Window Quarterly Vol. 4, No. 3, 1994 Copyright 1994 [Permission is granted to use, print, reproduce this article provided the following acknowledgment is given: From Window Quarterly 4, 3 (1994); ACRAG c. 1994. *** A NON-ARMENIAN'S PERCEPTION OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH PARISH Through the pages of the Armenian Reporter [A survey of the , October-November 1994 issues] by Hratch Tchilingirian The scenario: A non-Armenian is interested in joining an Armenian Church parish in the East Coast and is looking for some information. She does not know much about the Armenian community or the church. As an "objective observer," she gets hold of seven issues of the Armenian Reporter International, October 1-November 12, 1994, to learn about Armenian Church parish life. At first, she finds the Reporter to be somewhat tabloidish and sensational, nevertheless, she finds many announcements about the activities of Armenian parishes in six states. She goes through the news releases, announcements, calendar of events and the photos, and finds the following about Armenian parishes: Eighteen parishes are having 32 events, from October 1 to December 31, 1994. There are 17 dinners, 13 bazaars, (that is, 32 opportunities to taste Armenian food), 4 cultural events (a lecture,a book fair, a jazz concert and a talent show), 2 celebrations of Armenia's independence, 1 fur and leather sale, and 1 seminar on Halloween's satanic nature. For October 8, she finds two dinner dances taking place in the New York area; on November 12, two bazaars taking place at the same time; and on November 26, two more dinner Kef nights within miles of each other. Overwhelmed by these events, she tries to make sense of these numbers. She calculates that 81.5% of the events are dinners and bazaars, 16% are cultural, 2.5% educational. This is how Armenian parish life is presented in the Armenian Reporter International for a three month period. Of course these numbers are not conclusive. There are other types of activities that go on in Armenian parishes - Bible studies, Sunday School, adult education classes, etc. However, it is interesting to note that during the above mentioned period, not one religious activity was announced. There could be many reasons for this. Our purpose in this brief survey is not an attempt to find scientific correlation or implications of numbers, but rather to present what is already obvious, i.e., the news releases and announcements that are sent by the parishes to the Armenian media. We are not questioning the validity or representativeness of these numbers, we leave that to a more scientific study of these issues in the future. Our purpose is to provide some data for reflection, analysis and discussion. We hope that this survey will provide an opportunity for our parishes to evaluate and scrutinize their overall parish activities and mission. After all, it is not only non- Armenians who are interested in becoming part of the Armenian parish - there are many Armenians who are searching as well. *** =================================================== _ _ _ _ _ |_| ___ _| | ___ _ _ _ | | | | | | _ / _ \ / _ | / _ \ | | | | | | | |_| |_| || |_ | | | || |_| || |_| || |_| |_| | \_________/\___||_| |_| \___/ \___/ \_________/ View Of The Armenian Church ===================================================