2008 St. Paisius Missionary School Conferences

This year our Missionary School events have kept us very active throughout the summer. We were very pleased with each Conference and we would like to thank all of you who have supported and prayed for the work of the Missionary School over the past year.  This year our events included the Holy Theotokos Young Women’s Conference in Santa Rosa, CA, the St. John Maximovitch Family Conference in Eugene, OR and the first New Gracanica Family Conference in Third Lake, IL, north of Chicago. Our theme for all of the conferences this year was “Living Orthodoxy in Modern America.”

The 7th Annual Holy Theotokos Young Women’s Conference was held from June 24th to the 30th. 
The Sisterhood of the Holy Dormition Orthodox Church in Santa Rosa, CA housed 15 girls, dormitory-style, in St. Michael’s School located on the church property. The young women, ages 13-17, enjoyed an exciting time of prayer, spiritual instruction, crafts, recreation, and fellowship. The conference began with a heart-felt letter from His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph exhorting and encouraging the girls to Christian virtue.
This year’s activities included a trip to venerate the relics of St. John of San Francisco and then a windy walk along the Golden Gate bridge. The young women learned and performed two new liturgical pieces for our Sunday services (listen at www.holydormitionchurch.org) and led the cycle of services during the week. For their service project, the girls restored the grave site of Archimandrite Dimitri, the reposed spiritual father of the nuns at Kazan Skete. At the end of our report we have included a letter by a young women who attended and appreciated the stability of the Young Women’s Conferences in her developing teen years. Again we thank Popadia Christina and the Sisterhood of Holy Dormition for another successful event.

St. John Maximovitch Family Conference in Eugene, OR was scheduled a week earlier this year from July 28-August 1st. The number of registrants almost doubled from last year with around 140 people attending Sky Camp on the beautiful Fall Creek Reservoir. With the blessing of His Grace, Bishop Maxim, our guest speaker was Fr. Ilija Balach from St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church near Seattle, WA.  Fr. Michael and Fr. Philip were the main lecturers and led the teen program. Popadias Christina Oyer and Junia Tolbert presented wonderful programs for the younger children.

The children between 8 and 13 performed, under the creative directorship of Popadia Junia, the life of St. Philaret the Merciful. This is one of the many children’s plays that Popadia Junia has written for the Missionary School children’s program. They will soon be published by CSB Publishing. Other activities during the week included a lively talent show, swimming in the lake, hiking, the evening Three Kings Astronomy Club, and a wonderful Divine Liturgy to end the week. Our thanks to Fr. David and Popadia Esther Lubliner and all from their parish who put on a great conference.

Over the past 6 years, we have held our Mid-west Family Conference outside Madison, WI hosted by the St. Andrew the Apostle Serbian Orthodox Mission. Unfortunately, due to family commitments, Fr. Gregory and Popadia Ann Schultz were not able to host their inspiring conference this year. However, Fr. Milorad Loncar invited us to the New Gracanica Serbian Orthodox Monastery, with the blessing of His Grace, Bishop Longin, for this year’s Mid-west Family Conference.  The Conference was held August 8-10 on the beautiful monastery grounds north of Chicago. All our services were held in the monastery church with its stunning frescos and striking architecture.

We had a small but inspired group of 30 participants who were very engaged in the lectures and activities.  The hiermonk, Fr. Seraphim Baltic, gave an excellent lecture on “Living Orthodoxy in  Modern America”, drawing on his experience of life in Serbia and Western Europe. Our guest lecturer from Chicago, Fr. Milos Vesin, joined Fr. Michael and Fr. Philip to round out the weekend instruction. Popadia Junia led the youth program with the aid of Popadia Ann Schultz. Fr. Gregory emceed our talent night  which ended in an evening of song. The sisterhood of the local parish provided the meals and they were  plentiful and delicious.
We had the honor of visiting with Bishop Longin, who administrates his Diocese from the monastery.  Although he had to be away for the weekend, he said that he would like to be more involved next year, which would be a blessing for us. This Family Conference definitely will certainly grow as more people hear about it and we thank Fr. Milorad, Fr. Seraphim and the Sisterhood for their excellent support.