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The Chrismation Of Else

Elsa is converting from the Presbyterian denomination of the protestant church through the sacrament of Chrismation.

Here she is receiving the forgiveness of sins though the laying on of hands which is part of the Chrismation ceremony. She will now be known as Maria.

St. Lukes Celebrates Feast Day

Since St. Lukes Feast Day occurred while Father Andrew was on his mission to Romania, this week upon his return we celebrated the feast day with an Octoberfest luncheon. Here we see Father Andrew blessing the food.

Here the parishioners enjoy the food and........

.......fellowship. Our thanks to our community team for preparing this luncheon for us.

Corneliu & Vasilika in Romania

On the way home Fr. Andrew visited Corneliu & Vasilika who where former parishioners of St. Luke who now live in Bucharist. This is their apartment in a beautiful section near a park where they walk every day.

This is the apartment building where they live. Their apartment in on the top floor.

This is the beautiful park across the street from the Apartment building.

This is where Corneliu and Vasilika attend church which is within walking distance from there home. Notice that the Church is under construction.

This is the Iconographer who is painting the walls of the new church, he offered to come to America to finish painting St. Lukes.

They are having services in the basement until the church is completed next year.

Corneliu's priest was away on a tour of Jerusalem so Fr. Andrew was not able to meet him but Corneliu took him to a neighboring parish to meet that Priest. The priest invited Fr. Andrew to concelebrate with him when he returns to Romania.

A special chapel for lighting candles. Candles are mostly lit outside in Romania in special enclosed places.

The candles are placed in a tray with water so the candles will go out when they burn down.

A Piece Of History Found At St. Lukes

Fr. Andrew found what he thought was a rusty ball bearing by the trash dumpster at St. Luke's parking lot. He cleaned it up and had it in his desk. When doing research on the French Fort which was located behind St. Luke it struck him that the ball may be a small cannon ball from the fort. He gave it to Bill Porter a local historian for authentication. Here we see the local historian photographing the grapeshot found on St. Luke property.

For information concerning the French Fort History please click here

Local historian weighs the find; grapeshot was packed in canisters and fired from cannons used between the Revolutionary War and WWII.

St. Luke Parish Joins PADS Program

St. Luke Parish beginning this year is a member of the PADS Program. This program provides shelter and food for the homeless in our area during the colder months of the year. The above photo shows some of the members of the team.

Father Andrew's Mission to Romania

With Father Andrew leaving for his missionary work in Romania, a luncheon was held following Divine Liturgy. Here we see Father Andrew blessing the food. The proceeds from this luncheon were given to Father Andrew to help with the cost of his missionary work. Additionally warm clothes were collected for the children in Romania.

Fr. Andrew is on a mission with Floyd Frantz in Romania. He will be there for three weeks speaking to Priests and Bishops of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Floyd is a full time missionary sent by the OCMC to help develop alcohol treatment programs and Alcoholic Anonymous groups

Here we see Father Andrew holding the babies who received the donations of baby clothes. This facility is a day care center for babies who are at risk of being abandoned by their mothers because of poverty and alcoholism.

Fr. Andrew with his translator Claudia delivering his presentation on alcohol addictions.

Here Father Andrew participates in a panel discussion with questions and answers by the participating priests on how alcoholism effects the family and what role they can take in facilitating Alcoholic into treatment and help for the family.

The mission team is composed of Dr. Spero, Fr. George, Floyd, and Fr. Andrew.

The mission team having dinner with Bishop Vasil of Cluj.

Fr. Andrew with Fr. George after the second day of lectures. Fr. George is from St. Matthews Antiocian Parish in California He has special training in alcohol addiction. Fr. Andrew and Fr. George are staying at the children's day care center.

This is the diocesan Cathedral of the Dormition located in down town Cluj. It is open all day with services in the morning, evening and for special akathist services. People come in at any time to pray.

This is a group photo of the participants of the first seminar on Alcoholism presented to the clergy of the Diocese of Cluj. Some of the participants came from as far away as Moldova.

The mission team having Hungarian Goolash in a Hungarian Restaurant discussing the progress made with the clergy at the Seminar.

This is a mental hospital where the mission project led by Floyd Frantz has AA meeting three days a week. It is a one hour drive from Cluj. The patients are in very cramped quarters.

The Seminary Chapel where the conference was held. Those attending are all future Priests of the Cluj Diocese.

Dr. Spero giving his power point presentation on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The priests asked many questions about preventing this condition.

In this photo Dr. Spero is using a flip chart to point out the tell tale signs of fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

The mission team visiting a soup kitchen facility support partly by the IOCC. The Priest who runs the program is a specialist in social work. The Romanian Orthodox have a number of priests assigned as chaplains to social welfare programs.

The facility has a beautiful chapel for services.

The facility also has ping pong tables and a soccer field for the youth.

Floyd Franz has been holding group sessions twice a week for inmates of this mental hospital. Several have been able to be released after recovering from alcoholism. The facilities are very poor but the staff does an amazing job for what they have. It was very clean.

This Icon of the sacred cup is used by the Alcohol treatment groups and AA groups established in Romania. There is a special Akathist service for this Icon which is used by recovering Alcoholics.

A photo of the baby home. They take in ten at risk babies. Many from mothers who are Alcoholics.

Fr. Andrew with more babies.

This is St. Pantelemon's social welfare program run by the Romania Orthodox Church. They give out free medical supplies to poor people. Floyd runs an Alcoholism treatment group at this facility.

This is a group picture of the workers at the St. Pantelemon's facility.

This is the Parish were Floyd attends liturgy. This is a temporary building. A new church will be built when they are able to collect the necessary funds. Some support comes from the state but they must raise most of the money. New churches and monasteries all over Romania are being built.

Fr. Andrew and Fr. George concelebrated the Liturgy with the parish priest.