On Saturday July 7, parish leaders from Holy Trinity Cathedral escaped the Chicago heat to explore the following questions:

• Where are we heading as a parish?
• Where do we want to head as a parish?
• Most importantly, where does God want us to head as a parish?
• Where should we focus our parish growth efforts over the next six months? The next 24 months?
• What keeps us from accomplishing more?

Led by Diocesan Parish Health Facilitator Joe Kormos, attendees held lively discussions on what a healthy Orthodox parish looks and feels like, what the role of vision is in building a healthy Orthodox parish, what are we currently doing as a parish to reach out to others and to share our faith and welcome others to our parish.

A Beacon of Orthodoxy - What Does That Mean?

The parish had previously completed work on a parish mission statement which includied the statement of being a beacon of Orthodoxy to the City of Chicago. Considerable time was spent discussing what this means in concrete terms and how the rich history of the Cathedral provides a foundation and a requirement to live up to that mission.

Past, Present Future

Following the straightforward path of exploring where we have been,
where we are, what we like and don't like about where we are, and where
we believe God wants us to head,serious frank and postive discussions
were the order of the day.

Stop, Start and Strengthen

Discussions resulted in a first draft of elements of a future parish vision which addresses how to strengthen existing activities, practices and behaviors which are working well and identifying new ministries necessary to live a life in Christ as a vibrant Orthodox parish.

Hard Work and Fun As Well!

Archpriest John Adamcio, Rector of the Cathedral said, "I was very impressed by the thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and participation in the workshop. A lot of work was accomplished while having fun in the process. Real progress seemed to be made towards making Holy Trinity Cathedral the "best that it can be. It was also great to hear many of the ideas and conversations generated at the workshop to be shared at the Parish Council meeting on Sunday."

As a summary of the event and for use as a building for further discussions the session facilitator provided the parish council with a summary of refelctive notes and suggestions for further actions.

Follow up sessions are now being planned.