New York, NY - The Interchurch/Interfaith Marriage Ministries project, in conjunction with the Department of Internet Ministries of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, is pleased to announce the availability of online chat rooms for both Interfaith couples and other interested individuals. The Interfaith Marriage chat rooms are available online at: http://www.interfaith.goarch.org.
The purpose of these chat rooms is to provide interfaith couples with an online forum to discuss their questions and concerns with Fr. Charles Joanides Ph.D., LMFT. Fr. Charles has directed work on interfaith marriages for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese over the past two years. Chat rooms are available for both interfaith spouses/couples and other interested individuals. These chat rooms are intended to engender discussion and provide interested individuals with an additional resource.
The online chat rooms are a new addition to the Interfaith Marriage web site (http://www.interfaith.goarch.org). The Archdiocese launched the Interfaith Marriage web site in November of 1998 to respond to the Churchs pastoral concerns and needs towards interfaith marriages and their families. For the past year, the web site has served as a medium for:
a) Publishing the latest research findings from the Interfaith Marriage research project, and
b) To enrich the ongoing research project with comments from those who have been reading the results posted to the web site.
Since its inception, thousands of individuals have visited the Interfaith Marriage web site and benefited from its information.
Approximately 67% of all marriages conducted in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese are inter-Christian and inter-cultural. Developing a thick, rich, systematic, conceptual understanding of the lived experiences and challenges that face interfaith couples is a vital first step in Archdioceses efforts to minister more effectively to this growing population of marriages and families: to God's glory and our salvation.