During the weekend of October 24-25, His Grace Bishop THOMAS made a pastoral visit to St. Mary Church in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  After arriving in town, His Grace met with the pastor, Fr. Theodore Pulcini, as well as Deacon Evangelos Prieston and Subdeacon Joseph Merlina.  Fr. Ted presented Sayyidna with a copy of the St. Mary’s “Five-Year Plan,” which outlines the congregation’s aspirations and intended course of action for the future.

Preparations were then made for Vespers, which was celebrated that evening with some fifty parishioners in attendance who sang the service congregationally.  Afterwards, the Parish Council hosted Sayyidna for dinner at the Copper Kettle Restaurant in Chambersburg, during which he responded to a number of questions, especially regarding the growth of parishes in our Diocese.  Bishop THOMAS noted that when he first came to the Diocese, he had no Western-rite parishes under his omophorion; now there are three, with a number of other groups expressing interest in embracing Orthodoxy.

September 23-25:

Click here for a collection of images from the retreat.

With the Pennsylvania forests’ magnificent change of colors well under way, proclaiming the glory of creation, the clergy of the Diocese of New York and Washington DC, and the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid Atlantic gathered at the Village in late September with Bishop THOMAS for their fifth annual clergy retreat.  In attendance with Sayedna were twenty-seven priests and deacons of the Brotherhood, and Mother Alexandra, abbess of St. Thekla Convent and her guest Mother Mariamne.

The retreat was led by one of the Brotherhood’s own – Archimandrite John Abdalah, pastor of St. George Cathedral, Pittsburgh.  Bishop Thomas asked Fr. John to discuss the theme “Being a Priest with a Positive Attitude.”  During the retreat sessions, Fr. John challenged the Brotherhood to consider three questions about their ministries.  The first was what metaphor best reflects their ministry.  The second was to ask what person had a significant influence on their ministry.  And last was what do we want to be remembered for.  As we discovered through the individual and collective answers to these questions, the images of how we see our ministries - now and in the future - profoundly affect the attitudes we portray to others through our day-to-day work in our parishes.

On this week's Come Receive The Light podcast: His Grace, the Right Reverend THOMAS (Joseph), a bishop of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America, serving in the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic, leads a discussion to the topic - Where We Send Our Children to School.

Maryland’s First Western Rite Orthodox Church Emerges

Click here for more photos.

On Sunday, August 23, 2009, Bishop THOMAS (Joseph) ordained James K. Hamrick to the Holy Priesthood in the Orthodox Church, Antiochian Christian Archdiocese.  The ordination ceremony was conducted during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at Saint Basil the Great Orthodox Church in Poquoson, Virginia (near Newport News).  The host priest and pastor of the church, Father Gregory MacGregor, was one of Hamrick’s three priest sponsors.  Father MacGregor had introduced Hamrick to Holy Orthodoxy three years earlier during a family vacation to Williamsburg, VA.  At that time Hamrick was a priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church and had just planted a new mission in Lewistown, Maryland named Lamb of God Church—all of this after having previously served as a United Methodist pastor for six years in the Harpers Ferry, WV area.

Hamrick’s other two priest sponsors for his ordination were present and included Father Patrick Cardine, pastor of St. Patrick Orthodox Church in Warrenton, VA; and Father Nicholas Alford, pastor of St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church in Washington, DC, both of whom were also the catechists for Hamrick’s congregation when they made a decision to become Orthodox last year.