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Archbishop MARK's Message for the 52nd Diocesan Assembly

The Orthodox Church in America
DIOCESE OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA
The Most Rev. Mark, Archbishop of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania

January 28, 2016

Beloved Fathers, Matushki, Deacons and faithful,

Christ is in our midst! We welcome all our faithful clergy, matushki, the faithful of our Diocese and our guests, Abbot Tryphon, Abbot of the All-Merciful Saviour Monastery, Vashon Island, WA and Melanie Ringa, a daughter of our Diocese and the treasurer of the Orthodox Church in America to the 52nd Assembly of the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania. We look forward to hearing your words as we seek to fulfill Christ’s Holy Commission ‘to go in to all the world and make disciples of all people, teaching them to observe all that He has commanded.’

As we look around, there are those who are no longer with us and those who are new. Let us pray for those not here and warmly welcome those who are new to our Assembly. There are significant issues to address, let us remember our blessings and proactively address the challenges facing not only our parishes, our Diocese, the OCA, but all of Christianity in North America.

Blessings:
• Over the last three years our Diocese has been blessed with the commitment, exceptional gifts and talents of our Diocesan Council members, Fr. Martin Browne, our chancellor and former treasurer of six years, the V. Rev. Fr. John Kowalczyk, a pastor of St Michael’s in Jermyn, teacher at St. Tikhon’s Seminary and the former treasurer; the V. Rev. Nicholas Solak, III, Dean of the Wilkes-Barre Deanery, teacher of Pastoral Theology at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and coordinator of Continuing Education for our clergy as well as Clergy Peer Groups; V. Rev. Victor Gorodenchuk, Dean of the Philadelphia Deanery, a Doctoral Candidate of Liturgical Theology and Chair of our Liturgical Life Committee; V. Rev. Timothy Hojnicki, pastor of our thriving mission in Mechanicsburg, Holy Apostles, Pastor for our summer camp program, Ecclesiarch of the Diocese and missions coordinator; Fr. Stephen Vernak, Rector of Christ the Saviour in Harrisburg, the largest and one of the most diverse parishes of the Diocese and Secretary of the Diocesan Council; Fr. Ignatius Gauvain, Rector of St. Mary’s in Coaldale, our Treasurer and very competent IT person for the Diocese, the seminary and the monastery; the V. Rev. James Weremedic, Rector of St. Nicholas, Bethlehem and our Diocesan Representative to the Metropolitan Council; V. Rev. Paul Shellbach, Rector of All Saints, Olyphant; V. Rev. John Perich, Rector of St. Herman’s, Gradyville and curator for the museum at St. Tikhon’s; Fr. Barnabas Fravel, Rector of St. Michael’s Wilmington, DE; Protodeacon Sergei Kapral, one of our auditors; Elsi Herman, long time member of the Diocesan Council from the Frackville Deanery; Doug Yates, of St. Mark’s in Wrightstown; David Yeosock, our Lay Representative to the Metropolitan Council and one of our auditors; John Buckeye of Annunciation in Berwick; Mark Linnehan, the Chair of the Finance Committee and one of the editors for the Diocesan Bylaws; and finally Gregory Polk of Holy Trinity, Wilkes Barre, one of our auditors. Four times a year we gathered in locations near and far at their own expense to address issues and concerns of the Diocese. Meetings would last from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a regular basis, yet their tireless work on behalf of Christ’s Holy Church was carried on between the meetings as well, in addition to their other various responsibilities. Thank you for being the fine and caring Orthodox Christians you are, able to work together, agree or disagree, without being disagreeable and able to voice your comments and concerns in the proper forum and in a Christian manner. Thank you for your very competent, capable leadership and council these past three years. Let us show our appreciation!

• Fr. John Kowalczyk is known to all and has served the Diocese as Treasurer, then Chancellor. After 30 years, of serving the Diocese, caring for St. Michael’s in Jermyn, overseeing pastoral ministry at the prison and teaching at St Tikhon’s stepped down as our chancellor. He has one of the largest parishes in the Wilkes Barre Deanery and hopefully, the parish will flourish as he invests more time in the parish. God grant him and Matushka Kathy Many Blessed Years!

• Fr. Martin Raymond Browne has done an excellent job as treasurer for the last 6 years and since August has worked tirelessly to assist with administering the Diocese. We will continue to clarify ways for him to assist myself and the Deans to insure the health of our Diocese as well as clergy health.

• Our deans, Fr. Nicholas Solak, Fr Victor Gorodenchuk and Fr. Timothy Hojnicki, each have their own gifts and challenges within their respective deaneries. Thank you for your very competent and capable leadership and council. Our transition to having functioning deans has truly been a blessing and made administration of the Diocese somewhat more manageable.

