The Messenger 2023-04

IF your birthday is in April but is not listed here, please let Fr. Peter so know we can update our records.

Who’s Asking this Time?

Many Sundays when we come to church, we are asked to take a collection for a program, ministry , or fund outside the parish. These programs or ministries may be affiliated with our region, our Archdiocese, the Assembly of Bishops, or our Patriarchate. With us often using a confusing jumble of acronyms to describe these programs, it is worth taking some time to sort and review them.

One current appeal is for Food for Hungry People. This is a program of our Archdiocese that was founded in 1975 by Fr. James Meena of blessed memory. We also take annual offerings to support our Patriarchate, our seminarians, and our Orthodox seminaries. Each parish has a specifed amount it is expected to give by the Archdiocese based on its size for each of these special offerings.

Many of the organizations we are asked to help are agencies of or affiliated with the Assembly of Bishops. The six agencies are:

International Orthodox Christian Charities “offers emergency relief and development programs to those in need worldwide, without discrimination, and strengthens the capacity of the Orthodox Church to so respond.”

Orthodox Christian Fellowship “transforms the lives of college students by guiding them along the path to Jesus Christ through His Church, cultivating a campus community of worship, witness, service, fellowship, and education.”

Orthodox Christian Mission Center: “As the missions and evangelism agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States it is OCMC’s mission to make disciples of all nations by bringing people to Christ and His Church”.

Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry “serves those who are incarcerated and their families, and provides resources, training and support to our ministry partners so that lives are transformed and God is glorified.”

Orthodox Volunteer Corps’ mission is to “develop and equip Orthodox young adults to lead lives of faithful service for Church and world.”

Orthodox Youth Ministries “equips and supports clergy, parents, and ministry workers to meet the 5 needs of young people: to know Jesus Christ, to know oneself in relation to Christ, to belong to the full community of the Church, to be empowered with a faith that makes a difference, and to be entrusted with the witness of the Church.”

Organizations affiliated with the Assembly of Bishops include: FOCUS North America (Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve), OCAMPR (Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology, and Religion), OCN (Orthodox Christian Network), OPF North America (Orthodox Peace Fellowship), OTS America (The Orthodox Theological Society in America), and Project Mexico & St. Innocent Orphanage.

If you would like more information about any of these organzations or programs, please click on the links provided in this article. Just as George Stickney, Sr., and Pete Steggerda are ambassadors for the Order of St. Ignatius in our parish, several of these organization (especially IOCC and OCMC) are actively looking for help in representing and promoting them within the parish. If you are interested in becoming a parish ambassador for one of these organizations, please let Fr. Peter know.

St. Thomas on the Internet

Check out our Web site at https://stthomassiouxcity.org as well as our other pages:

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/St.ThomasOrthodoxChurchSC/

Siouxland Orthodox Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/689850188457371/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sathorch/

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/sathorch

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sathorch

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sathorch

In Memoriam

Remembering those who reposed in the month of April:

John Bestos, (infant son) Melhaus, Nick Bashara, Thomas Melham, Ness Melham, Alma M. Butrous, Sultana Ellis, Eva (Mrs. John) David, Wolf Headid, Catherine Ferris Abdallah, Alma Samore, Athena Gebran, Rose Abdouch, Joseph Abdouch, Elias Melham, Cecil W. Mulneaux, Marie David, Elizabeth Skaff, George Stevens, Mary Shkurensky, Louise M. Hanna, Gary L. Peterson, Beatrice Abdouch, Orval F. Dawdy, Sophie Skaff, Roger D. Wickenhagen, Barbara Skaff, Gerald E. Melham, Viona E. Headid, Josephine Saltzman, Edward G. Bottei

Ladies’ Club

The Ladies of St. Thomas are having another smaller Fatayeh sale on April 22nd. We woulld have preferred to have it later, but too many conflicts exist on later dates.

We will be cleaning the church on April 9th after the Lazarus Saturday liturgy. We are looking into rugs for the altar. We would like to continue to collect food for the hungry in Siouxland as well.

Our next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Glen Oaks Clubhouse on the 2nd of May. God bless.

Judy Stevens

Message from the Parish Council Chairman

As our Lenten Season draws to a close with Palm Sunday and Pascha only a few days away, it may be time to reflect on how grateful we are for our faithful church community here at St. Thomas. We are all indebted for “those who sing and those who serve.”

What would we do without our choir and chanters? Of course, we pray for our beloved Denny Yanney who has been the heart and soul of our music and chanting for over 6 decades. As Denny remains in hospice care, we pray God grant him and Karen peace and comfort.

Can you guess how long Debbie (Headid) Wisnieski has been our organist? The answer is over 55 years. We are fortunate to have her daughter De and granddaughter Sadie, faithfully filling the church with beautiful music not only on Sundays, but often during weekday services. De has graciously taken on chanting duties in addition to being our choir director. Did you know De and Sadie also clean the church every week saving us thousands of dollars each year?

Readers John Hagberg and Dorwin Thompkins have done an amazing job as chanters for all of our services this season. They serve not only on Sundays but also for the weekday services devotedly. How could we could get along without their commitment to St. Thomas?

