St Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church

Annual Meeting

10/29/24     Rector’s Report

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

By the grace of God, through the prayers of our heavenly patrons St Herman of Alaska and our holy hierarch John of Shanghai and San Francisco, and with the blessing of our Archbishop KYRILL, we gather once again for our annual parish meeting.

As has been our custom, I will take my section here to provide some overview of our parish life and activities over the past year.

Looking first to the final quarter of last year, several things were noteworthy.

The month of October was a very busy time for me in my service as ‘Dean Martin’… As most of you know, I am the Archbishop’s Dean for the ‘San Francisco Deanery’ which includes all the parishes of the central area of the Western American Diocese. Once every four years the entire Diocese holds an Assembly, wherein the business and overall state of the diocese is reported and discussed – that Assembly took place last year on November 7th. As Dean of the mid-region of our Western Diocese, it was my job to collect the reports from the parishes for which I am responsible and to summarize all of this information into a report out to the Assembly. Accompanying me and representing our parish were Fr Andrew, Rdr Andrew, and Kyle Westphal. The Assembly was successful and it was encouraging to hear of the growth of so many existing parishes and of the establishment of new missions throughout the Diocese.

While all the clergy were gathered for the Diocesan Assembly, we also held a one day Clergy Conference which both Fr Andrew and I attended.

On December 6th we held our annual St Nicholas Day party for the children of the parish. The kids always have a great time at these events – doing arts and crafts based upon a St Nicholas theme. I thank all those involved in helping make this such a success.

Nadia Temple and Matushka Cathy Kozachenko once again helped us to organize our ‘Adopt a Family’ program for the Christmas season. Cathy collected the gifts and presented them to the program coordinators… St Herman’s was, once again, very generous in our gift donations to this wonderful and worthy cause. May God bless all those who participated!

December is also, of course, our parish feast day. Our feast day last year was especially noteworthy in that we had the tonsure of two new Readers for our Church. Andrew Yonan and Alexander Tran were tonsured during the reading of the Hours before the start of the Liturgy. It has been wonderful to have them reading and serving in our Church and I pray that God will bless them for their dedication. The festal meal which took place afterwards was a great success and I am deeply grateful to all of those who worked so hard to make it happen. For many years now we have relied on the same people who have taken on the leadership and lion’s share of this work. I would like to especially thank Natalie Kalousek, who has led the organization of our annual parish feast for many, many years. The time has come now to pass this baton on to a new generation. We have a little less than two months now before this year’s parish feast day, and you will be hearing my appeals for help over the next weeks. We need everyone’s help… if you can’t cook, that’s okay… we need help with set-up and clean-up, with serving the head table, and with many other tasks. Please mark you calendars to be here for December 25th, and if you can help in any way, let Nadia Temple know ASAP so we can know who we can call upon for help that day.

In the final days of December, following St Herman’s Day, the Youth Conference of the Western American Diocese was held at All Saints Church just outside of Las Vegas, NV. I was not able to attend the conference but, as the treasurer for the WAD Youth, I always work closely with Fr Michael VanOpstall before, during, and after the event.

Moving into 2024, we had a beautiful Nativity celebration and then another festive annual Nativity Dinner/Dance held in the hall at St Mark’s. The hall was decorated beautifully, the catering was excellent, and all who attended enjoyed the time together to celebrate.

As we moved then into Theophany, it was the season for house blessings. Fr Andrew and I were able to divide these up so that all those who wished to have their homes blessed were able to do so within the weeks following the feast. It is always such a joy to be able to visit people in their homes and to bring the gift of the Theophany waters to bless and cleanse the house.

Even though Pascha was later than usual this past year, it still seemed a short time before we headed into the Lenten season of preparation and repentance. As is always the case during Great Lent, we held many services each week including the Canon of St Andrew during the weekdays of the first week and then Presanctified Liturgies on each Wednesday and Friday throughout the Fast. I would like to thank those who made the time to come to these weekday Lenten services and especially to those who helped to sing. These Lenten services are so special and so beautiful… I hope that many more will make the effort to attend these deeply moving and inspiring services.

