Do you think my dad is correct about this?

[Anonymous]

So our religion is eastern Christian Orthodox. There are three main languages primarily associated with the religion and it's Russian, Greek and Romanian. So my dad was complaining about Mexican immigrants coming to America and not learning English. I mentioned how our religion, the priests and the people who go to church sometimes don't speak English in America. And my dad said that's not the same thing because the religion is coming from a different country and that's how the religion is it's impossible to change it and it shouldn't be changed. My dad said the Mexican immigrants and our religion is different and cannot be compared. I was wondering if you agree with my dad. If it makes sense what he is saying.

[abc3643]

No, your father is incorrect.

For centuries, the Catholic Mass was conducted solely in Latin because Latin was the language of the Roman Empire at the time of Christianity's founding. However, as the centuries passed during The Dark Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire, many people no longer spoke Latin, let alone read it since most people could not read. This was problematic because if the religion is not in a language that the local people can understand, then it wasn't going to get the local support it needed, let alone grow. So, the Bible and the Mass were eventually translated into local languages thus ensuring the spread of Roman Catholicism throughout the world.

In other words, there's no reason why any Eastern Orthodox church can conduct its mass in whatever local language there is.

As for immigrants, it DOES behoove them to learn the local language but shouldn't be required. Many immigrants in generations past asserted their "Americaness" by not teaching their kids the native language. This way, the kids were more American than from "the old country".

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Happy Easter this weekend, by the way!

[Asker]

That's very nice of you to wish me a Happy Easter. :) I'm surprised you know we have our Easter later than everyone else. I wish you a Happy Easter too! Christ has risen.

[abc3643]

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In other words, there's no reason why any Eastern Orthodox church CANNOT conduct its mass in whatever local language there is.

[Imsmurter1]

I agree with your dad that religion and daily life aren't the same. It would be a different thing if Russians, Romanians, Greeks moved into America en masse and refused to learn the language. But that isn't the case. They are speaking English in most cases but just using their own language at church.

But I guess you're right that there's a sliding scale between the two examples. Why not just use English at church? What's the big deal? I guess the main thing is that you can use your own language at home as long as you at least learn English for public use. I guess what your dad is griping about are immigrants who just refuse to learn English and yet live off of America's systems.

[Imsmurter1]

Thanks

[Anonymous]

A lot of people who have east Europe's ancestry have people who came to the USA since the 1800s, most hispanics from Latin America have far more recent roots in the US.

[Asker]

So do you agree or don't agree with him?

[Opinion Owner]

not really honestly my family is Irish American catholic. I am not really religious but my mom forced me to get confirmed it was a whole thing. Decades ago lot of catholic churches used to be in Latin or ethnic languages. Nowadays they all speak English some Spanish. There are still latin and ethnic churches out there but they're was less than back in the day.