Order of St. Ignatius News

I have been so lucky to have served on the Governing Council of the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch for approximately ten years. The Council is a group of volunteers, elected or appointed members of our Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, that has the responsibility to make many of the important decisions for the Order. They are hard-working and dedicated parishioners from all of our dioceses across North America. I have had the pleasure to meet and work with these wonderful people, and the more I got to know them, the more I admired and loved them. They travel all over the U.S.A. and Canada (at their own expense) to attend meetings and to accompany our diocesan bishops during their visits to the various parishes. As an east coast U.S.A. parishioner, I probably would have not had the chance to meet such wonderful people from various parts of North America had I not joined the Order. I am blessed to have had this opportunity.

As Very Rev. Joseph Antypas wrote recently in The Word, “Orthodoxy is not a denomination.” “It is a way of life characterized by discipline, good character and a willingness to reach out to others.” This, in fact, is a great description of the members of the Governing Council of the Order. You can see the influence of the Order in many areas. Parishes are very aware of the Antiochian Village Camp scholarships that the Order gives to our youngsters. There are, however, many other projects the Order supports financially: for example, the annual contribution of $270,000 to the Retired Clergy Housing Allowance; $130,000 for Missions and Evangelism; $100,000 for Internet Ministry; the Married Seminarian Assistance; the Youth Ministry; Christian Education Fund; and many other worthwhile projects.

2012 Teen Leadership Training, with Metropolitan Philip, Metropolitan Silouan, Archbishop Joseph, Bishop Antoun, Bishop Thomas, Bishop John and Bishop Nicholas

Spiritual retreats, summer camps, and involvement in local Teen SOYO activities are among the many opportunities for teens to learn, grow, and become leaders in our Orthodox Christian Faith. For over 43 years, members of Teen SOYO have ministered to the youth across our Archdiocese. Every year, The Order of St. Ignatius funds Teen SOYO programs, such as Teen SOYO Leadership Training, and Special Olympics Sports Camp. With generous annual funding from the Order of St. Ignatius, Teen SOYO is blessed with many opportunities for development and expansion. Through the gifts and faith of members of the Order of St. Ignatius, Teen SOYO is able to elect new leaders annually and train them, and fulfill its mission of training and empowering youth.

The voicemail came as our family had just arrived at a campground outside Bryce Canyon, Utah, on a dry and dusty June afternoon. After we parked, the rest of the family was in our trailer setting up, while I went outside to return the call to the Archdiocesan office. I sat on the concrete picnic table, grateful for the rusty tin roof providing shade from the scorching sun. Our family had been eagerly awaiting news of my next assignment, having completed three blessed years in residence at St. Innocent Orphanage near Tijuana, Mexico. After leaving Mexico, we traveled around the Western United States both to enjoy some family time after the move from Mexico, and to fill the time as we waited with great anticipation to hear which community in this vast Archdiocese we would next call home.

“There’s something special going on in Bowling Green, Kentucky,” Fr. George Kevorkian, Assistant to the Metropolitan, said with excitement over the phone. As I racked my brain trying to figure out if I had ever heard of Bowling Green, Kentucky, he added, “I think you may want to check it out.” He explained that there was a fairly new mission that had really impressed him, and they were hopeful that they were financially ready to support a priest. Having been given the phone number of the coordinator of the mission, in one phone call I knew Fr. George was right.

Over the next few months, young people will be registering for one of the eight summer camps in our Archdiocese. If you know any of these young people who have been to camp before, you know that they have started their countdowns to the first day of camp. They spend hours on Skype and Facebook talking to their camp friends throughout the Archdiocese, and they go into a post-camp depression when they return home from camp.

So what is it about the camp experience that makes our young people love it so much? Certainly, there are many things that contribute to it: the friends, the activities, the counselors and staff, and being in the outdoors, to name a few. The thing that makes camp so special, however, is the camp environment, which presents a living experience of the Orthodox faith. In 1978, the Archdiocese purchased the Antiochian Village, and His Eminence Metropolitan Philip of Thrice Blessed Memory appointed the Archmandrite Fr. John Namie (+ 2001) of blessed memory as the first Camp Director. Thanks to the vision and leadership of these two great men, this mission of presenting a living experience of the Orthodox faith in the camp setting has become the standard at all of our camp programs in the Antiochian Archdiocese.

When asked by Constantine Nasr in 1998 why campers come to camp, Fr. John Namie responded,

College students at 2011 OCF conference, CaliforniaBy Jennifer Nahas, OCF Executive Director

The 9th Annual Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) College Conferences concluded as they always do – with college students longing for more spiritual nourishment and opportunities to be part of an Orthodox community. Thanks to the generous scholarships provided by The Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch, over one hundred Antiochian Orthodox college students attended College Conference, along with their peers from other jurisdictions. One student explained, “I go to school in Arkansas and cannot tell you how grateful I am, both for College Conference, and for the scholarship The Order provided. There are not many Orthodox students at my school, and being here helps me to remember who I am and why my faith is so important to me.”

OCF is host to three separate conferences. One is held in the south at the Diakonia Center, one in the west at St. Nicholas Ranch, and the largest and most established is held in the east at the Antiochian Village.

The Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch and International Christian Charities (IOCC)

Ehmej School (near Byblos, Lebanon) before and after

In the parable of the Sower and the Seed (Matthew 13:1–23), Jesus explains to His disciples that the one “who receives the word on good ground is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Each year the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch makes a grant to International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC). This annual grant of $25,000 is much like the seed or word which falls on good ground. IOCC uses this “seed money” and leverages it with grants from governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and churchbased charities to bear fruit in abundance. Here are some examples: