The first generation has the benefit of being more congruous with our environment but, as even pop culture seems to understand, we do not quite fit in with our moussaka into the white bread world around us. This has more than just simple effects on our social comfort but rather far reaching implications on our choice of schools, careers, spouses and other major decisions that are both consciously and subconsciously affected by our upbringing in an immigrant household.
The real assimilation does not happen until at least the second generation of immigrants who are raised by parents who (somewhat) understand the world that their children are growing up in. Rather than simply reacting to one new "foreign demand" after another, these parents can anticipate the challenges their children will face and help them navigate them accordingly. This is a complex undertaking that requires more than a simple checklist of items like making sure to apply for scholarships for college - rather, this requires the parents to decide a priori what values they want to instill in their children, ideally picking and choosing the best traits of the two cultures that they have known as part of their own identity.
This is where the Coptic Church being self aware becomes critically important if the Church is going to be part of that value-molding process. I think we all agree that not all Egyptian values are Christian values, but we may not necessarily agree on which ones are which. Furthermore, the more fuzzy we leave it the more room we leave for even first and second generation Coptic Christians to be confused as to what values they really need to pass along to their children. I'm not saying we need to have a papal decree or a referendum or some kind of official document that says "these are the values we have decided to actually mean something." What I am saying is that everyone from the bishops to the clergy to the servants to the parents needs to be mindful of this cultural gap and thoughtful about what it is that makes us "Us." If we know who we would want to be then we will know who to teach our children to become*.
Footnote:
*Please note that I do understand that the simple answer is "be like Christ" but everyone seems to have a different caricature in their heads of who He is so it seems more straightforward to engage in a personal and communal discussion on actual values.