• Once again without the very competent, capable assistance of Matushka Sandra Kopestonsky the Diocesan office would be in complete disarray. Her labors to on behalf of the Diocese far exceed our ability to adequately compensate or to thank her for all she does. As reported last year, she consistently works more hours than she reports, by staying late, shopping, cooking for guests, changing linens, cleaning as needed and caring for my cats when I am present or while I am away. Her labors would be significantly reduced if requests for Annual Meeting Reports, Compliance with PSP documentation, background checks, etc. were received upon the first request. Her diligence in tracking and obtaining necessary documentation for the Diocese keeps us in a safer place legally and helps reduce the cost of our insurance. May the Lord bless Matushka Sandra and the V. Rev. Fr. Stephen with good health and many years.

• We are most grateful for the clergy, matushki and their families who faithfully serve Christ and His Holy Church. For the level of education, time demands, and hours worked, I know many if not all of you are grossly underpaid. Hopefully, our move to stewardship will allow parishes to begin to compensate you more equitably. No priest should be without the same quality of health insurance as his own parishioners or be dependent on public assistance to make ends meet. Having worked outside the Church, I know the benefits most employers offer, such as paid Holidays off, personal days, sick pay, and increased vacation time with years of service, regular raises, and merit increases. In Genesis, we are told that after six days of creation the Lord rested on the seventh day. God does not need to rest, but that is written for us and our benefit. Even one’s work animals were to have a Sabbath day off. Our clergy and their families need regular and adequate time off and away from the demands of the parish to be refreshed and reinvigorate their ministries. There are a multitude of articles online with tips on caring for your clergy and matushki. We must care for those who care for you. (Several years ago, I heard of a Matushka, who had a visit from the parish council upon the death of her husband. While his body was being prepared for the funeral they came to tell her when she needed to be out of the parish house.)

• On behalf of the Diocese, I want to thank Fr. Timothy Hojnicki, Kimberly Metz, Nicholas Macura and Tatiana Bohush and the numerous volunteers that minister to our youth in the summer camp program and winter retreat. It takes countless hours to acquire background checks, set up, tear down, plan and prepare. Thank you for your dedication and commitment.

• Our thanks to Fr Victor Gorodenchuk and the Liturgical Life Committee for working on booklets which will make Concelebrations much easier as well as consistent throughout the Diocese.

• Communications --- Aric Gingo, continues to do a fine job with Alive in Christ, and the Diocesan Website. Fr. Timothy Hojnicki also successfully regained control of the Diocesan Facebook account. Keeping up with current means of communication is crucial to keeping in touch with our youth. OCPM released a video on Facebook promoting Prison Ministry. On the following day, they reported 14,000 views of the video. We cannot live in the past. Technology is crucial to keeping in touch with the younger generation, most of whom have never used a phone book or a rotary phone.

• Christian Education --- Our thanks to Matushka Myra Kovalak and Maria Proch for their dedication to improving our church school programs and organizing the women’s retreat.

• Our newest ministry is Clergy and Matushki Peer Groups. Our thanks to the V. Rev. Fr. Nicholas Solak for securing a three year matching grant to develop this supportive ministry to our clergy and their Matushki.

Broad Strokes of my activities
Over the past year,
• Made 72 pastoral visits
• Attended Three Holy Synod Meetings,
• Attended Three Lesser Synod Meeting,
• Two Metropolitan Council Meetings,
• Attended several PCC planning meetings in preparation for the AAC
• Participated in the numerous Synodal Commission teleconferences and the Spiritual Court for a hierarch and clergy.
• Participated in Clergy Peer Group Facilitators Workshop, San Francisco, CA
• Attended Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry Board Meetings as the Liaison for the Assembly of Bishops.
• Made numerous phone calls to Attorneys, John Krisa, John Petorak, Fr. Sergius, and Metropolitan Tikhon regarding the property issues surrounding the Diocesan Center.
• Participated in the Consecration of St. Athanasius Orthodox Church, Nicholasville, KY
• Attended the Ordination of Fr Gabriel Bilas, at St Elia Orthodox Church, Akron, OH
• Served at St. Nikolai Orthodox Church, Alliance, OH
• Prepare a monthly Clergy Newsletter
• Attended deanery picnics
• For the full record of public activities, you may refer to the 2015 Calendar posted under Diocesan Assembly 2016
• Additionally, there were numerous meetings of a private nature that is not reflected on the calendar.

