The Shepherd, January 2009
BUILDING PROGRESS
AT THE TIME of going to press, we have finally paid off the contractors and the project manager at the completion of the first two phases of our whole project; the building of the New Monastic House and the refurbishment of the Old Mortuary. At about the same time we should get a decision on the plans for the new roof for Saint Edward’s Church from the Woking Borough Council. The architect, Irina Aldersley, has plans drawn up for this, and Maria Petroudis, an Orthodox Christian and engineer who lives locally, has kindly volunteered to lend her expertise.
At the end of 2008, the Building Fund stood at £702,628.94. If all our donors honour their pledges, having paid the contractors and project manager, we will actually have in hand approx. £77,300.00 towards the replacement of the church roof. We therefore ask you to continue giving generously so that we may begin that work as soon after Pascha as possible. And next Winter, we may then have a warmer church - because the new roof will be insulated.
VISITS TO THE WEBSITE
DURING 2008 (civil reckoning) our website received a total of 112,303 unique visits. The website address is: <www.saintedwardbrotherhood.org>
ORTHODOX AID FUND
IN 2008, from our Brotherhood Orthodox Aid Fund, we have given £4,446.81 to various church, humanitarian and environmental charities. Our totals in previous years have been: £3,395.56 in 2007; £3,136.07 & $395 in 2006; and £2,743.31 & $100 in 2005. This year, in making dollar donations, we have converted the amount to sterling on the day of donation, as fluctuating rates otherwise make any conversion at the end of the year almost meaningless. All these monies were given with returns of “The Shepherd” re-subscription forms or in the form of other donations from our congregation and our readers. None of the monies distributed from this fund were given to our own charity (KEOTCoLtd), the Building Fund or the needs of the Brotherhood itself. We thank all of you from the bottoms of our hearts for making these donations possible, and especially that, in a year which has seen the onslaught of the “credit crunch,” we have nonetheless been able to exceed last year’s total by over 30% God bless you for your kindness and generosity.
PRACTICAL TIP
REMEMBER it is not only the clergy who are Christians! Very often we concentrate on our church observance almost to the exclusion of other aspects of Christian witness. One of these other aspects is visiting the sick, the elderly and those in prisons. Except when one of our closest relatives falls into one of these categories, it seems that nowadays Christians simply assume that the clergy will visit them, and they have to do nothing except perhaps make the occasional enquiry about them. This is NOT the case. We have let the sad “nuclear family” idea spill over and swamp our Christian understanding. All Christians should visit the sick, the infirm and prisoners, especially those in their own parish. One of the most impressive things about the Greek community in this country (Old and New Calendar) is the number of pious souls within it who even seek out people to visit in hospital. We may not be able to attain to that level, but we should and we must, at the very least, show our care for our fellow parishioners by visiting them.
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