On October 3, 2009, the servants of the Diocese were blessed with a general meeting with Their Graces Bishop Serapion and Bishop Youssef at St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Los Angeles. After celebrating the Divine Liturgy and an agape meal, His Grace Bishop Youssef spoke about "The Present Challenges to the Service," which include:
- The abundance of sin;
- Distractions;
- Suffering and blame; and
- Rituality and spirituality.
His Grace thoroughly explained and discussed the meaning and the dimensions of each challenge and how the servants could overcome them.
His Grace Bishop Youssef mentioned words spoken by the mouth of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, who said, "As long as the Church is strong spiritually from within, no challenges can stop or weaken the service." His Grace also stressed the point that the most important aspect of the servants is to keep a strong and deep relationship with God.
Their Graces Bishop Serapion and Bishop Youssef also answered some of the questions regarding service and other issues that were presented by those who attended. However, before that, Bishop Serapion asked Bishop Youssef to talk about the idea of moving Sunday school to Saturday. From His Grace’s experience, Bishop Youssef noted that having Sunday school on Saturday was much more beneficial to the children spiritually and also gave the chance to the parents and the kids to attend Vespers and Midnight Praises. His Grace mentioned the benefit of having a concurrent Bible Study with the parents during the time of Saturday School. One of the Diocese’s priests, Fr. Joseph Boulos, noted the success his church has seen by having Saturday School over the past decade.
His Grace Bishop Serapion then concluded the day by answering more questions regarding the importance of keeping our Coptic heritage and the importance of continuing to use the Coptic Language in our church prayers.
Photos
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