Sixth Parish Development Forum attracts over 60 participants
Saint John the Baptist Church, Canonsburg, PA, was the site of the Sixth Parish Development Forum July 11-13, 2019.
Sixty-three participants represented parishes from the Orthodox Church in America’s sponsoring Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Diocese of Chicago and the Midwest, and Bulgarian Diocese. Participants also were present from the OCA Dioceses of the South, New York and New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and New England. Attendees also represented the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.
Also in attendance were His Eminence, Archbishop Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and His Grace, Bishop Paul of Chicago.
The Forum theme—“Strengthening Our Commitment to the Community: Sharing and Growing Our Faith; Welcoming Others”—took shape in two keynote presentations by Priest Maximus Urbanowicz, Rector of Saint James the Apostle Church, Port Saint Lucie, FL, and Priest Paul Abernathy; Director FOCUS Pittsburgh and Saint Moses the Black Mission, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. Fifteen additional speakers and panelists contributed to the conference program.
A wide variety of Forum documents and resources is now available online.