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My Fellow Parishioners,
I can't believe that we are into the second half of this year. This past year has been a challenging one for all of us due to the economic challenges we faced due to our global economy. We have all had to tighten our belts and brace ourselves to what may be ahead of us. While we do this our Cathedral continues to operate in full force. Our ministries, religious and educational programs, and various activities flourish giving us a strong spiritual foundation on which to stand as we weather the storm. Many times I ask myself, "Where would we be without our church, our religion, and our Hellenic heritage?" It gives me peace and a sense of security that I know we have this to hold onto.
The holiest of days, Lent and Easter brought our community together. We had a record number of people attending Palm Sunday and it gave me great joy to see our extended family and friends from a distance be part of our services that day and for Holy Week and Pascha. Celebrating our Saviour's resurrection brings us all together in love, and it is important that we continue loving each other, asking for forgiveness, and putting differences aside. Especially at this critical time in our world. The Love has to start in ourselves, in our homes and especially in our church.
I would like to send a heartfelt congratulations to our high school and college graduates. We are so proud of your accomplishments and reaching this major milestone in your young lives. Many of you may go away for college and/or new jobs or furthering your education. But please remember, your beloved Saint Spyridon community and your church will always be there for you.
I want to commend all who participated in the Greek Independence Day Parade. With great pride swelling in our chests we celebrated with all other parishes in New England our pride of being Greek and freedom to practice our religion and heritage. I also want to give my biggest gratitude to our Greek School program lead by Mr. Tzoumbas and our wonderful Greek School teachers. The graduation ceremony in June was one of the most touching programs we have had. Congratulations to the seven students who graduated and I ask you to continue learning and practicing the Greek language and culture you received from our wonderful Greek School program. For those who missed this program, the students read their poems and sang their songs wonderfully. It was amazing to watch from the littlest child up to the oldest of students recite their poems about summer, friendship, the love of our teachers, church and heritage. It brought tears to my eyes. Please let everyone in all other Greek and Orthodox Parishes this program is available to them too.
Stewardship, Stewardship, Stewardship. Is this a good word or a bad word? The dictionary's definition of Stewardship is: The conducting, supervising, or managing of something especially the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care: "Stewardship of our Cathedral" The care of our Cathedral and everything it represents to us is our responsibility and we have been entrusted with it.
I have asked the Parish Council to make the Stewardship program the most important initiative for 2009. The Stewardship Committee lead by our Treasurer Harris Pitsillides and Assistant Treasurer George Tsikalis has put into motion many action plans to help educate the community to the importance our role is in Stewardship. Your Stewardship contribution is the means by how our Cathedral operates its ministries, programs and activities. It also pays our bills, and staff and priest's salaries. Therefore, one of the initiatives is outreach and communication, and I am proud to say a brand new parishioner to our community Michael Klezaras has offered to head up this initiative within the committee. To this effort we will be communicating to everyone through mailers, newsletters, weekly bulletin, the Cathedral News, directly and in person and by telephone calls. As we are suffering due to this economic crisis, so is our church. Our role during these tough times are even more critical towards our responsibility to paying our stewardship contributions...and we have made it easy to make your payments either, weekly (drop off a check each week when you come to church addressed to Stewardship payment), monthly, quarterly, semi annually. We have many payment plan options available, including Parish Pay. Just call and ask and then set your payment plan up...it makes payments of Stewardship much easier then paying it in one lump sum. Paying at the end of the year is not the way to do it any longer. Imagine if your employer paid you once a year? I hope my message is getting through clearly to everyone. Please make your pledge now if you have not done so and schedule an easy payment plan. For example, a Family Contribution of $475 breaks down to less than $40 per month. OUR CHURCH NEEDS EVERYONE'S PARTICIPATION to keep our programs going and to meet our operating budget expenses.
Youth Education Program: Our Nursery School program is one of the best in the city. It is lead by our School Director and Lead Teacher Jen, and her qualified staff. The program is overseen by the School Committee, which includes talented educators that are working to continue making the curriculum and program one of the best in the city. Why send your children to other programs or churches. Show support to our program and enroll them this September. The Nursery School also is offering a summer enrichment program which is being well received and currently has many students enrolled. There maybe a few more openings and I highly recommend that you have your child participate in this program. 5-days a week for $98. I don't think you can beat that at any other place in this city. Look in the Nursery School pages for more information, or call the office.
Family Center: Permits have bee obtained from the city, the Architects Plans are complete, an RFP for Contractors is underway, and the Family Center Committees are working diligently to get closer to having ground breaking in 2009. Therefore, if you haven't done so at this time, please make your pledge to the Family Center. You can arrange for your pledge to be paid over 3-5 years...the important thing is to show your commitment to our legacy and make your pledge or increase your existing pledge. I want to thank all those who have made their pledge and are paying towards their commitment and patiently waiting for the big GROUND BREAKING. For the others we hope you make this commitment prior to heading off to your summer homes or on your vacations. While you are off on holiday, the Family Center Committees are diligently working to get us closer to groundbreaking for this year. Please do your part. PLEDGE.
Have a wonderful, relaxing and safe summer.
God Bless
Gus Giannakis |
