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February 2013 Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco

CHRISTIAN Formation & RELIGIOUS Education

His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos

of San Francisco with the twenty district

representative speakers at the 2012 Metropolis-level St.

John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival, held at St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center.

Dear Friends,

We are indeed blessed in that every parish in our holy Metropolis offers some form of religious education for youth. Many also offer regular classes for adults. As one might expect, each parish religious education pro-gram reflects the distinctive gifts and “personality” of that particular parish in the same way that the choir, parish council, Philoptochos, etc. reflect the uniqueness of that parish. One of the tasks of the Metropolis Religious Education and Christian Formation Ministry is to offer resource support and teacher training op-portunities to our diverse parishes. But the metropolis is also called upon to promote the vision and class-room curriculum developed by the Archdiocesan Department of Religious Education (DRE). This “intermediary” role informs the work and focus of the Religious Education Committee, comprised of Fa-ther Anthony Savas (St. Nicholas, Northridge), Fr. Peter Stratos (St. Anthony, Pasadena), Victoria Buonocore (Holy Trinity, San Francisco), and myself.

How can the metropolis support religious education in our diverse parishes? One way is as a resource. Classroom teachers in both large and small parishes have repeatedly said that they would like additional les-sons and activities to correspond to the textbooks that are currently available. For this very purpose, the Metropolis Religious Education website in in the process of being converted to a “blog“ format to serve as a “hub” for classroom teachers to share original lesson plans and activities. In this way, 1) our metropolis reli-gious educators can be recognized for their unique contributions to the catechetical ministry, 2) teachers will have access to an inspirational and practical resource to augment their own classroom activities, 3) our archdiocese curriculum is promoted and more-effectively utilized and 4) our Metropolis Religious Education ministry may serve as a beacon to the wider English-speaking Orthodox community. Please visit the new site at: www.religioused.sanfran.goarch.org

We also continue to look for ways to use internet technology to provide opportunities for adult Christian educa-tion. An example of this is the fourth year of the San Francisco Metropolis Online Lenten Book Club, described on page three, which offers inspiration, education, and fellowship, regardless of one’s physical location.

Respectfully submitted, Paraskevè (Eve) Tibbs, PhD Chair, Religious Education Ministry

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This Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival is an excellent opportunity for our Greek Orthodox teens to think about, research, write and speak publicly about their Faith. Public speaking is a very valuable skill and, through this Festi-val, the Church provides a supportive and nurturing environ-ment for our young people to do so, and simultaneously the opportunity to learn about their faith! It also provides them with an avenue to meet some of their peers throughout the Metropolis and Archdiocese.

The Metropolis level festival will be held on Saturday, April 20, 2013 at Saint Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center, and will again be sponsored jointly by the Youth and Young Adult, Religious Education, and St. Nicholas Ranch Ministries. The National level Oratorical Festival will be held in Memphis on June 7th and 8th.

This year's metropolis-wide theme, is:

Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival - 2013

"Speaking the Truth in Love"

“We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cun-

ning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.” -

Ephesians 4.14-15

For a promotional flyer customized with

the date of your parish and district festival,

(for self-printing or email) please send an

email request to:

religioused@sanfran.goarch.org

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The 2012 Lenten “Orthodox Book Study Forum” of the Me-tropolis of San Francisco concluded with a record number of participants (78!) and a record number of weekly views (98 average per week for 6 weeks!) The Book Club was started as a supple-mental adult education programs to parishes. The book club is centered around discussions led and moderat-ed by Konstantine Salmas (MDiv.), who is the Director of Ed-ucation and Youth at Church of the Holy Cross in Belmont, CA. Partici-pants throughout our metropolis read the same book together dur-ing Great Lent and interact with one another online in a private online forum.

The next Lenten Book Club will begin on March 10, 2013

and continue for 3 months through June 10, 2013. The participants during the 2013 Lenten Online Book Club are asked to read approximately two chapters per week of Wounded by Love: The Live and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios, and log in to the forum once per week at a minimum to contribute to the discussion.

In his introduction to the Greek edition Bishop Irenaeus of Chania writes:

“The words of blessed Elder Porphyrios are the words of a holy Father, of a man with the gift of clear sight, who was ever retiring, humble, simple and ardent and whose life was a true and authentic witness to Christ, to His truth and to His joy. “

Registration will open March 1 through a link available on the Metropolis

main website (www.sanfran.goarch.org.)

Please help us spread the word about this excellent resource!

Online Lenten Book Club - 2013 Session

Konstantine Salmas, MDiv