The first three days of April we had our annual Lenten Clergy Retreat for the clergy of the Western American Diocese. The retreat was held at the St Paisios Monastery in Stafford, AZ and it was well attended. The nuns there do a great job of hosting us, the presentations and discussions were useful, and the services in the monastery church there were beautiful!

On Saturday April 13th we held our annual Ladies’ Lenten Retreat in the Church Hall. The text read for our discussion was ‘The Suffering of the Soul in Relationships’ by Mother Silouana of Romania. We had a decent turnout for the retreat - the discussions were interesting and, based upon feedback, very edifying.

On Thursday of that week, April 18th, we had the Archbishop preside over our Unction service. Following the service, a meal was offered for the bishop and visiting clergy. We had several new people involved in helping to coordinate and work to make this meal a success and I am very grateful for that!

The annual Lenten Retreat at the Cathedral in San Francisco took place that Saturday the 20th. The theme this year was ‘The Aroma of Holiness’ and centered around St John – anticipating the celebrations that would be taking place in the summer for the 30th anniversary of his glorification as a saint.

We had a truly glorious Pascha celebration which took place the night of May 4/5. The choir did an excellent job singing the beautiful Paschal melodies (as usual!), the flowers decorating the church were incredible… all the work of so many came together to create a bright and glorious celebration of our Lord’s resurrection!

In the weeks of Paschal celebration, we made trips up to the cemeteries in Colma and in Los Altos to sing ‘Christ is Risen’ to those in the tombs.

On May 8th, Fr Paul Soukup and students from Santa Clara University come to St Herman’s to receive a presentation on Church Architecture and how that architecture communicates and facilitates the faith of the Church. I always greatly enjoy these visits and the stimulating questions that the students invariably ask. Fr Paul and his students will be coming again this Wednesday for a similar presentation.

Moving into the summer months… On June 20th, we were blessed to have Nun Ilaria from the St Elizabeth Convent in Minsk visit us. I would like to thank all of those who came to pray the Akathist to the Mother of God and to hear and support Nun Ilaria as she told us about the various good works of the Convent and as she presented the crafts, icons, and other goods created by the sisters. The event was well attended and made for a beautiful evening of prayer and edification. Nun Ilaria was very pleased to have met us and appreciated your interest and support!

The big event of the summer was the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of the glorification of St John of Shanghai and San Francisco. Events and services occurred over the course of three days from June 28th through June 30th. Our first hierarch, Metropolitan Nicholas, presided over the main Liturgy and a very impressive luncheon was held at the Mark Hopkins ballroom in San Francisco.

In midsummer, July 12-14, we had our annual Russian River camping trip. Thanks again to the help of so many, this was another great success. It is a special treat to be able to spend recreational time with our church family and to share meals together. The campfire games and talks were great… and holding services in the beautiful chapel there amid the redwoods is always very special and uplifting. We plan to do this again this summer.

Soon it was August 11th and time for the blessing of the beginning of the new school year.

On Sept 23rd, we had our annual BBQ and swim party, hosted by Titus and Susan Bradley. This is another occasion where we are blessed to gather as a church family and to enjoy each other’s company. Many thanks to Titus and Susan for their hospitality!

Between September 16th and October 6th, our parish community celebrated three different weddings! First was the wedding of Michael Ben Works and Sophia Jessie Chen. They were married in Cleveland and Fr Andrew and several parishioners went out there to participate in their wedding. Two weeks later we had the wedding of Dismas Marbury and Nina Nielepko here at St Herman’s. And then the following weekend after that, our former parishioner and Reader, Basil Thompson was wed to Tiffany Dalumpines up at the Kazan Church on the Russian River. Fr Andrew, Fr Paul, core members of our choir and others were on hand for that event.

In addition to the three weddings, we had three baptisms over this past year including the baptisms of Michael Works and Sophia Chen on the eve of Nativity and recently the baptism of Nicholas Garg on October 5th. We have an increasing number of catechumens and inquirers coming to our church, which is a wonderful sign, and I expect more baptisms to come in the new year.

Our Orthodox Christian education programs continued this year including: two weekly Zoom meetings covering Bible Study and Catechism; a weekly ‘in person’ class held in the Church Hall every Saturday afternoon; and our Sunday School lessons for the children of the parish.

