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Annunciation Cathedral
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| Feb, 2010 Herald San Francisco, CA | event calendar announcements main index |
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GREAT LENT BEGINS
ON FEBRUARY 15 In the Gospel of Luke we read about how Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days to pray in order to prepare Himself for His ministry. It was in the wilderness that He was tempted by Satan three times, which He overcame (Luke 4: 1-13). As Orthodox Christians, we remember the 40 days of Jesus’ asceticism (spiritual exercise) by participating in similar periods of prayer and fasting ourselves for 40 days prior to Easter and Christmas, and shorter periods of time for various other liturgical feasts throughout the year. We embrace this Great Fast not only because we remember Jesus’ trials in the desert but also because we acknowledge the spiritual benefit that comes in denying oneself. By abstaining from various foods that we would normally eat, we develop a discipline that aids our spiritual growth, a practice which has existed in traditional religions going back millennia. In the same way that physical exercise builds up the body, so does this spiritual exercise- in addition to prayer and practicing love for God and our neighbors during this period- builds up the soul. During the pre-Lenten period, we will also be commemorating all Orthodox Christians who have gone before us in the three Saturday of Souls (Psychosavato) services. One each of the three Saturdays prior to Clean Monday, Divine Liturgy and memorial services following will be celebrated. Saturday, February 6th and Saturday, February 13, services will be held at the Greek Orthodox cemetery chapel, and on Saturday, February 20, at the Cathedral. Each service will begin at 10 a.m. Also, we will be celebrating the Salutations to the Theotokos services on each of the Fridays during Great Lent, acknowledging in a very unique way the role Mary played in Christ’s salvific work. These services will begin Friday, February 19, and each will begin at 7 p.m. NAVARINO MESSINIAN
SOCIETY MAKARONADA TO BENEFIT THE CATHEDRAL’S
BUILDING PROGRAM NEW CATHEDRAL COST ESTIMATE/PUTTING TOGETHER A CAPITAL CAMPAIGN Towards this end, Stefani Roumeliotes, a member of the Cathedral, who was involved with fund raising for both the Clinton and the Obama presidential campaigns, recently spoke to the Cathedral’s Parish Council concerning our capital campaign, outlining successful strategies. Later this month, we will also have occasion to meet with Father Anthony Scott, who recently completed a successful campaign for St. Vladimir’s secretary. The ground work is being laid in an effort to meaningfully address the very exciting project ahead of us. ALEXANDER/ALEXANDRIA: THE FLOWERING OF HELLENISTIC CULTURE HELLENIC COLLEGE/HOLY
CROSS OFFERS SCHOLARSHIPS Eighty-three students joined the school community this past September, raising the total full-time student body count to 200, the highest total in over ten years! This is a milestone achievement in the life of Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology. The school is endeavoring to reach a full-time student body count of 500, in the long term. The scholarship offers are very attractive, indeed, and merit consideration by those who wish to study for the Priesthood, as well as by those who would like to study in an intimate educational atmosphere, in one of country’s leading educational centers. PLANNING LENTEN SERIES/SEMINAR FOR SENIORS STEWARDSHIP TALK BY NICK SVETCOFF Thank you Fr. Stephen for the introduction. I have been attending Annunciation for the past 14 years. During that time, I have always enjoyed listening to Fr. Stephen's weekly sermons and have been impressed with how organized they are. He always interweaves a story or two as they relate to the weekly readings and then makes his points or bullet points if you will. Members of the stewardship committee are speaking over this four-week period of stewardship month and relating why stewardship is important to them. For me, my bullet points are as follows: Faith, Family, and Friends. As an aside, prior to attending Annunciation, I have taken the grand tour of peninsula churches. I was baptized at the old Holy Trinity church, and while my family knew Fr. Anthony well, we grew up in the Belmont community because simply my mother preferred the warmer weather of Belmont than the cold fog at Brotherhood Way. After an 11 year detour to Southern California for college and the start of my professional career, I returned to Belmont nearly 20 years ago prior to buying property in the city and coming to Annunciation. Actually, it was somewhat intimidating coming here at first since we were basketball rivals for many years and I really did not know many people. But after a short time, people like Fr. Stephen, Pat Aleck, and old friends Tom Nuris and Mike Bagatelos rolled out the welcome carpet and this has been home ever since, even now when I live in the east bay. I. Faith I graduated with an MBA from Santa Clara at a time when our economy was
