Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Box & Spoon: Aylan Kurdi and Our Failure To Act
Box & Spoon: Aylan Kurdi and Our Failure To Act
52
OCT
2015
2015 Standing
Committees
PARISH COUNCIL
Aaron Biedermann-President
Halina Woroncow-Vice Pres.
Tim Kelly
Angie Rustad
Don Jenkins
Erline Holman
Robert Lytle
Jacob Petersen Treasurer
Ben Johnson
STEWARDSHIP /
OUTREACH
John Maragos Chair
Halina Woroncow
Ari Kolas
Andy Franquiera
ICONOGRAPHY
Fr. Mark Muoz
BUILDING
Tim Kelly- Chair
Ari Kolas
BUDGET
Jacob Petersen
Fr. Mark Muoz
AUDIT
Jacob Peterson
Amy Franqueira
John Maragos
PHILOXENIA HOUSE
Brad Holman Chair
ST. PHILOTHEI
Trevor Hamlen Chair
GREEK FESTIVAL
Erline Holman
Johnny Mangouras
Denise Mangouras
The
world
found
in you
a great
champion,
Great Martyr
invoke
Christ uniting
God for the
His earthly
great mercy.
St.heavenly
Demetrius Holy
Myrrh-streamer
Oct 21st
26th
Christ
ourhas
God,
upon
fulfilling
Your
dispensation
for us,Demetrius,
You ascended
in Glory
with the
Ascension, May
Kos, which rests just off of Turkey. Greece is in the midst of a crippling economic crisis. With 25% unemployment, reduced
salaries, and higher taxes, one would think that the Greeks would force the refugees elsewhere. Yet, on this tiny island, the
Mayor was moved by the actions of the Greek people. Here, on the island of Kos, the Syrian refugees were embraced and given
water and food. The Syrian refugees found momentary sanctuary and help with the paperwork for refugee status in Greece. This
was a perfect example of a Christian response to the crisis. The residents of Kos demonstrated a Christian love required in 1
Peter 4:9, which asks us to show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
The Syrian toddler is a tough image to swallow. In a previous OCN writing, I detailed the joys of a child and what children
represent. The photo of Aylan Kurdis body on the shore of Turkey represents the opposite. It represents shattered dreams and
extinguished hope. The photo tears into our souls and forces us to weep over the context: a child, just starting his life, who could
not even fully comprehend the situation he and his family were thrown into; a situation created by men he never met who were
compelled by motives he didnt even know existed.
It is an image of innocence lost. Of humanitys failure, of our failure. Its a symbol of how man can even find profit in disaster.
The cost was $4500 (US) to be on an overcrowded boat, avoiding a rubber raft but not having enough money to secure life vests.
This is the most appalling aspect of the ordeal, not being able to afford a chance at life in the event of something going wrong.
The pained father said his son slipped through his hands, but the truth is Aylan, his brother Galip, and their mother Rehan,
slipped through all our hands. Sadly, more refugees will slip through our hands as the European nations try to figure out how to
uniformly deal with this situation. Our Faith asks for action, our conscience demands it, and our souls require it. Fences may
create barriers to reinforce lines on a map, to protect states from being impacted by the Syrian crisis, but fences cant stop our
conscious from being impacted.
In 2015, more than 2,600 refugees have died trying to reach a better life in Europe, and they make up nearly 75% of the total
migrant deaths throughout the world. We can continue to draw attention to the crisis in Syria, we can write and keep ISIS at the
forefront of conversation. But there is an urgent matter at hand, one which requires our Orthodox charity. We must help those
wanting a chance at life, a chance at happiness, a chance at hope.
It should not take the image of Aylan Kurdi to force us into action, and the least we do unto our brethren, we do unto the Lord.
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
Oct. 7th
Oct. 9th
Oct. 13th
Oct. 14th
Thursday
Sunday
Wednesday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Oct. 15th
Oct. 18th
Oct. 21st
Oct. 24th
Oct. 25th
Oct. 26th
Tues-Wed
Saturday
Sunday
6pm
6:30pm
6pm
7pm
6pm
6:30pm
6pm
8:30am
5pm
8:30am
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Oct 26th
Youth Team
The school year has begun! Our Church School
teachers have convened another year of
catechetical instruction. We are embracing our
parish motto of flexibility in managing our
classroom size and location this school year as
construction of our new educational wing and
fellowship hall proceeds. Thanks to all for your
commitment to this ministry!
This year, we have divided the students into two groups to best utilize our available space. Grades 1-5
are taught by Loredana Jerghiuta and Kathy Lytle; Grades 6-12 are taught by Mike Brekke and
Halina Woroncow. There is much we will learn from each other!
Our youth completed the last highway cleanup of the year in association with the MN DOT Adopt a
Highway Program. This is a valuable exercise in environmental stewardship which our Ecumenical
Patriarchate reminds us is our responsibility as Orthodox Christians. We will be back at it next spring.
Families are welcome and encouraged!
GOYA then met for our traditional Students vs Parents Volleyball match to start out our year. As
always, good fun was the winner!
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
Youth Team
~ continued ~
JOY first Faith Night for the school year will be on October 1st at 5:30 PM in the church library.
GOYA will meet for their first Faith Night on October 14th at 7 pm. Please save the dates!
Our church school students are participating in a collection for IOCC to distribute emergency hygiene
kits to victims of disaster. Our collection will proceed through Sunday, October 25th. The entire
parish is invited to join in! Please leave your donation in the orange tub in the narthex. We welcome
donation of complete kits in a gallon-sized ziplock bag or any number of individual items. We
already have the toothbrushes thank you! A monetary donation is certainly welcome, as well.
Thank you for your help this worthy project!
We welcome each and every student to our classrooms and invite you to our youth fellowship events.
Together, we pray: Help the children of this age, O Almighty One, so that they may grow up and
mature to Divine sonship and heavenly citizenship, for their eternal salvation and for Thy glory
and praise. Amen. (Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich)
Youth Team Coordinators,
Loredana Jerghiuta, Halina Woroncow and Mike Brekke
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Oct 26th
Philoptochos Society
Dear Parish Family,
September has been a wonderful time of giving. The Philoptochos along with George Yogi
Kereakos served a luncheon to celebrate the first day of our Catechetical classes for our children.
This is a long standing tradition for his family and we thank him for supporting our children's
spiritual education.
Philoptochos asked once again of our Parish to help support Holy Cross Hellenic College. We passed
a second tray on September 27th and collected money to be sent to Hellenic College for seminarians
at Holy Cross to assist with tuition expenses. Thank you for your donations.
October is our Stewardship drive and our time to recruit new members. If you are interested at all in
being a member of our Philoptochos Society, or ever wondered what we do. Please do not hesitate to
contact any member or myself personally. We would love to have you!
October we will be doing a new and unique fundraiser for Philoptochos. We are going to
be selling soap. I have done a lot of research and have found a company that offers an all
natural product, that only uses essential oils and no chemicals. They make great gifts for
Christmas, a hostess gift or for that one person who has everything. Everyone needs soap, why not
make it a special one. We will have samples for people to see and smell, I promise you will not be
disappointed. If this is not something you want to purchase for yourself, might I suggest a donation to
our Philoxenia house for our guests or to the Dorothy Day House.
This fundraiser will begin in October. We will have a table in the back every Sunday through the
month of October. Stop by and take a look at what we have.
During October the Philoptochos donates cookies every year to the Ronald McDonald house, as part
of our charity work, this year at our first meeting, it was decided to expand our work for the house.
We decided not to donate cookies, but to look at other ways to help the families. More news to come
on this ministry.
We thank you, our Parish of Holy Anargyroi, for supporting our ongoing Philanthropic work.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, October 13th at 6pm in our Church Library.
In Christ,
Kris Brekke
Philoptochos President
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
Conference Overview
Dates: October 8 11, 2015
Director: Chris Kypros
Conference site: St. Marys Greek Orthodox Church
Registration fee: $160
Federation stole: $5 to rent or $18 to purchase. Stole is required. See registration form to reserve stole.
Host Choir contact: Elena Biessener, elen2b0916@comcast.net (651) 337-0681
The Federation website is www.chicago.churchmusic.goarch.org. Click on
Annual Conference tab to download forms and for a link to make secure
on-line payments to St. Marys Church.
You may also go directly to www.stmarysgoc.org to make payments. Follow
the payment instructions explained on the page entitled To Pay for Choir
Registration On-line.
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Andrew & Anna Chafoulias Memorial Fellowship Hall & Education Center
Oct 26th
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Oct 26th
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Oct 26th
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
Stewardship
Reminder: Your Online Stewardship Accounts!
Thank you to the many people who are currently using our new
online Church Management & Stewardship system!
Even if you choose not to give electronically, we still ask you to
log-in and keep your profile up-to-date so that we have the latest
information for our church and tax records.
In addition, you can view how much you've already given at any
time regardless of how you donated it, so its the best place to
check your Stewardship status, and its available to you 24/7.
If you havent already signed up, its very easy to get things
going. Please follow the tutorial below, and if you have any
further questions email:
stewardship-outreach@rochesterorthodoxchurch.org
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Oct 26th
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
Step 4: Below is the Account Sign-Up page. Please fill in your email
address and name as we have it on file. Click FIND ME.
If there isnt a match in our database, please contact us at stewardshipoutreach@rochesterorthodoxchurch.org with your preferred email
address and name. Well email you back once our records are updated.
After this, navigate back to the Account Sign-Up page below, and type
in the email address and name you sent us, then click FIND ME.
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Oct 26th
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Oct 26th
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1
The world has found in you a great champion, Great Martyr Demetrius, invoke Christ God for His great mercy. St. Demetrius Myrrh-streamer
Oct 26th
Glorious wonderworking physicians, having received the grace of healing, reach out and restore health to those in need. SS. Kosmas & Damianos, Nov 1