The 2023-24 Church and Community Events Begin! The fall season has arrived, and another school year is beginning. Our Youth Director (Demos) has been busy this summer working with both the Sunday School and the Greek School Directors to plan out some great events for the 2023-24 school year (see...

The 2023-24 Liturgical New Year Begins – Is There a Strategy? After a very successful Greek Festival, I know that many of you are spending the summer traveling to Greece, England, Europe, or of course, Scotland (or just enjoying a “staycation”) without masks! September begins a new liturgical year and...

Self-Directed Spirituality and Failure to See a Direct Benefit In his April 2023 article, “10 Reasons Church Attendance is Declining (Even for Committed Christians),” Carey Nieuwhof listed off several very well known reasons for declining attendance, however two in particular were very pertinent and often overlooked: Self-Directed Spirituality and Failure...

Reflections on Holy Week While every Holy Week and Resurrection service is beautiful, this year was especially memorable in that it was immensely joyful to see our church filled once again to celebrate this most important event of our Orthodox faith. COVID certainly has had an impact on all of...

Let Pascha Become Our Way of Life While there have been countless articles written about the joy of Christ’s Resurrection as our promise of salvation it bears repeating so that we understand why this event, our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection is so significant for not only us as Orthodox...

What Happens During Great Lent? The services of Great Lent are constructed to aid us in a somber review of the gap between who we are and what we should be, as the image and likeness of God. The royal gates to the altar area remain closed as a physical...

Updating the Liturgy One of the more hotly debated topics in the Orthodox Church over the last 20 or so years has been the need for reform of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, with voices on both sides. When considering the idea of liturgical reform in our Church, I can’t help...

Progress Report 2022 2022 has been quite a year! Although we were still feeling the effects of the COVID pandemic, we made quite the return bringing our community back to life. As I have done in previous years, I wanted to provide a summary of the wonderful things that have...

The Nativity Icon All of us appreciate the importance of icons as part of the expression of our Orthodox faith. In addition to enhancing the beauty of a church, icons serve a number of purposes for our spiritual development. Instructing the laity in matters pertaining to the Christian faith. A...

From Fr. Angelo, In my October Good News article, I spoke of the need for a sound strategic (long term) plan for our church and community. This month I’d like to talk about sound strategic (long term) plan for you personally. And specifically, I’m speaking about our long-term strategy for...