October 10 has been designated as the day for assembling health and clean-up kits for International Orthodox Christian Charities at St. Gregory’s. Between our parish and a home-schooling group, we have collected items for inclusion in the kits, which we will put together during coffee hour that day. Monica Burnett has volunteered to take the kits to the collection center in Westminster, MD.
With the exception of a few minor tasks, “Phase 2″ of our renovation projects – to make the parish hall completely ADA compliant and to open up the space for better traffic flow – has now been completed and we have received our occupancy permit from the county. In addition, a new roof has also been installed.
Much of the cost for this work has been covered by a bequest from Owen Johnson, who passed away in 2017 and included St. Gregory’s in his will. Coming to Orthodoxy late in life, Owen was grateful for having found Western Rite Orthodoxy and this parish. At his Chrismation, Owen took as his patron saint St. Ouen (or Audoin, Audoen, or Owen, as it is sometimes spelled), a 7th century bishop of Rouen. Owen had a great interest in genealogy and was proud of his French – and aristocratic! – heritage, making St. Ouen a perfect choice as intercessor for him. St. Ouen was from an noble Frankish family, served at the courts of Kings Clothar II and Dagobert I, and eventually became a priest and bishop, founding many monasteries. In honor of Owen and in thanksgiving for his gift to us, an icon of St. Ouen has been placed at the entrance to the parish hall. This icon is a print by iconographer Karen Blampied, who created original icons for each of the parish churches on the Isle of Jersey, a British Crown Dependency (another great love of Owen’s was everything British) with considerable French influences. The story of his St. Ouen’s life will be given in the July/August 2022 newsletter.
Read the full October newsletter here.