Rev. Dr. Charles Joanides - Interfaith Marriage

Fr. Charles Joanides, Ph.D.,LMFT and his Presbytera Nancy at the 38th Clergy-Laity Conference in Nashville, TN

Father Joanides addresses Clergy-Laity on the Challenges of Inter-faith Marriages
by Contributing Writer Rosemary Hendrix

Fr. Charles presented 2 sessions on the topic of conversion to Orthodoxy and the attrition
rate over 4 generations of families who have intermarried. The sessions were well attended and rated highly by conferees.

Charles Joanides has a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies with a specialty in Marriage and Family Therapy. He is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist, a Clinical member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT) and an AAMFT approved supervisor. Since 1980, he has served as a Greek Orthodox priest at St. Nicholas in Newburgh, NY. He is married and has two children.

In addition to his duties as a priest, Father Charles has conducted extensive research related to intermarried couples and their families in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He also lectures, teaches and writes on intermarriage, marital enhancement and premarital preparation. To view his professional journal publications and the research study - IRP - go to:
www.interfaith.goarch.org

The resources which he has authored are: When You Intermarry: A Resource for Inter-Christian, Intercultural Couples, Parents and Families (2002); Ministering to Intermarried Couples (2004) and Attending to Your Marriage (2006). The books address, but are not limited to topics such as the following: intermarriage challenges, parenting challenges in intermarried households, conflict resolution, problem solving, America's divorce culture, Christian marriage, spouse abuse and finding help if you are a conflicted relationship. Engaged and married couples, parents, clergy, lay leaders and lay workers should find these works pertinent to their needs.

While preparing this article, Malista found the attached article regarding the topic of interfaith marriage. http://www.helleniccomserve.com/divorceperspective.html I know that this is a timely topic for many of us and Father Charles' books are referenced in this article. One of the statistics that caught the eye of Malista, is that only 14% of Greek Orthodox marriages end in divorce. This is amazing when the divorce statistics for the US is presently at 43%.

Malista!