Holy Cross to host conference on marital issues

Hopefully the Greek Archdiocese will post this on Ancient Faith Radio or YouTube. More information on the conference can be found here.

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Garrison, NY (GOARCH) – The Center for Family Care of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America organizes and hosts a Conference on Pastoral Challenges on Marriage, Feb. 7-9, 2013, at the Campus of Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Mass.

The conference is open to clergy, seminarians, pastoral care workers, professional counselors, ministry leaders, and all who minister to Orthodox Christian couples. A generous grant from Leadership 100 is helping to fund this conference.

Utilizing the expertise of leaders in the field of pastoral care and marriage, the purpose of this conference is to inspire and equip those in the front lines of ministry with tools and resources to effectively serve the pastoral challenges of marriage they encounter. In addition to keynote presentations and workshops, the conference will offer participants opportunities for formal and informal interaction, enabling participants to leave the conference with a network of people to support them in their ministry.

“Marriage is the cornerstone on which a healthy family is built,” says Fr. Constantine L. Sitaras, Director of the Center for Family Care. “Society has removed God from marriage and redefined the sacrificial nature of it. When God is not present in a marriage, all sorts of issues arise. We hope that the conference will help those who minister to couples learn to navigate the difficulties couples are facing and how to reintroduce them to the third person of their marriage—Christ.”

A different keynote speaker will be featured on each of the three days of the conference. Thursday will begin with His Grace, Bishop John (D. Min.) an auxiliary Bishop for the Antiochian Diocese of Worcester. Following the presentation, several workshops will be offered. The day will close with a panel discussion on divorce and remarriage. Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald (M.Div., Ph.D.) will be the featured keynote speaker on Friday. After the presentation, participants will have the opportunity to be trained in The Journey of Marriage in the Orthodox Church, a premarital preparation program. On the final day, Ary Christofidis (Ph.D., LCP) will offer the keynote and we will conclude with more workshops. The conference’s workshops will focus on topics such as interfaith marriage, marital enrichment, domestic violence, Internet pornography and its impact on marriage, among others.