Education Report
As you may recall, in addition to the shut-down from the public health crisis, our Church School program also had to overcome the flooding of the parish house which happened as a result of a pipe that broke during the Great Freeze this past February. The damage from that incident was not fully repaired until right before Church School began in September of this past year. A great many people helped us navigate that crisis, but most of the day-in and day-out work with the insurance agency and contractors was done by Linda and Mike Brown. We all owe them a debt of gratitude, so please thank them for taking on and persevering all the way through that frustrating and lengthy process.
Our Church School is blessed with some excellent teachers. Sandi Andrews, Lindsey Bell, Polly Thurston, and Khouria Xenia Wilson are our lead teachers, but we also have a great group of dedicated and faithful assistants that include Valerie Groh, Stephen Guerra, Sophia Edel, Michael Ruse, Roxanne Snodgrass, and Sarah Speckhard. Our youth class is led by John Bell, Chris Speckhard, and Keri Grandalski.
We have the best adult education offerings in the archdiocese. The mainstay of our adult education program is St Thomas School. The faculty for that program includes Father Andrew Wilson, Father Deacon Michael Coleman, Seth Hart, Matt Groh, Polly Thurston, Baker Galloway, Chris Speckahard, Gabe Martini, DeAnne Maisano, John Bell, and Mike Brown. Micheal Ruse does a great job with all the administrative work for the St Thomas School.
Father Andrew teaches a weekly, online Bible Study just about every Thursday evening of the year; folks from all across the country participate. I continue to lead the Fall Theological Seminar, which is now in its 19th year, and our parish clergy team-teach the Pascha Book Study.
The biggest challenge that we face in our educational efforts is not finding staff or offering high quality programs; the biggest challenge we face is actually getting folks to participate. The truth is that the vast majority of St John’s parishioners never take part in any of these programs, and they don’t bring their children to Church School. No doubt, there are many reasons for that—scheduling, distance, life—and our concern here is not with numbers, because we do not make attendance reports to the diocese or archdiocese. Our concern here is with the depth of our relationship with the Most Holy Trinity. Because long-term studies have consistently shown that children who are in Church School on a regular basis grow up to be adults who actively participate in the Faith; children who only attend Church School every once in a while grow up to be adults to only participate sporadically in the Faith.
In a similar way, adults who invest themselves in on-going Christian education just about always do better when they are confronted with a crisis than folks who never or who rarely take part in those sorts of programs. No one has ever been able to identify the specific factors that account for that difference—it might be the increased knowledge; it might be the level of commitment that is involved; it might be the social connections that are developed. But the research is clear: if you want to be able to get through the storms that we all face in life, then participating in Church School and in the adult education that St John’s offers is a good way to weather-proof your life.
My hope is that 2022 will be the year when more of our adults and more of their children will start to take advantage of the excellent programs that are available in our parish community.
an unworthy priest
aidan