Archbishop JOB's paschal letter can be found here.

A collection of photos of Pascha and Holy Week in the Diocese can be found here on the Diocesan Website. 

Video of the month-- A series of videos of Pascha at St Innocent parish in Olmsted Falls OH can be found here.

Our Parish Leadership Webinar Series became a reality in March. Fr Gregory Jensen offered perspectives on recent research into the qualities of effective leaders and how that applies to parish life. This session was attended live by 18 persons from as far away as Texas. We received many fine compliments on the quality of Fr. Gregory's presentation.

 All webinars are free and unless we find a reason to do otherwise open to anyone. You need a computer with a browser and a web connection. No downloads are required.

The following are the next scheduled webinars.

Tuesday April 28 2;00 PM CDT 3:00 PM EDT
Psychology of Leadership II Fr. Gregory Jensen
In this the second of two webinars Fr. Jensen looks at how we can foster styles of leadership that are strength based, collaborative and appreciative.

He will explore leadership that values collaboration/cooperation between clergy and the laity.
This will be contrasted with approaches built around competition and/or collusion.

He will introduce a strength based approach to parish leadership that makes appreciative use of the unique our talents and gifts that God has given the lay people and clergy who make up the parish community.
Register

Wednesday May 20, 2009   2:00 PM CDT/3:00 PM EDT
Recent Changes in the American Religious Landscape - Fr. Basil Aden
Our American culture is rapidly changing.  To be effective, our mission and ministry needs to comprehend and apply itself to this new landscape.

This webinar will  overview the profound changes in American religious affiliation as well as the ever-widening range of religious beliefs that Americans are entertaining. It will perspectives on parish action in context of  the results of three recent surveys:

• the Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of 2007.  
• the Baylor Institute's  2006 "Survey of American Piety in the 21st Century"  
• the Patriarch Athenagoras Institute Survey of Orthodoxy in America conducted in 2007 and 2008.

Father Aden is a priest of the diocese as well as Associate Professor of Philosophy (Religious Studies) at Rock Valley College in Rockford IL where he teaches courses on Religion in America, Introduction to Religion, Sacred Writings (scriptures) of World Religions, and World Religions. His focus is on contemporary issues of religion in America and the world. .
More info
Register

The rough target is to be able to present "important progress"  on this at effort at the October 2009 Diocesan Assembly. 

As regular readers of Parish Pulse know, last summer Archbishop JOB invited 13 priests from growing parishes to come together to understand what seemed to be working well and less well in their parishes. The primary result was the identification of eight critical areas of   parish life that have been described in the Parish Health Inventory model.

Selecting the areas of the model took a good deal of energy, compromise and consensus building. However one of the most interesting aspects of the discussions during the session centered around an area that every clergy attendee immediately agreed was essential and important to building vibrant parishes and that was perhaps the simplest. Say thank you often.

It occurs to us that there is no more important time to say thank you in parishes than immediately after our Paschal journey.

We receive many parish bulletins and newsletters -- both hard copy and electronic. Yesterday we received a perfect example of exhuberant Paschal thankfulness.

The newsletter overflowed with abundant enthusiasm in thanking all in the Parish. The thank you article noted the extraordinary efforts of:

• choir members
• readers
• sub-deacons
• sacristans
• altar servers
• clergy
  
• parish council for keeping good order and making sure processions were carried out with decorum,
  
• greeters for finding a place for overflows crowds,
  
• those who arrayed the tomb in glory,
  
• those who set up halls, covered tables and made coffee for paschal breakfasts,
  
• those who clean up before or after --assigined or impromptu,
  
• chaperones for Lenten teen events
• teens who attended,
  
• and even the local police who increased patrols during Pascha night
  

"Everything having been done to ensure that Our Risen Lord is indeed 'all in all' and, 'in all things glorified!'"

Thank yous can come from the rector,of course, but from lay leaders as well.

In the unanimous opinion of attendees at last summer's Parish Health Summit , the goal is not necessarily numerical growth -- that is the by-product of vibrancy as a Christian community. People want to be a part of loving communities. Nothing helps create a foundation for vibrancy and love like simply  saying thank you often.

*Insular adj. pertaining to an island, or to the inhabitants of an island their customs; etc.; inward; narrow

It has been noted often by others, and in recent parish health workshops the unfortunate tendency of too many Orthodox parishes to exist in a place without being part of that place.

This is probably understandable. Most Orthodox parishioners are not from the local neighborhood. One parish we visited last summer noted that not one parishioner lived in the suburb in which the parish is located. Everybody drove five to 25 miles -- or probably more -- to come to church.  In a discussion about reaching out to contribute to local needs nobody really knew what was needed because "we sort of helicopter in on weekends".

Yet despite their regional membership,some parishes do a particularly good job of being good neighbors. Their simple efforts include:

• Getting to know the Mayor and ward councilman
• Maintaining warm, friendly relations with next door neighbors
• Keeping the building exterior updated and the yard attractively landscaped. See related article on Diocesan website.
  
• Offering ESL classes to locals  -- and probably many more efforts unknown to us.
  

A local result is that the neighborhood around the church is better than before the church was located there.

Unexpected Payoffs
The parish does not do the above in order to receive something in return. However more often than not the parish's efforts as good neighbors result in direct benefit to the parish. Examples include:

• Police, with help from the mayor's office liberally bend parking restrictions on Sunday morning

• The rector is often invited to deliver the invocation at city council meetings - creating positive word of mouth information about the parish and the Orthodox faith.

• A recent need for a zoning variance required for construction of a new hall sailed through the local zoning board. At the close of the meeting, one of the Zoning Board members commented on the beauty of the parish property.  "I've driven by your church daily and I deeply appreciate the "obvious care" that you display in maintaining your property" he said.
  

The lesson would be to consider the importance of the place where your parish is and the contribution you make to that place -- and how that place makes an impact on your parish.

brainstorm what it means to be a Christian. Their answers provide a good road map for all of us:

1. Pray
2. Go to Church
3. Be nice to people
4. Believe in Jesus Christ
5. Try to resist temptation
6. Share our faith
7. Try to figure out what God wants us to do.

How wonderful it would be if they are able to carry it out.