Finally, let’s review some of the maintenance and beautification projects that occurred over this past year. These include:

·       Some continuing electrical issues… We’ve had a couple of occasions for our Air Conditioning and Heating unit to require maintenance. We’ve also had some problems with our lighting. Recent investigations into wiring problems have uncovered a culprit who has been nibbling on things within our walls. We’re dealing with some squirrels who have taken residence within the Church. Randy has identified where they are getting in and is taking steps to secure those openings. Titus is also on the job and has consulted with some pest control experts who have made recommendations to us about how to best get rid of them.

·       One of the other big issues we dealt with this past year was the poor drainage and the ultimate back up of the Hall sink. United Plumbing came out to replumb the lines going from the Hall out to the sewers and to get some ventilation into the line for the Hall. Since that work was done, we have had no problems.

·       We had our annual mandatory inspection of our backflow meter (the unit under the green cage on the front lawn). We passed and the paperwork was submitted to the City of Sunnyvale.

·       Termite activity was detected again in the steeple area of the Church. Luckily we were still under warranty from our last treatment and so the area was treated again. This is something we will keep watch on…

·       In addition to these maintenance issues, we have also begun some beautification projects to improve our Church which include:

o   Sanding down and refinishing our wood floors

o   The installation of a new carpet runner

o   Purchase of and assembly of new candle stands

o   Installation of new icons of All Saints of America and of the Crucifixion for the memorial table.

o   And we have purchased and will be installing new festal icons for the top row of the iconostas.

As with every property, there are always many, many projects to do. I am very grateful to all those who have helped us with identifying problems and finding and implementing solutions to those issues. We will talk a bit later about some of the projects that we may be addressing in the coming year.

As I mentioned earlier, when speaking about the parish feast day… the dynamics of the membership of our church has seen some changes this past year. Over the course of the summer, we said farewell to 14 members who were involved in our parish. Those departees included: Doug and Michele Wirnowski who moved to Idaho, Kyle and Anna Westphal who moved to Texas, Ben and Naomi Vallis and their three children who moved to Washington, Ben and Jessie Works who moved to Virginia, Nina and Miriam Nielepko who moved to Oregon, and Nataliya Temple who is attending the University of Pittsburg.

All of these people were involved as either parish council members, choir singers, church school teachers, and/or as contributors to meals and other tasks. I’m appreciative of those of you who are new and have offered to extend yourselves to helping with parish activities. Everyone’s help is needed in order to make the work and activities of the parish function. This is all part of the joy and the sacrifice that we make as members of our parish community. The more members we can engage in helping with all of this, the easier the work becomes and the stronger we come together as a parish family. So, I appeal to everyone to talk to me, to Fr Andrew, to Nadia Temple, or to any of the parish council members to see how you can help. And I express my blessings and my gratitude in advance to you for whatever way in which you can participate in the life of the parish.

So dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that is a summary of the past year. It’s been a busy year with many blessings. While we’ve had to say farewell to a number of people this year, we’ve also had a steady stream of new people coming to St Herman’s – either Orthodox Christians who have come to this area or new inquirers and converts who have been seeking Christ and the fulness of His Church. Many of those new inquirers have come upon us through our website and many others are directed to our English-speaking parish from other parishes in the area. I am proud that we are carrying forward the mission of what St Herman’s was created to be – a welcoming English-speaking parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad where the best of its traditions are faithfully adhered to and generously shared for all those who may join us. May God continue to bless this parish and may our heavenly intercessors, St Herman and Hierarch John, watch over us.

Projects for 2025

·       Areas of the wood on the church building require repair and we are in the process of selecting colors for a complete new painting of the Church.

·       Vestry area had some attention this past year including organization and addition of shelves – but the area needs a thoughtful revamp… better cabinets, better use of space.

·       Plans were submitted to the City of Sunnyvale to make an addition off of the Vestry area for a second bathroom, but these were rejected due to zoning restrictions and due to the strict issues regarding this as a ‘Historical Building’. We are working with contractors and designers to see how else we might approach creating a much needed second bathroom. I’m sure we will find a solution and this will be a major project for 2025.