Session 6: Our Family Helps the Church Grow

The purpose of this session is to show how the Church grew from Alaska to include all of North America.

Objectives: By the end of this session participants will be able to . . .

1. List immigration and missionary efforts as different ways the Church has grown in North America

2. List reasons why Orthodox Christians came to this country.

3. Relate the lives of Ss. Tikhon, Alexis, and Raphael with the different ways the Church grew in North America.

4. Explain briefly how their parish was established.

5. Explain how their family has helped the Church in North America grow.

Useful Texts for Leader Reflection/Preparation

(Scriptural, Liturgical, Lives of Saints, etc):

Lives of St. Tikhon, St.Alexis Toth, and St. Raphael Hawaweeney

All available in Portraits of America Saints compiled and edited by Father George A. Gray and Jan V. Bear available from the Diocese of the West, 650 Micheltorena Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026.

Materials:

Photocopies of family/parish pictures, documents, completed parent questionnaires

A & B: Younger Children and Pre-teens

1. Opening Prayer.

2. Opening discussion: Begin by stating: “Not long after the Church was established in Alaska, many people began to come to America from other countries. Many of them came from the countries we visited. They began parishes all across the United States and Canada. There were many priests who came to serve in these new churches. Many of your grandparents and great grandparents helped to start churches.”

Looking through the parent questionnaires and the information students gathered from various people in the parish, share some of the results, especially as it relates to the starting of parishes, involvement in the Church, etc..

Continue by asking each student to show his or her family picture and to talk about the people in it. If your parish has historical materials in which some of the students’ relatives are pictured, share these and discuss them also. Offer a brief description of the history of your parish. (Ask your parish priest, founding members, or descendants of founding members for help with this.) After every student has spoken, create a display with the photo copies of pictures, memorabilia, etc. This should be done in a very visible place where everyone can view the display.

Note: In every parish there are unique situations which cannot be put into a standardized lesson plan. For example, you may have parishioners who were founders of the parish. It would be good to have one or more of them visit for this session and to talk about their experiences. They should be invited to bring memorabilia- old photos, anniversary books, old icons, etc. - with them which reflect the parish’s earlier years. Be creative here. Don’t rely solely on this lesson plan.

3. Optional Activity Our Parish, Our History: A Play - Tell students that they are going to use all the information they gathered to prepare a play on the history of the parish to perform for everyone in the parish. Teachers should select 4 or 5 main events in the history of the parish and draw up a list of characters. Assign parts so that every student participates in some way. Younger children can have simpler parts.

Each scene should be developed. Draft a simple narrator’s script. Then, using this script as a basis, the students act out each scene. Have students develop their speaking parts as they practice or the entire thing can be done as a pantomime. You may need to schedule additional times to practice and prepare.

Plan the “opening night” for a time everyone can attend. Have refreshments available for after the show.

Closing Prayer

C: Teens

1.-2.

3. North American Orthodox Jeopardy Game

Pass out the lives of Ss. Tikhon, Alexis Toth, and Raphael Hawaweeney and have participants get into two groups. Tell participants they have 10 minutes to read through the lives of the above saints to study for the game. After 10 minutes collect all papers. Teams flip a coin to see who goes first. The first person chooses a category and point value. For example, St. Alexis for 200 points. They are then presented with a fact (i.e., the state in which St. Alexis died and was canonized). They “answer” the fact in the form of a question (i.e., What is Pennsylvania?). If they don’t know the correct answer the other team gets to guess. Teams may quietly discuss the question. The team with the most points wins.

The below questions are presented as one example. Feel free to come up with your own questions.

St. Alexis

100 15,000 of them were received into the Orthodox Faith by St. Alexis. [Who are the Uniates?]

200 He told St. Alexis that he didn’t like “his kind of priest.” [Who is Bishop Ireland?]

300 Place where St. Alexis first served before going to Wilkes-Barre, PA. [What is Minneapolis?]

400 Name of Book St. Alexis wrote to encourage people to become Orthodox. [What is Where to Seek the Truth?]

500 Years that St. Alexis worked to convert people to Orthodox Christianity. [What is 1891-1909?]

St. Raphael

100 Place where St. Raphael was originally buried. [What is St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY?]

200 Where St. Raphael was born. [What is Damascus, Syria?]

300 St. Raphael’s first parish assignment. [What is the Antiochian Patriarchal Embassy in Moscow, Russia?]

400 Name of Saint who consecrated St. Raphael a bishop. [Who is St. Tikhon?]

500 Nationality of Orthodox Church to which St. Raphael was assigned. [What is Russian?]

St. Tikhon

100 Location of first Orthodox seminary established by St. Tikhon. [What is Minneapolis, MN?]

200 St. Tikhon moved the headquarters of the Church from here to New York. [What is San Francisco?]

300 Name and location of the first North American monastery St. Tikhon founded. [What is St. Tikhon’s Monastery in South Canaan, PA?]

400 In order to maintain unity between parishes of different ethnic backgrounds, St. Tikhon published this woman’s English translation of Orthodox services. [Who is Mrs. Isabell Hapgood?]

500 One of the nine years St. Tikhon was bishop in North America. [What is 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, or 1907?]

4. Conclude by saying, “There are so many people we need to thank for our Church in North America. There are saints as well as countless faithful that heard the Good News and wanted it to grow here in North America. Some lived two hundred years ago. Others are right here with us now working hard so that everyone on this continent will know the truth about the Good News of Jesus Christ.”