Diocese
of the Midwest, Orthodox Church in America
Issue: # 2/7
September
28, 2007
Brothers
& Sisters,
This is a brief issue of Parish Pulse. It is designed to share many
recently completed efforts within the Parish Health Ministry in preparation
for the Diocesan Assembly next week.
Some of this information will be presented and discussed at the Assembly.
Our distribution list has now grown to over 500 members of our Diocese.
More importantly some of you tell me that actually read this! Even better!
In Christ,
Joe
Kormos,
Parish Health Facilitator, Diocese of the Midwest
513-683-1911
Projects To Be Reviewed at Diocesan Assembly
At the 2006 Diocesan Assembly we shared plans for twelve projects to be
undertaken by the Parish health Ministry in the coming year. A summary of
the progress made on those efforts is covered in the Parish Health
Ministry report to the Diocesan Assembly-- to be found here.
Recently many of these projects have made important progress. Some of the
results can be viewed by following the links below:
Hardcopies of the documents will be provided at the Assembly along with a
CD containing the videos.)
"Intro
to Orthodox Evangelization" Video - One
project not included in the year's planned efforts is an effort to reinvigorate
our parishes activities in the area of
evangelization. With the help of Fr John Matusiak
this ten minute "pilot" video, describing the
fundamentals of sharing the Good News as Orthodox Christians, has
been completed. You may view them via these links:
Flash Link (smaller file, plays in your
browser, faster download, audio quality is less good)
AVI Link -- requires a movie player such as
RealPlayer, somewhat better quality.
Parish
Financial Audit Guidelines - Auditing professionals
collaborated with us to create a set of "How to" Guidelines
for conducting Financial Audits in parishes. The document is meant
to be a thorough yet practical view of testing the Financial practices of the parish. This document
can be found here.
Sexual
Misconduct Materials - Three documents have been
finalized. These are:
An article by Michael Herzak, Diocesan Council
member and leader of many parish workshops on this topic describing
Frequently Asked Questions on Parish Practices to Avoid Misconduct.
A Checklist to Assess Parish Implementation
Status.
A
template for a Manual that parishes can use to adapt the OCA
Policy to your parish situation.
Clergy
Compensation Committee Report - A Compensation Committee had
been formed some years ago -- but after one meeting it became
dormant. The Committee was re-energized this year. A survey of current compensation status preceded
issuing a report by the committee. Found here, this report will be discussed at the
Assembly.
Lay
Catechist Definition - Though
materials are not yet available for download, a discussion will be
held concerning plans for training of Lay Catechists. Fr Michael
Butler will share prototypes of On Line Learning Courses that
can become part of this curriculum.
Saturday
Lunch Video -- Though not "new" (this was
mentioned in the last Parish Pulse) a video has been produced
outlining the Charitable outreach activities of St Gregory of Nyssa
parish on Columbus OH. This is basically the same video that many
of you viewed earlier this month. The video can be found here.
PARISH HEALTH WORKSHOP HELD IN CANTON OH
Parish Requests Your Prayers
With the assistance of Fr John Steffaro (Dean) and Fr.
Gregory Jensen 25 parishioners of Holy Assumption parish in Canton OH
gathered for a Parish Health Workshop last weekend.
The parish has endured a series of stressful situations in the past
years. In introducing the session attendees were asked to focus
"upward and forward" and to make serious effort to listen more
than advocate their personal viewpoints.
The agenda included:
A reflective period -- asking
parishioners to focus on the love they share for one another and the
qualities of the parish and its persons that they appreciate.
Discussion of a set of
"fundamental questions" to help the group focus on what it
does well, its gifts and where improvements are needed.
Examples of outreach projects
from other parishes
Information on the qualities of
growing Orthodox parishes based on previous surveys.
Finally, the group broke down
into smaller discussion groups to describe the desirable qualities
of healthy Orthodox parishes in America. The three groups reported
back and found reasonable consensus in their vision for their
parish. A step in the right direction.
Prayer
Request
The session concluded with the attendees agreeing to pray that their
parish family finds the wisdom to discern and follow God's will, and the
humility for each person to see their own faults and to forgive one
another for wrongs that may have been committed.
The parish asked that all in the Diocese pray for the renewed health
of their parish.
CHURCH SCHOOL TEACHERS TRAINING
Cincinnati October 12
The Columbus Deanery will offer an OCEC Church School teachers
certification course at Christ the Savior-Holy Spirit parish in
Cincinnati on Saturday October 12. Registration cost is $25.
For more info click here.
Thank you for reading these letters and for the many
encouraging comments.
In Christ,
Joe Kormos, Parish Health Facilitator
Diocese of Midwest
