From Fr. Anthony
The Church's office hours are 9-5 Monday-Friday, and you can stop by to speak with the office staff any time during those hours. If you have a general Church-related question, you should speak with Susan Solo, who is in the office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. If you need to meet with me, however, it's best to call first, as I may already be with another appointment, and am frequently called away to other visitations and appointments. If you prefer, I am happy to arrange a time in advance.
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Church Etiquette
We ask that the doors of the Narthex be closed and no one enters the Church during the following portions of the service:
Epistle, Gospel, Sermon, Great Entrance, Creed, Consecration, and Lord's Prayer
Please be respectful of the prayer and attention of those who are in the Church as you enter.
When it is time for Holy Communion, please remain in your pews until the members of the Parish Council come to your pew to usher you forward by row. In this way, we can ensure that our approaching of the Sacred Mysteries will be accomplished in an appropriate and orderly manner.
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Greek School begins This Week!
Our Greek School will begin this Tuesday, October 1 (5:30-7:30 pm). A letter, registration form, and cost information was mailed. Please register your child as soon as possible.
Choir Spaghetti Luncheon - Oct. 6
Our Choir will host a Luncheon on Sunday, October 6, following Divine Liturgy. Be sure to make your reservations no later than Wed., Oct. 2 by filling out a reservation form online or at the Reservation Table. Adults 12 years and up: $10; Children 11 and under: Free! Enjoy 3 sauces, garlic bread, garden salad, and pumpkin pie with whipped topping for dessert!
Saint George Outreach - Oct. 6
On Sunday, October 6, after the Spaghetti Luncheon, we will be preparing 100 meals for the hungry and homeless of Downriver. We need many volunteers to help, so please plan to stay and lend a hand. We will provide all the ingredients, but we need helping hands to make sandwiches. We are also looking for donations of warm blankets to hand out. If you have any questions, please speak with Eleni Dionyssopoulos.
Ministry Meeting - Oct. 13
On October 13 at 12:15 (right after Sunday School), we invite the participants of all the ministries at St. George (Ladies of Lydia, GOYA, Sunday School, OCF, Young Adults, & OPA) to attend an informational meeting on the ministry efforts of the Church, discussing the mission and demographic, funding and events schedule of all the ministries. The meeting will be in the Activity Room - coffee and special refreshments will be provided.
DeBuck's Corn Maze-Oct. 13 / Harvest Party-October 25
Flyers for these 2 events are in your child's classroom and also on the candle counter.
Fall General Assembly - Oct. 20
Our Fall General Assembly will be held on Sunday, October 20, following Divine Liturgy. To participate, seniors must have met a minimum amount of $170, and families must have met a minimum of $250. There will be a light luncheon for those in attendance.
Greek Fest Thank You!
We take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers who worked so hard for the Greek Festival. The Festival was very successful, and none of it could have happened without the many parishioners and other volunteers who worked tirelessly to make it happen.
Welcome Back! Luncheon - Thank You!
The Ladies Philoptochos thanks you for attending the Welcome Back! Luncheon last week and your generous donations to purchase additional school supplies for the Ann Visger school in River Rouge. It collected $218.00.
We also want to thank the Church affiliated groups for their information at our Organization Fair!
Children's Christmas Play - Sign-up
The year's children's Christmas play, "The Light of the World," will be on Sun., Dec. 22. Today through Sun., Oct. 20, you can sign-up your children on the wall across from the Church office. Practice starts Sun., Oct. 27-Sun. Dec. 15, from 12:30-1:15 pm; with dress rehearsal on Sat., Dec. 21. There will be no practice Thanksgiving weekend. This is Alesia's 23rd year directing the Christmas plays! Thank you for your dedication, Alesia!
Altar Group
At Hellenic College/Holy Cross, all the first-year students are assigned to an “Altar Group,” which has the responsibility on a rotating basis to care for the Chapel at the seminary for one week out of each month. Male and female students together arrive early before morning and evening services to prepare the chapel, and during the services the male students serve in the altar while the female students manage the candles and other responsibilities in the Narthex and throughout the chapel. Following the service, all of them clean the chapel together, leaving it ready for the next service.
This year, we will be taking this beautiful tradition as a model for a new program in the parish. We have always had a strong and active group of Altar Boys, who serve the essential tasks of helping the priest behind the Iconostasis - this year, we will ask the young women of the parish to fill a similar role outside of the altar, taking on an active responsibility for the good order and care of the Church.
There are many jobs that need to be done throughout the Church, but in order to not overburden our young people and families, we will start small and begin by asking all the young people of the Sunday School age 8 and up to help with the regular changing of the beautiful new altar cloths that have been generously donated by several of our parishioners. As we move through the Church year, the tradition of the Church calls for the colors of the altar covers to change, depending on the season. We use burgundy and gold for feasts of the Lord, blue for feasts of the Panagia, purple for Lent, green for Palm Sunday, Pentecost, and some of the “normal seasons” of the Church year, and bright white for Pascha. In this way the vestments of the Church change with the season, just like the vestments of the Priest.
The first change is today. We ask all the young people and their families to arrive a little early, between 9:30 and 9:40 am, to prepare and replace the altar coverings throughout the Church during the final minutes of Orthros. The young women will change the covers on the four icon stands at the front of the Church and the four icon stands in the Narthex, while the young men will help me to change the altar covers inside the Altar.
We will keep all the Sunday School families informed in advance of the next time the covers need to be changed, and will continue to work to determine the best way for all of our young people to serve the Lord and the parish of St. George.
We thank you for your participation, and for your love for the Lord.
+Fr. Anthony Cook
Church Beautification
This past summer we began a new push to beautify the Church. We have a number of items that will be replaced, for which we already have prospective donors, but we plan to purchase altar cloth sets in several colors to allow us to adorn the Church appropriately for every liturgical season. Depending on the period of the Church year, the Holy Table and other Church furniture are to be covered in red, blue, white, green, gold, or purple cloths. We now are missing only green and white cloths to have all the colors we need.
A complete set of altar cloths includes the large cloth to cover the Holy Table inside the altar, a smaller cloth for the Gospel, the set of cloths for the chalice and paten, include the Aer, the four cloths for the icon stands (proskynitaria) at the front of the Church, and then two cloths for the proskynitaria in the Narthex, with two small covers for the children's icons in the Narthex.
The costs for the new sets vary, depending on whether the brocade cloth being used uses real metal threads or not. For beauty and durability, we have purchased velvet cloths in blue and burgundy, and real metal brocade for the gold and purple altar cloth sets. The white and silver set we are planning to purchase will also use a real metal brocade, while the great will be an all cloth brocade. The cost for a complete altar cloth set in real metal brocade is $3,045, while the cost for a complete altar cloth set in normal brocade is $2,435.
Therefore we need the following donations:
Green normal brocade complete altar cloth set: $2,435
White/silver real metal brocade complete altar cloth set: $3,045
If you are interested in donating either of these items, please contact the Church office or speak with Fr. Anthony. If you would like to see the fabric swatches we have selected for each color, please speak with Fr. Anthony.