in a similar shape as it is today as far as unemployment with much higher
interest rates. Everywhere I interviewed for positions, I was told I was
a good candidate but unfortunately I did not have any work experience in
comparison to my competitors who were seeking employment. Through a family connection, I eventually landed a position in the defense industry back in Southern California. After moving to another defense contractor, I found myself in the unenviable position of refereeing an ongoing battle between a profit center general manager who wanted to spend research dollars and the company controller who did not. When I moved to the South Bay area of greater Los Angeles, namely Manhattan Beach, I started attending the St. Katherine's parish in Redondo Beach. Through a family friend, I was introduced to Fr. Fred who I found out was a big football fan like myself. Since he was from Kansas City, his football team was the Chiefs and while I was and am a devoted 49ers fan, I needed to adopt a local team and ironically, the Raiders moved south the same time I did. Fr. Fred and I stuck up a friendly wager each season by where we would bet fish dinner at Tony's on the Pier on the outcome of the Raiders - Chiefs games. It was during one of our dinners that I expressed my frustration with my employment situation. Fr. Fred said simply to pray and be patient, as your faith will see you through. Of course he was correct. Out of the blue, an opportunity presented itself to use more of my education in a corporate finance position with the local gas utility. I worked within a small group that set up the financing for alternative energy projects. Unfortunately, from almost the minute I was hired, it became apparent that the alternative energy projects were no longer economically viable and we spent most of my time there deconstructing the projects we started. Once the group VP retired, our group was abandoned and I was laid off. I again spoke with Fr. Fred who stressed that I should pray, be patient, and have faith. I desired a position in the financial services industry where I could utilize my financial as well as marketing skills. While I now had some work experience, I did not have the right MBA pedigree for positions I interviewed for. Just as well, an opportunity presented itself to return home to the Bay Area and join into the risk management/insurance business with a high school friend and his Father-In-Law. Over the last 20 years, we have become the dominant provider of these services
to a niche group in the wine industry, with a client base of over 500 wineries
spanning the west coast. Even with the current financial climate, we fortunately
seem to be able to replace bankrupt Fr. Stephen approached me ten years ago to look into the church insurance program since our needs had changed due to the the earthquake. After some research, I uncovered the dominant provider of church insurance services in the country in Church Mutual. Ten years later, nearly half of the Greek Orthodox Churches in California are now insured with Church Mutual and this would not have happened without Fr. Stephen's inquiry. Lastly, I sustained a serious knee injury while skiing a few years ago. While this type of injury is commonplace, recovery is not guaranteed. With the help of a great surgeon and Fr. Stephen's counsel to be patient and faithful, I was able to recover and resume skiing the following season. These are just a few examples of why I am very thankful that our church guides us in our faith. II. Friends Growing up in the Bay Area and spending my collegiate and early professional years in LA allowed me to meet numerous fellow Greek Orthodox Christians. To this day, I still retain most of those relationships. Just recently, we had our food festival here at Annunciation. I chaired a booth and was able to call on a few of those friends, who although they live out of the area, were more than willing to come to our festival and spend the entire day helping me out. One organization I became involved in over the years was the Young Adult League, which provided an opportunity to attend gatherings across the country to meet fellow Greek Orthodox Christians. I now have a network of friends spread across the country that of course has been enhanced through the use of call phones and the internet. As some of my friends have gotten married and raised families, I have enjoyed traveling across the country to attend their weddings and children's baptisms. I am truly blessed that through our church, I have been able to establish and