Rev. Fr. John E. Artemas, November, 2009

Beloved Members of our St. Nicholas Church:
May the Grace and Peace of God be with you.

1. During the weekend of October 9-11, our St. Nicholas Church hosted the “Youth Choir Conference”, sponsored by the Choir Federation of our Chicago Metropolis. Young people from seven churches participated in workshops, rehearsals and fellowship activities, and then sang during the Liturgy on Sunday in place of our Senior Choir. His Grace Bishop Demetrios represented His Eminence Metropolitan Iakovos and officiated at the Liturgy, and the Youth Choir sounded wonderful. All who attended enjoyed and were edified by the service. After the Liturgy, a “farewell luncheon” for the young people and the congregation was hosted by our Philoptochos.

2. The churches that participated and the number of participants (in parenthesis) are: St. Andrew, Chicago (1), Assumption, Olympia Fields (2), Sts. Constantine
and Helen, Palos Hills (2), St. Nicholas, Oak Lawn (12), St. Nicholas, St. Louis (1), St. Spyridon, Palos Heights (3) Holy Trinity, Chicago (3). The Liturgy was directed
by Diana Ott, Organist was Rosemary DeSanto and Clinician was Stacy Cunningham. Chairman of the event was Theoney Bouris, assisted by Ida Trakadas. All of the above did a wonderful job and we are very grateful to them. We are also very grateful to the Philoptochos members and all others who assisted during the weekend and the luncheon.

3. As you can see, from our entire Metropolis only twenty-four (24) young people participated. Half of those (12) were from our St. Nicholas Church. I am pleased, to a point, but not totally. We could easily have had thirty or more from our church and many more from other churches. In my opinion, there is room for improvement in publicity on the Metropolis level (our local publicity was very good), and more support is needed from our Holy Metropolis. But, most importantly, much more support is needed from parents. We need to make the Christian education and training of our children a serious priority, a commitment, not a casual convenience. The twenty-four children who participated lifted up their “hymns of praise” as a precious offering to the Lord. And they received much joy and abundant blessings in return. Next time, I hope that the “twenty-four” will become “two hundred and forty”.

4. With my remarks above, I do not want to be critical, nor give anyone a “guilt trip”. But, as a presbyter of the Church, it is my duty to “challenge” my people (and myself). Life is hard, and anything worthwhile requires much effort. But what is more “worthwhile” than the Christian upbringing of our children? The world is drifting farther and farther away from faith in God and moral values. Where will our children get the desire and the strength to “swim against the current” if we don’t train and equip them? And, sadly, when the clergy do not receive an encouraging response to their efforts, they eventually are tempted to “let go” and allow the ship to drift with the current.

5. The children who participated in the Youth Choir Conference deserve our praise and admiration, and so do their parents. I want to recognize and congratulate them by name:
From our St. Nicholas Church:
ANGELO ANAGNOSTOPOULOS     
ANDREW P. ANGELOS
SPIRO P. ANGELOS                         
BILLY ARGIROPOULOS
GABRIEL CANIGLIA                         
ANTONIA LANE
NICHOLAS LANE                         
CHRISTA PAVLICK     
NICOLE PAVLICK                         
JOHN PAUL REPETNY
ELENI TSAKONAS                         
JOHN TSAKONAS

From Assumption Church of Olympia Fields:
SOTIRIA TEJEDA               
PHOTINI TEJEDA

From St. Spyridon Church of Palos Heights:
STEPHANIE KORBAKES          
ALEXANDRA VASILOPOULOS
VASILIKI VASILOPOULOS

From Sts. Constantine and Helen Church of Palos Hills
ANDRIANNA JONAS     
ANDONIA SUBSITS

From St. Andrew Church of Chicago
KATRINA KALOMAS

From St. Nicholas Church of St. Louis, MO
PETER MICHAEL KONTOMINAS

From Holy Trinity Church of Chicago
ASTERO, SOPHIA AND IZAKI METROPOULOS

May the Lord bless all of us more and more, so that we will be “filled with the Spirit, singing and making melody to the Lord, in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:18-19).

Yours in the Lord’s Service and Love,
† Father John E. Artemas
Pastor-Protopresbyter