Saturday, June 29, 2019 -  Peter and Paul, the Holy Apostles

Sunday, June 30, 2019 - The Synaxis in Honor of the Twelve Apostles

Σύναξις τῶν Δώδεκα Ἀποστόλων. Το κήρυγμα ΕΔΩ

• 8:30 am MATINS, 9:30 am DIVINE LITURGY
• Memorial prayers for Valentini Costa (40-day); Katina Chokas (6-months); Irene Papadopoulos (3-years); and Nikolaos Papadopoulos (10-years) of blessed memory. Family and friends are invited to attend.
• A luncheon is offered for all by the Papadopoulos family in memory of Irene of blessed memory.

Next Sunday, July 7, 2019 - 3rd Sunday of Matthew

• 8:30 am MATINS, 9:30 am DIVINE LITURGY
• The fellowship hour will be hosted by Philoptochos.

Dear Parishioners,

On Saturday, June 8, we held a Design Workshop to provide feedback on three design concepts for upgrades to our facilities.  We had 33 parishioners attend representing a wide range of ages and family sizes.  I want to thank everyone who attended for their help and thoughtful input.  We had three teams working together with the Architects.  Two teams reviewed all three concepts and one team focused in more detail on the kitchen requirements in all three concepts.  All the teams reported their feedback to the whole group at the end of the workshop.

The concepts were created as part of the Master Planning process to explore solutions to the objectives and needs we identified: Improving access and installing an elevator, updating and expanding bathrooms, and updating the Social Hall, Kitchen, and Classrooms.  The purpose of creating three concepts and holding the workshop was to explore what it would take to accommodate all the needs and desires and to create alternatives that imposed constraints on the scope of renovations.

The three concepts included:

I. “Large” expansion which involved the maximum amount of renovation.  It incorporated an elevator, a new social hall that would extend into the courtyard space, a new 3^rd floor for classrooms, bathrooms on all 3 floors, an expanded kitchen, and additional storage space.

II. “Medium” expansion which included an elevator, expanded bathrooms, some additional kitchen and storage space.  It also included the possibility of additional flexible space that could be used for general purposes or possibly a gymnasium.

III. “Small” expansion which included the minimum amount of renovation necessary to install an elevator and expand bathrooms.

The teams all had valuable input and created new ideas that combined parts of the three concepts.  The teams also identified several aspects that we wanted the architects to avoid, either to maintain the separation of the Holy spaces of the Church or to better fit the needs and desires of the community.

The next steps are that the architects will refine the ideas to incorporate the feedback and reduce the number of concepts.  We will then have the opportunity to review and provide additional input.  After that, the resulting concept will be the basis of a Master Plan that breaks the concept into individual projects that can be executed in phases.  This will give us the flexibility to decide how much of the Master Plan we can afford, how much we want to implement and over what time frame we want to implement the projects.  Right now we are still in a design phase of determining what might be included in scopes and how to execute those scopes.  We are not yet at a point where we will be making decisions of what we will actually move forward into real construction projects – those decisions will come later after much review and discussion within the community.

Thank you again to all the participants of the workshop for your engagement and great ideas.  It was wonderful to see everyone working together against a common purpose and goal.  For anyone that wasn’t able to attend but has an interest in the concepts we reviewed, please see me and I can share them with you.  As we proceed we will schedule additional community-wide meetings to review the progress as we continue on the Master Planning process.

Dean Dalson

50^th Anniversary Chairperson

OPA Appreciation

On Sunday, June 23, Parish Council hosted a luncheon in appreciation of all those who work tirelessly every year to make our OPA Festival a success.  A heartfelt thank you to all our parishioners!  We also remembered those in our community who have left us and also contributed to the success of our Festival over the years - people like Kostas Vouladas, Michael Trifonidis, Gus Konugres and, most recently, our dearly departed friend, George Vlahos.  A small plaque to honor George was presented to his family who had gathered for his 40-day memorial.

With the sun shining this past Sunday, after so many continuous days of rain, it seemed appropriate to share with all the parishioners at the luncheon the poem, Heaven’s Light by Ron Tranmer:

The sun shines down upon us

and gives us warmth and light.

Then when the day has ended,

it disappears from sight.

Though we’re left in darkness,

we know the sun has not died,

for it is shining brightly

on the world’s other side.

So it is when one we love

comes to the end of their days.

They just go to the other side

to shine their loving rays.

That’s why heaven is a place

that glows beyond compare.

The lights of those who’ve left us

are all brightly shining there.

May all of their memories be eternal!

Celebrations, Milestones, Gratitude, Comfort & Support

Pastoral care:

If you or someone you know is sick, homebound elderly, or scheduled for surgery, please call the church office to let us know so Fr. John can make a pastoral visit, or to add someone to the prayer list.

Let us pray to the Lord for health and salvation:

Suffering and persecuted Christians in the Middle East and the non-Christian world, Antonios, Anthony, Debora, Despina, Peter, Nikolaos.

Names will be kept on this list for approximately 3 months. Please resubmit Names if needed. Fr. John will include the submitted names at the Psokomide “Offering of Gifts” during the first part of the liturgy when he prepares the mystical gifts of bread & wine. Please lift these names up to the Lord in your personal prayer life as well.

Prayer for healing: Heavenly Father, physician of our souls and bodies, who have sent our Lord to heal every sickness. Visit and heal us. Grant patience in this sickness, the strength of body and spirit, and recovery of health. Lord, You have taught us to pray for each other that we may be healed. We pray that You heal, guide and protect your servant (s) (pray by name for those who are sick) and grant them the gift of complete health. You are the source of healing and to You we give glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Happy wedding anniversary! To those celebrating next week:

Pappas, Nicholas Z. & Urania; Cosmas, Christopher & Andrea; Kyriakou, Panagiotis & Konstantina; Kaldes, Gregory & Roseanne; Makris, Steve & Anna.

Χρόνια πολλα!  Happy birthday!   God grant you many years!  To those celebrating next week:

Denise Armentani, Aphrodite Contoudis, Nicholas Falbo, Sophia Maris, Angela Heinze, Kyriaki Cardenas, Paul Koutsouros Jr, Georgia Stathis, Sophia Justice, Despina Peterman, Yanni Fisfis, Mary Koutsouros, Konstantina Kyriakou, Dimitri Lambrou, Alexandra Loizos, Steve Makris, Loukas Stoupakis, Ioannis Limbanovnos, Anna Toumbanakis, Konstantinos Toumbanakis.