maintain this wide ranging network of friends. III. Family As some of you may recall, my sister was pregnant with her second child eight years ago. Everything was normal with the pregnancy and all the tests went fine. Unfortunately, shortly after birth, the child was experiencing seizures and was eventually rushed to Children's Hospital. A day later, we were told by the head pediatrician that baby Nicholas was born with a rare brain neurological disorder called lissencephaly. Typically children with this disorder live no longer than their teens but usually survive only a few months. All of a sudden, the family was faced with having to make a decision about whether to continue baby Nicholas's life or not since he was hooked up to various life sustaining machines and would soon need to undergo a series of medical procedures to stay alive. My sister looked at me and asked what do we do? I answered simply, call Fr. Stephen. We did, he cleared his schedule later that week and we came in and spent an entire afternoon talking about our predicament. He offered guidance by saying that no matter what decision we made, he would support us and the little boy was truly an angel in God's eyes. Over the next few weeks, the outpouring of support from family and friends was truly amazing. My sister's family belongs to the Ascension parish in Oakland and almost every day during the baby's life, either Fr. Tom, Fr. Gary, or Fr. Stephen came to be with us in the hospital. We even held a baptism for the child in the hospital chapel. Somehow, through all the sadness, baby Nicholas was able to communicate to his parents that he understood his predicament and was ready to move on to the next life. At his funeral, I will never forget the words spoken By Fr. Tom, when he commented that although baby Nicholas was unable to speak, let alone cry during his short life, he was able communicate his strength and faith without saying a word. My sister and brother-in-law took that faith and got back on the horse two years later and delivered a determined, whippersnapper of a niece named Kristen to Uncle Nick. While my sister was pregnant with her first child, my mother was diagnosed
with a serious tubercular lung infection called Mac B. Shortly after being
hospitalized, we received a call one Sunday morning that our mom had taken
a turn for the worse and we needed to get to the hospital right away. She
had stopped breathing and was immediately put on life support. Not knowing
if she would make it through the day, I called Fr. Stephen and he rushed
to the hospital after church to be with us. Miraculously, my mother survived
that day and after extended physical therapy, she walked out of the hospital
three months later, Unfortunately, this is a debilitating disease that does not go away and three years later, she again returned permanently to the hospital. During what would be her five year stay in the hospital and long term care facility, Fr. Tom, Fr. Gary, and Fr. Michael were consistent weekly visitors to offer their prayers and communion. On Mother's Day weekend two years ago, my sister's and my godchild got married in Southern California. We reasoned that since we were at the hospital almost every day, it would be ok to miss this year. My Dad decided to stay at home. It was on our return home on Mother's Day that my Dad called from the hospital to say that mom had passed away peacefully in her sleep. I immediately called Fr. Tom, interrupting his Mother's Day dinner, to ask if he could go to the hospital to be with my Dad and he did. As a family, we are so grateful that our church and respective priests were there for us in our numerous hours of need. One last point. I spoke earlier about faith. There was no greater example of faith than that shown by my mother during her illness. While she could have given up at any time, and despite the pain she endured, she had the faith and determination to keep going as long as she was physically able, so she could watch her grandchildren grow up. In conclusion, given the current status of our country where we are engulfed in two wars against terrorism, are facing continuing economic uncertainty, high unemployment and ongoing political warfare, where we have politicians, both local and national who would sell there soul if it meant one additional vote, where can an Orthodox Christian turn for peace? The answer is in today's epistle reading where in St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he says "For he is our peace. And he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those near because through Him we both have access to the Father by one spirit". Despite the world that I mentioned we now live in, we are all rich like the man described in St. Luke's gospel today. "But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul will be demanded of you and what you have gotten ready whose is it to be? Thus, does the person fare who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich in relation to God". I challenge each of