In parishes where I have been regularly invited, the faithful feel comfortable approaching me and discussing their innermost struggles. This is indicative of the relationship of trust that is developing. Hopefully, we can continue to develop this trust for the building up of the local parishes and the Diocese.

THE WORK OF THIS ASSEMBLY AND THE CHALLENGES BEFORE US!
The three major things which we must address at this Assembly are approving the Diocesan Bylaws, Passing the Budget and acceptance of a Resolution for Supporting the Work of the Church through Proportional Giving, Additionally, there are other matters of importance that I will draw your attention to as well.

1. THE DIOCESAN BYLAWS have been on the website for over a year and we have made a few adjustments from the feedback received. There was also some editorial work done after the AAC to update Article and Section numbering. The bold print in the Diocesan Bylaws is explanatory notes of how the Bylaws committee understood the Statutes to apply to our Diocese. As they are primarily from the Statutes itself, there should be little need for discussion tomorrow. According to the Statutes each parish is required to update their own Bylaws by December 31, 2016, remembering that already anything contrary to the current Statute is no longer applicable.

2. THE DIOCESAN BUDGET was reviewed very carefully by the Diocesan Council. Not being sure of the offerings to expect from the parishes, we worked diligently to prepare a budget that reflected what we need to do, rather than what we thought we would be able to do based solely on projected income. A larger budget would allow us to designate funds to begin more mission work in the Diocese as well as building up reserves. Please review the budget in preparation for tomorrow’s meeting.

3. THE FINANCE COMMITTEE, chaired by Mark Linnehan and consisting of volunteers from each deanery, did an excellent job in evaluating the limited information in parish financial reports in our records and coming up with a proposal for transitioning to proportional giving. Mark Linnehan and members of the Finance Committee also made themselves available to explain the Standardized Financial Form they developed and fielded questions on how to complete it. So far their proposal has been well received. Fr. Ignatius will need some time to review each parish’s Standardized Financial Form and compute mute If the proposal passes, getting the Standardized Financial Form to ascertain what each parish’s contribution will be. Please be mindful that our receiving this form in a timely manner will alleviate the necessity of making multiple requests, by letter, phone and email. Our treasurer will then have the information to prepare a budget for the Diocesan Council’s last meeting each year before the assembly. Therefore, I believe it essential to have some incentive to timely reporting.

4. AGING PARISHES AND DECLINING MEMBERSHIP: First the good news, with the transition to proportional giving the decline in membership has slowed down significantly. Whereas we have been dropping 100 souls a year since 1975, this past year we only lost 29 souls. This is the smallest decline the Diocese has experienced in 40 years. We should have moved away from the head tax in 1975! As we consider this major topic, I would like to address again our demographics, national statistics and a way to turn things around.

    A. As mentioned last year our demographics regarding the age of our parishioners is not reflective of the communities in which our parishes are located. (See 2015 CENSUS BEREAU slide 2).

    B. In Pennsylvania 15.4% of the population is over 65 and 21.1 % are under 18. .

    C. We have far more senior citizens proportionate to the local communities. A significant number of our parishes have less adults between 18 & 65 and fewer children attending in many parishes than are a part of their locality as well.

    D. If you add the Census Bureau % of adults over 65 and % of children under 18 and subtract from 100, you will find the percentage of the local community between 18 & 65. Compare this figure with those listed. Therefore 63.5% of the population is between 18 & 65

    E. Encouraging is the overall percentage of children within the Diocese, 21.2%.

    F. We also have spread sheets for the entire Diocese and each Deanery. Let us take a look and review them later with your at your Parish Assemblies.

    G. The parishes that show growth have healthier spreads in age demographics which goes against the national trend.
        i. They are culturally diverse, multi-ethnic and have a more even spread of age groups. (Parishes not open to being culturally diverse are declining.)
        ii. This census data tells us there are still people out there to be reached with the Gospel in every community and it can be done ANYWHERE else in the Diocese.
        iii. Our demographics in each parish can change, if we actively seek to do the work of the Church!
        iv. 90% of the churches in the U.S. are in decline. The older generation is more faithful in attendance on a weekly basis and the 18-65 group has a poorer attendance rate. Yet in thriving parishes, the numbers are better. 80% of the youth that go away to college never return to their faith community and a large number never return to any church.
        v. When we look at the decline in the Diocese over the last 35+ years from 6881 members to under 2597, we need to call to mind the words of Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
        vi. What we have been doing for the last 40 years or more is NOT WORKING
        vii. Abbot Sergius, at St. Tikhon’s Monastery Church, a part of this Diocese brought in twenty (20) new people this past year. If a monastery out in the middle of nowhere can get 20 catechumens and grow a parish, we should be able to grow a parish that have people that live next door..

