April 2003     (See bottom of the page for Holy Week Services)

CATHY PETERSON NAMED WOMAN OF THE YEAR

As our March 25th luncheon got underway, folloing the Divine Liturgy on the occasion of the Feast of the Annunciation and name day of our Cathedral church community, Father Stephen read the biography proclaiming Cathy Peterson Woman of the Year for 2003. Following the proclamation, Philoptochos President Angie Leventis presented Cathy with a beautiful bouquet of red roses and a commemorative placque on behalf of all of us. A most deserving recipient, Cathy was stunned to have been selected. Although she shuns the limelight, her love for the church, as evidenced in the remarks below, does not go unnoticed. In fact, it serves as an inspiration to others.

The text of the remarks is as follows: This young lady was born on July 18, 1955 in San Francisco. Growing up on Potrero Hill, she attended St. Teresa’s Grammar School and then went on to Presentation High School where she graduated in 1973. After a stint at SF State University and court reporting school, she moved on to work for Zenith and then Pacific Lithograph. She has now found her niche and is the Assistant Credit Manager for Chamber and Chamber’s Wine Merchants. Their fine product is what keeps her there.

Along the way, she met the love of her life, and was wed in October of 1986. They share their love of snow skiing, and have become the official "ski nannies" for their nephew and niece. They work every year contributing to the success of Annunciation’s Food Festival, he in the kitchen and she gleefully collecting money at the register.

Every Sunday one can find her singing in church and, according to her, carrying the tune for the rest of the choir. This wonderful person can also be found unselfishly donating blood (already over ten gallons) or donating her time to N.E.R.T., a volunteer neighborhood rescue organization. In her spare time, one will find her tending to her garden, listening to music, or cooking one of her gourmet meals.

This thoughtful and compassionate person is always there when needed, she’s honest, fun to be around, has a great sense of humor, and all the time humble about her good deeds. She really deserves this honor (she’s the one crying); the one, the only, Cathy Peterson.

Axia! (Worthy!)

PHILOPTOCHOS HOSTS MARCH 25TH LUNCHEON

On Tuesday, March 25, after services, the Philoptochos Society hosted a luncheon for 200 people. Cathy Peterson was named Woman of the Year. She is most worthy of this honor and what a better way to recognize this individual. Our guests for the day included Metropolitan Anthony, Bishop Anthimos, Consul General Demitri Touloupas, Metropolitan Philoptochos President Valerie Roumeliotes and Nicolos Theophanous, Honorary Consul General of Cyprus. In addition, we had several visiting clergy present.

We offer our special thanks to Mr. Tom Karas of 22nd & Irving Produce Co. who through his generosity donated all the fruits and vegetables for this luncheon and also for our coffee hour which took place after vespers on the evening of March 24. Many thanks also to the members of the Philoptochos and also our friends of the Philoptochos who volunteered their time to put on this luncheon.

Most of the profits generated from this luncheon are directed to the Kids N’ Cancer Project. The money from this fund is used to sponsor kids with cancer along with their parents to a camp which is held every year at St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat. This is an ongoing Metropolis Philoptohos project in which all chapters are participants. Thanks to all who came and made this a successful event for a good cause.

Easter Breads are being offered by the Philoptochos, at $10; Koulourakia (cookies) are also offered at $6 per dozen; Red Colored Eggs are $4 per dozen; hand-decorated red eggs are $5 per dozen. To place an order, please complete a special order form, found at the pangari, or call the Cathedral office at 415 864-8000.

Your order will be ready for pick-up Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26. The proceeds help fund the many philanthropic projects of the Philoptochos.

For your convenience, an order form is included with our 2003 Easter mailing.

ANNUNCIATION CATHEDRAL HONORS ITS 2003 STEWARDS

As noted in the March Herald, we are pleased to present Annunciation’s 2003 Stewards. These are the 339 families and individuals, 18 years of age and older, who have pledged, as of March 28, 2003, to support the ministries of the Cathedral for the current year.

Elsewhere in this issue of the Herald, you will find a reprint of the article on stewardship which appeared last month. In the article, you will note that Annunciation Cathedral’s budget for 2003 is $598,675. The stewards whose names are listed below pledged a total of $179,809. This amount represents about 60% of what we hope to raise from stewardship for 2003.

Each month for the last three months, our Stewardship Committee, consisting of a group of very dedicated fellow parishioners, under the chairmanship of Gus Vouchilas, has been meeting to plan, assess, and steer our 2003 stewardship program. They have set as a goal for 2003 the enrollment of 600 stewards. As you can see, we have 261 to go. This is a very achievable goal, and we are confident that we will have 600 stewards by year-end.

Some of you may ask: well, if the stewardship campaign runs for three months (January, February, and March), why don’t we have 600 stewards now? The answer is, in part, that a number of parishioners prefer to make their pledge later on in the year, just as a number make their pledge and fulfill it at the beginning of the year. Another part of the answer lies in education. That is, our parishioners need to be better informed as to the Cathedral’s needs and their own responsibility and obligation. We feel that the better informed our parishioners are, the more likely they are to respond. Toward this end, over the next two or three weeks, the Stewardship Committee will be calling those parishioners who have not yet sent their 2003 pledge in an effort to facilitate their positive response. Your fellow parishioners are not calling you as telemarketers, but as fellow parishioners who care about the Cathedral as much as anyone does, and who want to see its Stewardship Program succeed. Please extend them every courtesy when they call. When you think about it, they’re really doing it because they care about you.

