Update and Thank You from Fr. Tom

Beloved Parishioners of the Ascension Cathedral,

Chronia Polla, may God grant you many years on the celebration of our feast day this past Thursday. Our salvation is fulfilled as our Lord Jesus Christ bodily ascended into heaven to be with His Father and our Father. His bodily ascent foreshadows our ascent into God’s Kingdom at Christ’s second coming.

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers, calls, cards, and communications as I recover from surgery. I am improving each day and look forward to serving at the Divine Services very soon.

A huge thank you to our Festival Committee, booth chairmen, bakers, cooks and all our workers and volunteers. This year's Festival was exceptional. Later this year at our General Assembly Meeting we will receive a detailed report as to the results. Another outstanding event, and again thank you to all who helped!

As I communicated a few weeks ago, Fr. Nick will be assuming the leadership of the Cathedral in September. As part of the preparation for this, last year at the December General Assembly meeting two positions were created to assist and fulfill the work of ministry in our community; a full time chanter and a youth director. We are overjoyed to announce that Nektarios Antoniou,  formerly the lead chanter of the Archdiocesan Cathedral in New York, will be joining us in August.  His initial responsibility will be chanting at all the services throughout the week, Sunday Matins and assisting with sacraments and funerals. As we discussed in December, we are asking for a member of our congregation to donate an apartment to the Cathedral to help defray the cost of housing. Any ideas or questions please contact Fr. Nick or me.

May our Lord continue to guide, protect, and inspire our blessed community of the Ascension Cathedral!

In His love,

Fr. Tom