Gerry Stevens. I tried to list in my head all the tasks he performs for this parish. I’ll bet I forget some of his contributions, but here goes: opening and closing the church for every single service or activity, getting the nave and altar ready every service or feast, serving in the altar, ordering candles and supplies, watering the plants, emptying the dehumidifier every day, salting the sidewalks and steps, ushering, chanting, putting together the bulletins, delivering canned goods to our local charities, lighting and extinguishing all the candles and lamps, preparing the Holy Bread for each service and more. Thank the Lord for Gerry’s unwavering devotion to our church community.

How about all the wonderful things the Ladies Club does for St. Thomas? Judy Stevens has led this group for many years and does a wonderful job serving on the Parish Council. The Ladies are back to holding fatayer sales twice per year raising money for various charities. They do other outreach projects each year that benefit our local community. Jane Kirwan faithfully manages the coffee hour and Holy Bread schedule. Jane often makes the bread and goodies herself to fill out the schedule. Jane is always the first to offer help no matter what the task. Theresa Muhe, Julie Kinnaman, and Carol Stone have been supporting our church for decades always willing to do whatever needs to be done. We can’t forget to pray for Suzanne (Corey) Stickney who has been battling health issues since last fall. We are anxious to get her back to church and our other activities. God grant you many years.

A special thank you to Dick Stone and Manoj Virppil who count and log the giving each Sunday. As Sneha and Manoj leave us in a few months, we are certainly going to miss them and their numerous contributions to our parish. They have been very dedicated and faithful members of St. Thomas for many years and will be sorely missed. God bless you on your new journey.

Let’s not forget the wonderful job Cathy and Pat Corey have done for decades managing and taking care of our cemetery. It’s a lot of work making sure the grounds are well maintained, keeping track of all the plot purchases, managing the finances and working with the City and Meyer Brothers for each funeral. Nick Corey and Ronny Carlson provided valuable assistance to Pat and Cathy over the years and deserve our thanks for their contributions to our parish in a variety of other ways.

A special thanks to Kathy, Mike, George and Becky Jacobs for fund raising among their family members for several key projects over the years. It is very much appreciated how their family from all over the country so generously support their “home church.”

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Do you know how after every snow fall in the winter months our parking lots, sidewalks and steps get shoveled? We have Randy Headid to thank for that. He also expertly repaired the walls in Father’s office, the wall on the stage, and hung doors and curtain rods in the conference room.

The Parish Council continues to address the key issues facing our church. Fr. Peter, George Stickney, Jr, Julie Kinnaman, Judy Stevens, and Pete Steggerda have been able to navigate our path through difficult times meeting our expenses and completing a variety of projects to keep our church building in good shape. Thank you for volunteering your time and talents for the good of our parish.

Finally, we owe a great deal of thanks to Barb and Paul Lammers for their years and years of faithful service to our church. Since they relocated to the Lakes, they still remain in contact by watching our services online and providing help with very detailed instructions and information for a number of events including the dinners and decorating the Bier. God bless them.

Please pray for the St Thomas Church Community.

1. Intermittent loss of sound on video streams. Father seems to have fixed this.

2. Spring clean-up outside.

3. Altar and parish clean up on Lazarus Saturday.

Frank Brienzo

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

Wednesday April 3, 2023

7:00 pm

Call to Order - Chairman

1. Opening Prayer - Fr Peter

Parish Council Meeting

1. Roll Call -Frank, George, Judy, Father Peter. Absent: Pete and Julie (both sick).

1. Approval of Previous Minutes and all reports submitted (Consent Agenda) – George moved to accept the minutes and reports. Judy seconded. Passed.

Detail on Committee Reports:

1. Pastor’s Report – Fr. Peter

a. Holy Week update

i. Service Schedule- See Rector’s Report

ii. Palms -ordered. Expected this week. Father Kevin offered to have one of his families fold them into crosses.

iii. Eggs – Frank will supply 48 dyed eggs.

iv. Bier Decoration – scheduled for 10:00 am Good Friday. Flowers ordered. $270 collected so far. Cost is $387.

v. Bays leaves – enough left from last year.

b. Catechumen/interested family status

i. Jason – delayed until fall.

ii. Alex – no change

iii. Suzanne Kolbo has committed to join our church.

c. Sick/Parishioner update – Fr Peter reported on visits and phone calls.

2. Treasurer’s Report – See Pete’s March report

3. Maintenance Report – New pump on order, not installed yet. Need to schedule conversion to air conditioning when appropriate.

4. Ladies Club – Judy

a. Fatayer sale April 22 nd. Will make 50 dozen.

New Discussions

1. Next Meeting Date: May 3th.

2. RAGBRAI – We discussed if there will be opportunities to provide a food booth or space for camping. We continue to explore possibilities.

3. Hollie video conference May 5 th

a. Attending to church guest and catechumens

b. Final mission statements and goals from Ladies Club, Cemetery Committee, and Crop Walk.

4. Fund Raising Ideas – Plan to send mailing to all contacts in May. Frank will continue to pursue grants.

5. High School Graduates – Father will order 4 Bibles for our graduates.

6. Clean Up Saturday Schedule – 10:00 to noon on this Saturday.

Closing:

1. Adjourn – Fr Peter moved to adjourn. George seconded. Passed.

2. Prayer – Fr Peter

Treasurer’s Report – March 2023