OVERLAND PARK, KS [DOM] – The Kansas City Deanery of the Diocese of the Midwest met this week, gathering clergy and their families from the three of the four states of the Deanery. Half the parishes made the trip to the host parish, Holy Trinity Church in Overland Park, Kansas for time to gather in prayer and fellowship. The Deanery covers Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Western Illinois.
The clergy met on Monday evening, July 15, for an Akathist to Our Sweetest Lord Jesus. Following the service a meal was enjoyed, along with fellowship and sharing of news from around the Deanery.
The final day began with Divine Liturgy. During his homily, Archpriest Timothy Sawchak, Rector of Holy Trinity and Dean of the deanery, reminded those gathered that there are no ‘ordinary’ Liturgies, that each one is special and shares in the Light and Joy of the Resurrected Christ. Fr. Timothy further inspired the gathered clergy by sharing the writing of St. Nikolai in the Prologue from Ochrid for that day, “O brethren, how enormous is the mercy of God toward us! According to this great mercy, God offers to us mortals adoption by the Immortal One; to us sinners He offers us to be built up into the glorified Body of the Lord Jesus.”
Many of the gathered clergy then had an opportunity to visit the newly remodeled Reconciliation Services building and the new chapel there dedicated to St. Maria of Paris hosted by the RS Executive Director, Archpriest Justin Matthews. The chapel and building will be blessed on the Feast Day of St. Maria Saturday, July 20 by His Eminence Archbishop Daniel as he makes a pastoral visit to KC and St. Nicholas Chuch in Lawrence over this coming weekend.
