Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America
Wichita Chancery, 1559 N. Woodlawn, Wichita, KS, 67208-2429
316-687-3169 (phone); 316-687-3327 (fax)
Welcome to the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America, part of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America. The Diocese of Wichita is led by His Grace Bishop BASIL and includes more than 45 churches and missions in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.
Click here for a directory of all the parishes in the Diocese of Wichita.
Click here for a map of the Diocese of Wichita.
Click here to learn more about Bishop BASIL.
To contact Bishop BASIL electronically, email editor@antiochian.org with "Bishop BASIL" in the subject line.
Discovering Original Christianity in Oklahoma City
Fr. Jeremy Davis, Deacon Ezra Ham, Fr. James Bernstein, Matthew Gallatin, John Maddex and Fr. Constantine NasrConciliar Media Ministries under the direction of CEO John Maddex coordinated an evangelism project in Oklahoma City June 19 and 20 with funding provided by the Antiochian Archdiocese as well as Charles Ajalat of the Orthodox Vision Foundation. Central Oklahoma was saturated with a four-week media blitz that included newpaper, radio, television, billboards, yard signs, and internet advertising. The advertising campaign was led by St. Elijah members Richard Yeager, John and Kathi Larson, and Mark Loftis.
On the local level Fr. Constantine Nasr, Sr. Pastor of St. Elijah Church, headed up a pan-Orthodox effort that included Fr. John Tsaras of St. George Greek Church, Fr. Raphael Moore of St. Mary Ukrainien Church, Fr. Anthony Nelson of St. Benedict Russian Church; and Fr. Justin McFeeters of Holy Ascension, Fr. Basil McMurry of St. James Mission, and Fr. Mark Wallace of St. Andrew Church (all Antiochian).
Guest speakers for the two-day event were Fr. James Bernstein and author Matthew Gallatin. Over 800 attended with as many as 90% of those attending being non-Orthodox.
Click here to visit the website for the Discover Original Christianity project.
Ancient Faith Radio Interviews Bishop BASIL About Damascus Journey
Following last week's Damascus journey of five Archdiocese bishops, Matthew Namee, host of the new Ancient Faith Radio podcast American Orthodox History, spent some time talking with His Grace Bishop Basil of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America. "We have a father in God who loves us," says Bishop BASIL of His Beatitude Patriarch IGNATIUS IV, "a father in God who knows us by name." Listen to the 10 minute interview here.
For more details on the American Orthodox History podcast, including the introductory program on the importance of learning about the history of the Church on this continent, click here.
St. George El Paso Featured in Award-Winning News Feature
Holy Week services at St. George Church in El Paso, Texas were featured in a news segment on local station ABC Channel 7 in April 2009. ABC Channel 7 received awards and drew excellent reviews for this feature.
College Mission Trip Prepares to Set Out for Bosra-Hauran
Bishop BASIL writes:
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| 6th Century Church of St. George in Izraa |
Your prayers are requested for our brothers Fr. Richard Petranek of St. Paul/Houston, TX and Fr. Matthew MacKay of St. Joseph/Houston, TX, who will be heading to the Middle East this Sunday, May 24, 2009, with a number of our DOWAMA young adults for our Diocese's first College Mission Trip to the Archdiocese of Bosra-Hauran in southwestern Syria where they will visit and work with Metropolitan SABA and his flock.
In addition to several work projects, the group will also make pilgrimage to many of the most revered holy sites within our Patriarchate, including the Patriarchal Cathedral and residence in Damascus, where they will be received by our Father-in-God Patriarch IGNATIUS IV; the house chapel of St. Ananias where the Holy Apostle Paul was baptized; the women's monasteries of Our Lady in Saydnaya and St. Thekla in Ma'aloula; the men's monastery of St. George al-Humayrah in the "Valley of the Christians;" and the reliquary shrine of the Martyr and Unmercenary Healer St. Julian (Mar Ilyán) in Homs. The group will return to the U.S. in time to attend our Parish Life Conference in Wichita where they will share their experiences with us!
A Message from the DOWAMA Parish Life Conference Committee
The room registrations continue to flood in to the Wichita Airport Hilton for the DOWAMA Parish Life Conference. Our group block has been reopened, so you should not have any problems registering by the May 27th deadline. Now we need to ask you to please let us hear from you with your conference registration form so that the events you want to attend can be guaranteed for you.
Teens are reminded to bring a pair of socks if you plan to bowl at your outing on Friday. Don’t forget to mail your release form with your registration form.
The service project that the OCF and 20/40 Group will be participating in is an outdoors event at The Treehouse, so you will need appropriate work clothes.
We look forward to seeing all of you real soon!
--Your Parish Life Conference Committee