Meanwhile, the Stewardship Committee is also thinking creatively about how to increase awareness and invite participation. It welcomes your ideas and suggestions. Should you notice any misprints or omissions from the list below, please bring these to the attention of the Cathedral office, by calling 415 864-8000 or by e-mailing: office@annunciation.org.

THANKS TO THE FRANCOS FOR THE FRAMING OF THE ICONS

You may have noticed the beautiful hand-made walnut frames around our icons. They dress up the icons beautifully. They are the gift of Helen and Gus Franco, in honor of their 52nd wedding anniversary. We wish them another 52, and in good health.

KUDOS TO LOU PAPONIS

You may have noticed that, after serving the community for many years, under the sobriquet Mission Chapels, Louis Paponis has quiety retired. During this time, Mr. Paponis served many hundreds, if not thousands, of families of Greek Orthodox. In the next issue of the Herald, we would like to trace some of the history of his career as a funeral director in our community which, in part, earned him, among other things, the acclamation of Father of the Year by the Annunciation Cathedral community. Look for this in the May issue.

INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR BEAUTIFUL CHOIR?

If you like the choir and have some musical ability (such as knowing how to read music), speak to our choir director, Nick Tarlson, and begin participating in one of the beautiful aspects of our Orthodox Church

You can speak with Nick following services on Sunday mornings or call during business hours at 415/956-5700. It’s a rewarding experience to participate in the services as a choir member.

CELL PHONES AND CHURCH

We thank you for being sensitive to the prayerful atmosphere of the Divine Liturgy for yourself and for others by turning off your cell phone upon entering Church.

RECENT SERVICE AT THE CATHEDRAL

FUNERAL

Vasilios B. Choulos, who died March 17, was buried March 21. Next of kin listed is his wife, Laura Choulos, also four sons, a daughter, and several grandchildren.

Aionia aftou i mnimi! May his memory be eternal!

BULLETIN FAUX PAS

These sentences actually appeared in a church bulletin(not the Herald) or were announced in a church service:

- Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa will be speaking tonight at Calvary Memorial Church in Racine. Come tonight and hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

-Next Sunday is the family hay ride and bonfire at the Fowlers'. Bring your own hot dogs and guns. Friends are welcome! Everyone come for a fun time.

The long-awaited architectural alternative schemes ordered by the Parish Council were presented by Goldman Architects at a meeting of the Parish Council on February 19. Essentially, the schemes are as follows:

1. Extending the present chapel into the courtyard, thus increasing the seating capacity to 324 (at 21” per seat, or 400, at 18” per seat), developing a proper altar area, and building two levels of parking below the current level, for three levels of parking. The estimated cost for this scenario is $3,836,960.

2. Building a Cathedral church along the lines of the model (located in the entrance lobby), along with ancillary facilities, to accommodate 438 worshippers (at 21” per seat, or 528 seats, at 18” per seat), and two levels of parking below the Cathedral. The estimated cost for this scenario is $5,881,645.

3. Building the Cathedral, described in scenario and adding a loft level to accommodate the choir and an additional 232 seats (at 21” per seat, or 258 seats @18” per seat), for a total of 670 and 786 seats, respectively. For this option (which can also be built at a later time, as phase IIA, add $1,619,770 to the cost in scenario 2.

YOUR 2003 STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM
(Reprinted from March 2003 Hearld)

What is a Steward? As Christians, we believe that God is the giver of all good things. This is what we profess in the closing prayer of the Divine Liturgy. Christians are stewards of God’s world. We return to God a portion of our time, talents, and resources to advance His Church on earth.

A steward knows of the need to give. In this way, a steward emulates God, that is, a steward does as God does. At the Annunciation Cathedral, we are all stewards. That is, we give of our time, our talents, and of our resources. Some of us give more than others. A few of us tithe. That is, we give 10% of our income to the Church. Many more of us may not give 10%, which is the Biblical norm on giving, but we do our best within our means. Some of us don’t give much at all. In fact, we don’t even send in a pledge card, except when it’s time to marry or baptize, dance or play basketball. Or, if we do, we give the least. A few people give amounts under $100 for the year. And this is not because they cannot afford to give more. It’s because giving to the Church is not important for them. More than likely, they don’t understand why they need to give. In order to help them, and to inform all of us, your Stewardship Committee offers the graphic shown on page 2..

How much is the parish budget? Annunciation Cathedral’s operating budget for 2003 is just under $600,000 ($598,675 to be exact). This includes paying on what we owe on the building, which is just over $1 million.You can look at the graphic below and see that 38% of our budget goes to salaries. You might say that’s a lot of money, but it’s actually the very least that it takes to operate our community. While some area parishes have several paid staff members in various positions, the Annunciation Cathedral has only 1 priest, only 1 secretary (who is also the bookkeeper), only 1 custodian, and only 1 youth director (who also doubles up as the catering manager). Thank God for the many volunteers. Otherwise, the Cathedral would not be able to offer the many programs that it does.

The expenses shown on the chart on page 1 are offset by income, the biggest portion of which--$225,000--is slated to come in from stewardship pledges. (The rest is scheduled to come in as follows: $25,000 from Sunday Collections, $25,000 from Pangari, $16,000 from Christmas and Easter offerings, $90,000 from the Food Festival, $65,000 from rental of the hall, and the rest from renting the facilities to the school.) Even at that, we will not be able to make ends meet. Therefore, we ask you to study the graphic below and ask yourself, “am I giving what I should be giving to my Church?” If you, as a family, are giving less than $100 a month, the answer is, “no.”

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April 2003 Herald
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral.