Moral Issues Overview for the Department of Christian Education

Some years ago when I was the Eastern Region Teen SOYO spiritual advisor, I was asked to put together a Teen Retreat Manual that could be used by Church School Teachers as well as SOYO members to hold retreats for their teens which were based on Moral Issues. The Eastern Region Teens at that time chose the topics they wanted covered in the manual. This manual became a how-to manual for setting up retreats as well as outlines for talks during those retreats. That manual was later published by the Antiochian Archdiocese of Christian Education and sold through the bookstore.

Today the Orthodox Christian Education Commission (OCEC) is conducting teacher training programs for our Church School teachers throughout the US and Canada. In the second set of Teacher Trainings, we cover moral issues. At the Orthodox Institute held each November at the Antiochian Village, I have been asked to address moral issues once again. From those talks and discussions and in the preparation of materials used for the OCEC manual, The Way, The Truth, and The Life, I put together the following booklet that I have used in workshops, Teen classes and retreats.

As I was asked to prepare the material for this July posting, I wanted to share this material with our readers. I have run it off as a booklet and given it to our teens to read. This can be done a week in advance, or, since it is short and concise, it can even be given to the teens at a retreat or conference to read the night before the discussion is held. It is by no means an exhaustive work on moral issues, but I think it touches on and introduces ideas for discussion.

I hope you find it useful in your ministry with our children.

In Christ, 

V. Rev. Fr. George Alberts