From Wednesday, March 1st – Friday March 3rd, 2023, the Archdiocesan Clergy Retreat was hosted at the Mor Aphrem Center in Paramus, NJ.
On Wednesday, the clergy retreat was opened with the blessing of His Eminence Mor Dionysius John Kawak with a few remarks that he gave on how to be a successful priest and how to grow spiritually in the priesthood. It was then followed by holy lent evening prayers.
On Thursday morning the Clergy attended the morning prayers followed by a spiritual message delivered by Rev. Fr. Rami Moamar about the relationship between the parish priest and the faithful of the parish. The first lecture was then given by Dr. Michael Legaspi from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary who spoke about the family according to the book of Deuteronomy. The second lecture was delivered by His Eminence Mor Severios Roger Akhrass the Patriarchal Vicar of the Department of Syriac Studies Via ZOOM and spoke about different Liturgical topics and concluded with a Q&A. A Spiritual Meditation was then conducted by Rev. Fr. Imad Al-Banna who spoke about the family of the first century and how today we are still facing these challenges that families were facing back then.
On Friday, the Clergy attended the Holy Lent Midday Prayers at Mor Gabriel Church. The afternoon was then followed by a lecture given by V. Fr. Gabriel Adde about Marriage Counseling. The Clergy Retreat was concluded by celebrating Holy Liturgy on the occasion of the Feast of St. Aphrem at St. Mark’s Cathedral.