you to look back on your lives and see how the church was influential
to you as far as your faith, or your friends, or your family
if not all of the above. You should by now have received our stewardship
brochure for 2010. If not, we have some available in the narthex. As it says in the brochure, though stewardship, I invite you
to Come and See, Come and See Christ, Come and See What His Church is Doing,
Come and See What the Church can Become... PARISH COUNCIL CONVENES, NAMES COMMITTEES FOR 2010 NEXT COMMUNITY LINK FEBRUARY 20 Our visitations to home-bound parishioners are very special to us and to those we visit. They bring joy to our seniors who are experiencing isolation from their community due to illness, loss or hardship. Community Link is an excellent way for all of us -- children, adults and families -- to engage with one another and to share the message of God's love. If you know someone who would like a visit, or to RSVP, please email me. Community Link dates for the remainder of 2010, in addition to February 20, are: March 20, April 17, May 15, June 19, July 17, August 21, September 18, October 16, November 20, December 18. All dates are Saturdays. Peace and blessings, PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS Philoptochos Disbursements in 2009 Our Ladies Philoptochos Society of the Annunciation Cathedral had a very successful year in fund raising to support their Philoptochos Ministries. We grossed $82,572.00 from the annual events that are sponsored yearly and in addition we did macareas for five of our deceased parishioners. The surplus was distributed to many venues. Some of our major contributions were as follows: Philanthropia (local) $2,000.00; Donated $3,000 towards our new liturgy books for the Cathedral; Made a
building fund donation of $52,000.00; Purchased an icon for the Cathedral
in the amount of $1,200.00; Gave two scholarships in the amount of $2,000.00; On Dec. 5, 2009, we underwrote the Christmas luncheon for the Bishop Anthony Student Aid Endowment Fund, a Metropolis Philoptochos of San Francisco Program in the amount of $8,856.00. This Fund assists the seminarians at Holy Cross with their college expenses; We were also able to meet our annual commitments to National Philoptochos in the amount of $2,900.00 and our annual commitments to the Metropolis Philoptochos of San Francisco in the amount of $2,190.00. We wish to express our thanks to the parishioners and friends of the Cathedral who continue to support our annual events in order that we can attain such a fantastic record of giving. Angel Tree Project The Angel Tree Project was completed on December 11 with a collection of $625 Gift Cards and in addition 40 gifts were also collected. We thank all of the parishioners and friends of the Cathedral who participated in this most worthwhile project. This year the gifts were presented to the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco founded in 1891 that serves 1,200 youth (ages 6 to 18) per day, offering a safe place to learn and grow. They operate nine clubhouses in the city’s toughest neighborhoods, as well as Camp Mendocino, a residential summer Camp in Mendocino County. BGCSF provides a broad range of programs that inspire young people to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. This non-profit organization was referred to us by John Harris, of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Division of Community Development, City of San Francisco. This was by far one of the best outreach community programs that we have participated in a long time. This year’s project was chaired by Helen Markanton with her co-chairs, Vivian Curd and Nicoletta Ketchum. The three of them made up a wonderful team and were able to accomplish this project in a timely and organized manner. Congratulations to all of them. Ke tou Hrono. SACRAMENTS AND SERVICES BAPTISM Na mas Zisi! (Long life!) Na mas Zisoun! (Long life!) Sam Efthimios Frudakis, who fell asleep in the Lord on December 31, was buried on January 5. A trisaghion service was celebrated on January 3. He is survived by his wife, LiFang Tan-Frudakis and his son, George A. Frudakis. George Theodor Kolias, who fell asleep in the Lord on January 2, was buried on January 11. He is survived by his wife, Christina and by their daughters, Georgia and Athanasia. The Cathedral also extends condolences to: Evelyn Pappageorge and her family, upon the recent falling asleep of Pete Pappageorge Loys Rodatos and her family, upon the recent falling asleep in the Lord of Constantine Rodatos Mary Morris and her family, upon the recent falling asleep in the Lord of Taso Morris (Anastasios Moraitis) Aionia I Mnimi! (Memory eternal!)
Feb
2010 Herald |