Join the OCA/OCMC 2016 Mexico Teaching Team
Now is the time to sign up as a member of the teaching team slated to visit San Esteban and Pisaflores, Mexico from March 26 through April 2, 2016.
Cosponsored by the Orthodox Church in America and the Orthodox Christian Mission Center with the blessing of His Eminence, Archbishop Alejo of Mexico City, the team will expand upon earlier outreach efforts in these remote villages of indigenous Aztec Orthodox Christians northwest of Mexico City. [See related story.]
Team members will teach the Orthodox Christian faith to the local population—including basic “catechism” and crafts for children in a Vacation Bible School format and similar sessions for adults—while worshipping and offering encouragement and fellowship to the local community.
“This is a unique opportunity to share your Faith and be a part of an Orthodox Christian witness in a beautiful, remote and safe region of Mexico,” said Archpriest Theodore Pisarchuk of Jacksonville, FL, team coordinator. “Participants with experience in youth ministry and adult catechism are especially urged to apply. Participants must be fluent or near fluent in Spanish.”
Potential team members are strongly advised to register early. Team members are responsible for the $700.00 registration fee, which covers all expenses while in Mexico including local transportation, room and board, orientation costs, ministry expenses, excursions and materials. They also are responsible for their own round-trip travel expenses to Mexico City. Typically, team members solicit pledges and financial support from their parishes and deaneries as well as sponsorships in their local communities.
To register as a team member or to obtain additional information, please contact Father Theodore at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 904-880-7671.
By way of background, San Esteban is a village with a population of one-thousand souls. It is surrounded by a dozen other remote Orthodox Christian villages, including Pisaflores, many of which are accessible only by foot or burro. The local inhabitants maintain a sustenance lifestyle, growing their own corn and black beans and living in homes of simple concrete block construction with corrugated metal roofs. Horses and burros are the main forms of transportation. Hieromonk Serafin, who maintains his residence in Pisaflores, “makes his rounds” ministering to the villagers.
The history of the Orthodox Church in Mexico is a colorful tapestry of indigenous Mexicans seeking the Orthodox faith coupled with ethnic migrations from “traditional” Orthodox lands. The last few decades of the 1800’s brought an influx of Orthodox immigrants to Mexico, who established communities which then faced a lack of clergy and the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church. After independence from Spain, the power of the Catholic Church was limited, and an independent “Mexican Apostolic National Church” was created. In 1970, a portion of this group embraced Orthodox Christianity and was received into the Orthodox Church in America. His Eminence, the late Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas and the South was most instrumental in nurturing the fledgling Mexican Diocese, which today includes nine parishes and and numerous missions. A large percentage of the faithful are of Aztec origin.