2009 St. Paisius Missionary School Conferences

In the summer of 2009, the St. Paisius Missionary School co-sponsored three conferences with the theme for each event being “Awake and Redeem the Times.”

To begin, the 8th Annual Holy Theotokos Young Women’s Conference was hosted by the Sisterhood of the Holy Dormition Orthodox Church in Santa Rosa, CA. Fifteen young women, ages 13-17, from around the U.S.A., were housed dormitory-style in St. Michael’s School located on the church property. They gathered for a time of prayer, spiritual instruction, crafts, recreation, and fellowship. The young women prepared the common meals and enjoyed nature outings, music and folk-dancing. This year’s activities included a trip to venerate the relics of St. John of San Francisco with an inspiring lecture and slide show on missionary work given by Kathryn Saclarides, a young Orthodox woman from Chicago. Also an unexpected tour of Raphael House in San Francisco was offered to the young ladies by the Executive Director, Fr. David Lowell.  During the week the young women also enjoyed a trip to the Pacific Ocean, a BBQ under the Redwoods, volleyball, drama, liturgical singing and group discussions. For their service project this year, the girls helped out at a local women’s shelter in Santa Rosa. Our thanks to the Sisterhood of Holy Dormition for another great Young Women’s Conference.

Next, the St. John Maximovitch Family Conference near Eugene, OR took place the last week of July. We spent 5 days at the spacious Skycamp facility situated on the beautiful Fall Creek Reservoir. Near the lake were cabins, which housed over 100 adults and children, and a spacious lodge, where meals, lectures and daily prayer services occurred. Activities for the whole family were provided with adult lectures and programs for youth, ages 5-18.  This year our special speaker was Fr. Josiah Trenham, the rector of the St. Andrew Orthodox Christian Church in Riverside, CA, who gave excellent lectures on Marriage and Family.

The children between 8 and 13 performed, under the creative directorship of Popadia Junia Tolbert, the life of St. Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope and Love. 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 during the conference. Our thanks to the parish of St. John Maximovitch Serbian Orthodox Church for all their hard work and for a successful conference.

Finally, our 2nd New Gracanica Family Conference was held August 7-10 at the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of New Gracanica outside of Chicago, IL. We had a small but inspired group of 30 participants who were very engaged in the lectures and activities. Our host at the Monastery, Hieromonk Seraphim Baltic, presented a lecture on the theme “Awake and Redeem the Times”, along with Fr. Michael and Fr. Philip. Popadia Ann Schultz provided the children’s program and Fr. Gregory Schultz emceed our talent night which ended in an evening of song. The Sisterhood of the local parish provided the meals which were plentiful and delicious. Two special presentations were given. First, Fr. Justin Mathews, the executive director of the newly-formed FOCUS North America, presented the inspiring vision of their outreach to North America, and second, Kathryn Sacralides was very gracious to present her missionary lecture and slideshow to everyone on Sunday.  Her missionary and service work in Romania, Africa and America provoked much conversation with the young adults who attended the conference and forged new friendships. Along with His Grace Bishop Longin, Fr. Milorad Loncar, Fr. Seraphim and the Sisterhood of New Gracanica, we would like to give our special thanks to Fr. Gregory and Pda. Ann Schultz for their tireless labors in making this conference a success. At the end of the conference, in his closing comments, His Grace extended to us a warm invitation to return again next year.