Committee for Canonical Regional Planning Meets
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops'' Committee on Canonical Regional Planning met in-person on Friday, January 27, 2012, at the headquarters of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in Chicago, Illinois, hosted by Archbishop Nicolae, Chairman of the Committee. Committee members present in addition to His Eminence were Archbishop Justinian, Russian Orthodox Church in the USA; Metropolitan Jonah, Orthodox Church in America; and Bishop Demetrios representing Metropolitan Iakovos, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. Consultants to the Committee who participated in the all-day meeting were: Fr Nicholas Apostola, Fr Joseph Abud, Jerry Dimitriou, Demetrios Moschos, Steve Radokovich, Alexei Krindatch, and Protodeacon Peter Danilchick. Also present by invitation were Fr Mark Arey and Hieromonk Savvaty, interpreter to Archbishop Justinian.
The Committee reviewed and recommended changes to the existing Terms of Reference for Canonical Regional Planning, reviewed the extensive statistical and demographic work performed by Alexei Krindatch, and discussed other ecclesiastical and planning issues. Three separate subcommittees were established, each headed by a hierarch and containing two or three consultants, respectively, to: (1) develop a draft global vision and principles for a united church administration, (2) list the present canonical and liturgical issues impacting the common life of the church, and (3) document the various ecclesiastical and governance structures of the member churches in the USA. These efforts will be undertaken in cooperation with other Assembly Committees, such as Canonical Affairs, Clergy Affairs, Liturgy, etc., with initial results to be reviewed by the entire Committee for Canonical Regional Planning in early April.
', 1, 1, 40, 1, 1, 2, 1328027427, 1, 1332818037, 0, 0, 0, 1328027400, 2, '', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 'modDocument', 'web', 1, 'news/assembly-news/canonical-planning-meets', 0, 0, 1, NULL), (162, 'document', 'text/html', 'Semi-Annual Committee for Youth Meeting', 'Semi-Annual Committee for Youth Meeting January 2012', '', 'committee-youth-meeting-january2012', '', 1, 0, 0, 24, 0, 'The Committee for Youth of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America held its semi-annual meeting on January 24th and 25th, 2012. The meeting convened at the Antiochian Village Heritage and Learning Center, Bolivar, PA, in conjunction with the Committee for Youth?s Consultants Meeting and was followed by the annual Camp and Youth Worker Conference (January 25-28, 2012).', '
The Committee for Youth of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America held its semi-annual meeting on January 24th and 25th, 2012. The meeting convened at the Antiochian Village Heritage and Learning Center, Bolivar, PA, in conjunction with the Committee for Youth?s Consultants Meeting and was followed by the annual Camp and Youth Worker Conference (January 25-28, 2012). The Committee for Youth, consists of Bishop Thomas (Chairman of the Committee for Youth), Metropolitan Alexios, Bishop Irineu, Father Joseph Purpura (facilitator), Deacon Mark O?Dell, (secretary), Constantin Ursache (liaison to the secretariat). Twenty-two other diocesan and national youth leaders work as consultants to the Committee for Youth. The Consultants to the Committee for Youth built upon their work started at the Antiochian Village in the Spring of 2011 and expanded on at the Diakonia Center in Salem, South Carolina October 19-24, 2011. The Consultants, along with numerous youth workers from across North America, made a number of recommendations to the Bishops of the Committee and the Committee acted upon those recommendations during their Committee Meeting.
The Committee is charged with the formidable task of identifying and cataloguing all national and diocesan youth programs and services to better meet the needs of our youth. By developing models for cooperative youth activities and programs, the Committee hopes to maximize participation by our youth in the full life of the Church. One of the primary goals is to establish a comparative matrix so our youth workers can better facilitate cooperative efforts and better reach out to all the youth in our Orthodox Christian communities. The Committee sees these efforts of creating one Orthodox Christian presence in the lives of our youth as a pathway to transforming our youth to lead their lives in service and witness to Christ. An overview of the work accomplished at the Antiochian Village meeting will be included in a soon-to-be-issued media release which will report to the Church-at-large on the work of the Assembly during the past year.
