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My Fellow Parishioners,
With the economic challenges that we and our nation face, the meaning of the Great Lent and Holy Week is very important to us now more than ever. It is a time for reflection and digging deep into our soul as a process of cleansing for Pascha and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It is a time to reflect on our Christianity and its true meaning. It is a time for us to forgive and ask for forgiveness. I would like all of us to continue to realize that the church is our foundation and it belongs to all of us...not just to a few. If there have been any miscommunication or misunderstandings lets resolve them within ourself to help bring everyone back to our Christian foundation, our church. Let nothing stand in the way of the House of God. It is for all of us, especially in tough times. We need to support our church through attending our beautiful services and with our Time, Talent and Treasury. I ask that if you don't currently serve as a volunteer for any of the ministries or committees, you consider to offer of your time and talent now. Even two hours a month is valuable...there are many areas the church can use help, from landscaping, accounting to helping with the Cathedral News that you are currently enjoying, The responsibilities of the church should not just fall on a few but all to share...the burden is lightened and we get more accomplished.
Speaking of giving, this Cathedral News marks the next quarter. This means that if you have not made your stewardship payment or scheduled your payments with your pledge commitment, then you are no longer considered as a "Member in good standing" as dictated by the by-laws of our church passed by the General Assembly. As we manage our homes and our financial responsibilities the church also must manage its financial responsibilities through its budget. Our greatest means of income is through Stewardship. And like all of us, the church is experiencing hard times as well and needs to depend on our Stewardship contributions. Our beautiful Cathedral is available for all us to come together, enjoy our religion and share in our beautiful programs and ministries, including Greek School, Sunday School, GOYA, the Choir, Little Angels, Nursery School, the candles we light, the flowers that adorn our alter and we give for name days. The church budgets to pay for all of these things including our utilities, salaries for our priests and teachers and books and supplies. Therefore, it is important that each one of us make our stewardship contribution within the category specified by the General Assembly by-laws. Many of us are accustomed to paying at the end of the year. But imagine if your employer paid you only at the end of the year. How would your family manage to survive since our bills come every month. I ask that if you have not made your stewardship contribution at this time, please do so. We also make it easy to pay with a variety of monthly and quarterly payment schedules available when you call the office for more information.
I am also very disappointed that the attendance for the General Assemblies have not been great. The Fall General Assembly required that we reschedule 4 times since we had not made quorum. This is a shame since not attending shows that you don't care about the church's initiatives that need to be presented to proceed with operating the Cathedral. It also costs us money to reschedule meetings. Just as we make time for other things in our lives, we should make time for the General Assembly.
Our Family is our Future. Through the diligent efforts of our Family Center Committees we have raised in excess of $2.4 million in pledges and collected over $1.3 of this amount. Many have taken advantage of the pledge term payment schedule and are making their payments over 3-5 years. We feel confident that the pledges will all be paid within that time. Please consider making a pledge to the Family Center today, which is more important than ever at this time. We only need another approximately $500,000 in pledges or collected to reach our next milestone...ground breaking and move forward with this project for the future of our children and our cathedral. The leaders of the community have come through this holiday with major donations. People remind me of the challenge by Mr. Cotsidas and Mr. Tonna and the other leaders back when they were at the same cross roads of building the original facility. They committed to match what the community pledged towards the project. The community banded together and met the challenge. The community rose up together and raised the money which was then matched by the leaders. ..and that is how the Cotsidas Auditorium got built in the 70s. Well at this time, the leaders of the community, a combination of 20 families, have made pledges and donation of over $1.9 million of the total. It is now time for the rest of us in the community to step up to the plate and give to make this wonderful project become a reality...as happened 40 years ago. Only 180 families from the community have pledged. We are waiting for the other 1,000 families to give now. If 1,000 families give up to $500, we will have raised an additional $500,000 making it possible to see ground breaking after Easter. Don't wait discuss it with our families and make your pledge so that we can all be part of the legacy of our future.
Finally, congratulations to all our May and June graduates We are very proud of all of you and I would like to personally take this opportunity to congratulate you and wish you well through your college years and professional years for the college grads....and remember...as you move on in life the Saint Spyridon Cathedral will always be there for you. If you haven't realized this yet in your youth, as you get older you will learn that the church will be your constant in your life.
God Bless
Gus Giannakis
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