Loss of Life

Posted on by Fr. Peter
For those of you reading who live in the Village with me you know by now that we had a suicide on Monday. A poor distraught man took his own life in the parking lot of the local grocery store. What a horrible thing this will be for his family. Pray for this man and for his family.

It does however bring to mind that during this time of year people face all kinds of troubles and with the economy the way it is it makes it worse. Monique over on the Getting Involved Blog has put together a list of resources in the area for folks that are having a hard time. Also as of this writing there are still about 27,000 people in the area without power since last Thursday and they are being told it could be the weekend before the power is restored. I also heard last night that some folks may be without power until after the first of the year!

On my weekly radio show Father Peter Live, I was going to talk about a different subject this week but with this situation of the man taking his life, I think I am going to talk about this. If you cannot get the station I will post the audio after the show.

Church Merger

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I have written before on these pages about the Church situation here in the Village. The bottom line is we have three Orthodox Churches in a town that can barely support one. So we have begun, once again, talks on merging the three churches. So my question is how do you merge a Greek, Albanian, Romanian Church into something that can work? Okay I know we pray and rely on God and those are great suggestions but I need some practical advice on how to lead, or dare I say shepherd, this little exercise!

The three churches have existed for about 100 years. Not all of them of course we are the youngest of the three. And we all have property, ethnic identity, traditions, oh and least I forget lamb recipes for our picnics. We all celebrate liturgy a little different and we all have songs that we like to sing. We share the Orthodox faith, but the three churches are very different. This is sort of like the Brady Bunch or Yours Mine and Ours!

Last night we had a Parish Council meeting and we were discussing the plan. As it is laid out right now two of the three churches will have a joint parish council meeting in February to discuss weather or not we wish to merge into one parish. Then we will appoint a commission of say three or four people from each church to answer questions such as property, diocese, clergy, and oh yes the lamb recipe. We are setting a three to five year plan for all of this so nothing will happen tomorrow and we all need to be patient. Or as patient as we can be under these circumstances.

On Sunday I passed out a survey and asked questions about the good points and the not so good points, I am avoiding using the term bad, of this merger plan and most were very positive and all had to do with unity and the survival of the Orthodox Faith in the Village. If we stay the way we are we will cease to exist in less than five years. For example the average age in my parish is 62 and not getting any younger. So here we are trying to make something happen. With much prayer we will seek God blessing in all of this.

Amy Grant & Vince Gill

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Last night I attended my second concert. Second concert of my entire life by the way. The first one was Randy Travis about a million years ago.

Last night was Vince Gill & Amy Grant with a concert of Christmas music. What a fantastic evening it was and really put me in the Christmas spirit. There was some question as to weather the concert would happen or not because of the ice storm we had overnight but all was well. The place was not filled and I am wondering if they just did not sell the tickets or if people just stayed home for fear of ice and the cold.

Anyway thanks to WESO for the tickets it was a great night.

Catch Up

Posted on by Fr. Peter
It is hard to believe that it is Thursday already where has the week gone? Right now I am preparing for my Live Radio Program Father Peter Live that will air today at 12 noon on the local radio station WESO 970am. This will be my second show and I have two guests coming in for this week. I am surprised at how much work there is just to produce a one hour program. Now I know why most of these show have a producer but we have a very small budget, actually no budget, so I do it all myself.

After the live program I will return here to the rectory and record my show Shepherd of Souls. This week I have an interview with Fr. Nicholas Apostola on the Orthodox View of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I will not give anymore details so you will have to listen.

This week has been a busy one and I am fighting a cold again so prayers would be appreciated.

Last Saturday night I met a group of 20 somethings at a local watering hole for another round of Theology on Tap. This was a great night of meeting with a different age group in their own surroundings. We need to do more of this and take the Gospel to where they are and meet them where they are. We had a great discussion and after I process more of my thoughts I will write something more about it.

Sunday was the celebration of the Feast of St. Nicholas at our Sister parish here in Southbridge. I have written about the situation here in Southbridge before. We are a town of about 12,000 people and have three Orthodox Churches in this little town. Well we hope to rectify this starting very soon. We have agreed to meet to begin a discussion about merging two of the three parishes. please pray for us as we continue this very important work.

Tonight I continue my adult religious education program on the theme of Orthodox Spirituality. If you are a listener to Shepherd of Souls in iTunes you got the extra episode this week with my lecture. I plan to do the same this week so stay tuned. If you do not subscribe please take a moment to go on over to iTunes and search for the show.

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