.
Though, it seems to me that the 'Americianized' parishes are hurting more for members... which is odd considering most of their die hard members all remember when it was all slavonic when they were kids.
"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.