SAINT STEPHEN THE PROTOMARTYR

ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

609 LANE AVE., SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ 07080

TEL. (908) 756-0410 - www.ststephenchurch.net

THE V. REV. Fr. STEPHEN TEWFIK, PASTOR - TEL. (908) 654-4301

MAY, 2016 NEWSLETTER

The Epistle and the Gospel Readings

Sunday, May 1st Epistle: Acts 1:1-8 Sunday, May 22nd Epistle: Acts 9:32-42

Great & Holy Pascha Gospel: Jn. 1:1-17 Sunday of the Gospel: Jn. 5:1-15

(Sat. night Apr. 30th) Paralytic Tone: Three

Sunday, May 8th Epistle: 1 Jn. 1:1-7 Sunday, May 29th Epistle: Acts 11:19-30

Sunday of St. Thomas Gospel: Jn. 20:19-31 Sunday of the Gospel: Jn. 4:5-42

(New Sunday) Tone: One Samaritan Woman Tone: Four

Sunday, May 15th Epistle: Acts 6:1-7

Sunday of Myrrh- Gospel: Mk. 15:43-16:8

Bearing Women Tone: Two ______

(Please see St. Stephen’s Monthly Calendar for daily services for May)

CHRIST IS RISEN. INDEED HE IS RISEN. EL-MESSIH QAM. HAKAN QAM.

CHIRSTOS ANESTI. ALISTOS ANESTI. CRISTOS VOSKRESE. VOISTINU VOSKRESE.

-The Parish Council Meeting will be held on Sunday May 15th after Divine Liturgy tffollfolllat the Church Hall.

-There will be no fasting on Wednesday and Fridays until the Feast of the Ascension.

-Fr. Stephen & Kh. Beba would like to thank you all for the generous gift during Pascha. May God bless you all.

-Our condolences to all the Ghanim family especially Aida Ghanim for the falling asleep in the Lord of her husband Jameel Ghanim. Jameel is the father of Emad, Nidal, Soheir, and the late Ziyad, and the uncle of Ricky, Fred, and Nader Ghanim. May his memory be eternal.

-Anna Jajecznyk fell asleep in Lord on May 4th. May her memory be eternal.

-Many thanks to all who donated towards flowers for decorating the Bier on Good Friday and for Pascha. Thank you to all who help in cleaning and decorating the Church to receive our Lord who trampled down death by death.

-Many thanks to the Liddawi family for coloring and donating the Easter eggs on Pascha.

-Many thanks to all who donated to the Seminarian Fund, and to our Mother Church the Patriarchate of Antioch.

-Our Annual Festival will be held on September 23rd, 24th, and 25th. Michael Salloum is chairing the Festival. The advertising committee is forming now to attract lots of visitors to our festival. Please let Barbara Walters or Camille Waser know if you can share time/talent/ideas to make it great. Michael and the committee will need all your help.

-Our Gift Raffle Auction will be held October 29th in our Church Hall. We need a chair person for this event. We need many gifts to be raffled. Please, if you received gifts that you know you don’t need and will never use, how about donating it for this good cause? All monetary donations are greatly appreciated. This event will need a lot of gifts and a lot of preparation. Please be generous.

-Our Annual Dinner Dance (Hafli) will be held on Nov. 12th. We need a chair person for this event.

-Block Email: Any parishioner who wants to send a block email to all parishioners must first send it to Fr. Stephen for approval. Fr. Stephen would then send it to Rosemary Kattas (Church Secretary) to send it to all parishioners.

-2016 Parish Life Conference. The parishioners of St. Mary Church in Johnstown, PA and St. Michael Church in Greensburg, PA invite you to join them in celebrating the 65th Eastern Dioceses Parish Life Conference. It will take place at the Antiochian Village, Conference Center in PA from June 29th to July 3rd. There will be many different activities for young and old at this conference. Please come and join us for this beautiful event. For more information, go to www.antiochian.org/festivals.

News from Our Church School:

-May you all enjoy this season Pascha.

-Each family needs to fill out registration forms for next year. Crystal has them and each class room teacher will have them on Sunday. Please fill one per child and give to Father of Crystal BEFORE you leave on Sunday.

- Church School classes will be ending on June 5th and we will be having a Church School end of year celebration.

-Donations for water bottled and juice and non-perishable items are always gladly welcomed. May God bless you all.

-Many thanks to Amanda for organizing the luncheon and the children Egg Hunt on Palm Sunday.

News from Our Teen SOYO:

-The teens had nice success with their Easter chocolate sale thanks to the assistance of Amanda Elsabee. They were able to raise $240 from our very generous parish. We look to donate some of our proceeds to help with Festival marketing.

-We continue our Gospel readings in the event we participate in the Bible Bowl. This is still to be determined.

News from Our Women Group:/

-Wishing all the St. Stephen Families a Holy and Blessed Pascha!

-Many thanks to all the ladies that provided the Lenten Luncheon on April 3rd; all the proceeds went toward the 2016 Metropolitan Project “Hungry Children Here and Abroad.”

-The 9th Annual Women Group Lenten Retreat was a success. We thank His Grace Bishop

Nicholas for his time and we appreciate Nadine’s efforts for organizing the event; everyone that attended had a spiritually uplifting day.

Please plan to attend the next meeting scheduled on Sunday, May 15th after Liturgy during coffee hour.

IOCC (International Orthodox Christian Charities) News
- Did you know that IOCC has:
Helped people in more than 50 countries worldwide?
Provided more than $580 million in relief and development programs?
Uses 92% of all donated money directly to help those suffering?
Uses every dollar given to secure $7 in support from other sources?
-In Tanzania IOCC is supporting the creation of 12 new wells which will be centrally located at village schools and church properties. One in ten people in the world lack access to safe, clean

water.

-IOCC is partnering with the Greek Orthodox Mission to Fiji and has released funds to rebuild

homes on one of the nation's most impoverished islands after it was hit with a Category 5 cyclone.
-To help with humanitarian aid worldwide, contact IOCC.org

Preparation for Holy Communion:

-Only Orthodox Christians who are prepared may approach the Holy Chalice. Please remember to have respect as we are processing forward to receive Holy Communion. This is a solemn time for

Gift Certificates from Shop Rite are available. Please see Alice Hossary.

MANY THANKS:

-To May Elias for baking the prosphora.

-To Marie Samaan for donating the olive oil.