5. HOW CAN WE TURN THINGS AROUND AND GROW?

Archbishop Anastasios of Albania is correct when he writes.
“Church without mission is a contradiction in terms. If the Church is indifferent to the apostolic work with which she has been entrusted, she denies herself, contradicts herself and her essence, and is a traitor in the warfare in which she is engaged. A static Church which lacks vision and a constant endeavor to proclaim the Gospel to the oikoumene [“whole inhabited world”] could hardly be recognized as the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church to whom the Lord entrusted the continuation of His work.”

    A. As a Diocese and as parishes of the Orthodox Church, we must embrace a sense of Mission. (Slides 6-8)
        i. We cannot limit ourselves to cultural identities of the past. Our parishes may still maintain their cultural heritage, and I would encourage them to do so, but we must always remember that it is not what the Church is about.
        ii. The past is gone. Russian is not what it was 100 years ago, 75 years ago, 50 years ago or even 20 years ago. The same could be said for the USA and every advanced country in the world. We cannot live in isolation to the current culture of where we live here and now.
        iii. We cannot exclude others based on cultural or ethnic differences and call ourselves the Church. The Church has always be commissioned to take the Gospel to every land and people and find a way to express the faith in that culture. Cyril and Methodius did not force Greek customs and language on the Slavs. The Slavs did not force Russian Culture, customs and language on the native Alaskans. There always has to be a synthesis. We have to be Faithful to the Gospel, but express it in a manner that is culturally meaningful. The Orthodox Church is not here to make them Russians, Greeks, Arabs, Romanians, Bulgarians, Georgians, etc. We are here for the sole purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and bringing them into the Church.
        iv. Let us take a look at what is being written about dying churches and growing churches.(slides 13-35)
6. We as a Diocese and its constituent parishes must have a Mission Statement that expresses the vision of what Christ, himself calls us to do.
    A. We need to clearly distinguish in our minds the work of the Church and work that we have chosen to engage to support the work of the Church. We cannot confuse the means with the goal.

    B. Our parish assemblies and parish councils need to adopt a mission statements as they prepare to revise their Bylaws that includes a mission statement with a view to fulfill the work Christ calls us to do.

    C. We must begin to change the way we think about the Church. We are not simply a Russian Church, we are an Orthodox Church. It is not my Church or your church, it is Christ’s Church. All who belong to Christ by LIVING according to His teachings, as expressed in the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Faith, Scripture, Divine Services, etc. and are His Disciples are part of His undivided Church.

    D. The Mission of the Orthodox Church in America, the local autocephalous Orthodox Church, the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania and its constituent parishes is to be faithful in fulfilling the commandment of Christ to “Go into all the world and make disciples of all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all [things that He has] commanded” so that all people may be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth:

    To preach, in accordance with God’s will, the fullness of the gospel of the Kingdom to the peoples of North America and to invite them to become members of the Orthodox Church.
    To utilize for her mission the various languages of the peoples of this continent.
    To be the body of Christ in North America and to be faithful to the tradition of the Holy Orthodox Church.
    To witness to the truth, and by God’s grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit, to reveal Christ’s way of sanctification and eternal salvation to all.

In conclusion, I wish to reiterate the purposes of this Diocesan Assembly are to
    A. Approve the Bylaws, which are required by civil law.
    B. Approve a Budget that will allow us to do the work of the Church.
    C. Approve a Resolution on how our parishes will support the work of the Church as a Diocese and the Orthodox Church in America.

Additionally, we must realize that every parish by definition is a mission and must seek to reach out to the lost and needy. 80% of the unchurched say they would attend church if they were invited. Invite them.

We need to resolve in each parish to give according to how God has blessed us. As we look at our demographics, many of those we depend upon to assist or run fundraiser will not be doing it for many more years.

We must begin to give our priests a living wage and insure that they have adequate health care. We need to take care of those who take care of us. Our clergy and matushki need adequate time off, time with their peers and time to reprioritize.

Christ once asked, “Do you want to be made whole?”

Do you want the Lord’s Church to continue in your community years after you are gone? Then we must not only embrace those who come through our doors seeking the fullness of the faith, we must go out to the Highways and byways and bid them come in, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background. God does not care about pedigree, class, where we were born, the color of our skin, eyes or hair. He desires people be saved and come to the knowledge of the TRUTH!
Thank you for your undivided attention!

Your unworthy father in Christ,

+ MARK
Archbishop of Philadelphia and the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania

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