With great joy we can now officially announce that a new auxillary bishop for the Diocese of the South has been elected by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America—Archimandrite Jonah (Paffhausen). Fr. Jonah is now Bishop-elect Jonah, and upon his consecration his title will be “Bishop of Ft. Worth, Auxillary to Archbishop DMITRI.” In the Orthodox Church, an auxiallary bishop has the duty of assisting a diocesan bishop with his work; he can do nothing without the authorization of the diocesan bishop.
A graduate of St Vladimir’s Seminary, Bishop-elect Jonah was the abbot of St John the Wonderworker Monastery in Manton, California (Diocese of the West) until his election to the episcopacy this week. Bishop-elect Jonah will arrive in Dallas September 11 and begin his duties as Chancellor of the DOS. He will continue in that position after his consecration to the episcopacy.
The dates for the consecration of Bishop-elect Jonah have already been set. The schedule is below, and will be updated if modifications are made. Please plan to attend this historic event in the life of our diocese if at all possible! (Services this weekend at Christ the Saviour will be very limited, as Fr. Matthew will be in Dallas for the consecration).
Friday, October 31, 2008 7:00pm Great Vespers and the Rite of Election of a bishop (Bishop-elect Jonah will serve); reception to follow
Saturday, November 1, 2008 9:00am Hours 9:30am Procession of Hierarchs; Profession of Faith of Bishop-elect Jonah; Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with the laying on of hands and consecration of Bishop-elect Jonah to the episcopacy; reception to follow 5:00pm Resurrection Vigil
Sunday, November 2, 2008 9:00am Hours; Greeting of the bishops and vesting of Bishop JONAH 9:30am Hierarchical Divine Liturgy; reception to follow
Some writings by Bishop-elect Jonah can be found here.
Hurricane Gustav strikes! We have several large trees down on the property in front of St. Innocent Hall, but by the grace of God, no damage to the buildings. The concrete steps leading from the road to the front of St. Innocent's are damaged, but that is our only physical property damage. Click here for more photos.
Sisters of Mercy Natalia and Olga, from the Convent of St. Elizabeth in Minsk, Belarus, came to speak at our parish the evening of July 29. The Sisters showed a video about the work of the Convent, which especially focuses on spiritually supporting patients in hospitals, the homeless, and former drug addicts. After the video, the Sisters took a large number of questions about the work of the Sisters of Mercy, as well as the larger work of the Convent of St. Elizabeth. It was a joy to have Sisters Olga and Natalia with us, and we would recommend any parish have them come to speak on their next “tour” of the States.
Our second annual parish summer camp--St. Elias Camp--was held in July. The children go out to the country for games, crafts, time with Fr. Matthew, and swimming in the creek. We had a wonderful time at this year's camp, and all of the kids are looking forward to next year already! More photos of camp activities can be seen here.
