Dear Forum Members,

My unchurched, unreligious, twice divorced, cradle Episcopalian cousin, whom my mother baptized (okay, I know--an Orthodox shouldn't have canonically done such a thing, but it is done with now from fifty some years ago), has requested from her that an Orthodox priest contact him.

I think that the window of blessed opportunity for a religious awakening has occured. (He doesn't like the changes of the Episcopalian church, so that isn't an option). My mother has even suggested to him in the past that he join the RC church, but, perhaps because his mother's family is Orthodox, he didn't consider that route.

Anyway, can someone suggest some OCA, Antiochian (a former Episcopalian convert priest would be most perfect) and Greek parishes close to: Southhampton, Pennsylvania. It is imperative that the priest be very American and the service be in all English, so that may exclude most Greek Orthodox parishes...the Antiochian, if any exist in that area, might be perfect.

I am not familiar with the area, so I don't know how to find a parish and priest for her to contact. If any one has an ideas, I would be grateful....THANKS!

In Christ,
Alice

Sister Alice, I'm not familiar with the region, but I had to note that the 'baptism' is probably more common than we think. AND, your Mom was right on target with the baptism.

Many years ago, an Orthodox mother and a VERY southern Baptist style Protestant husband had a child. No baptism was in the cards. There was a gathering of family and friends. With the mother on the right, and my mother on the left, as a very young Jesuit seminarian, I baptized the child at the kitchen sink. The mother beamed and breathed a sigh of relief, as did my mother. The young man is now happily married, a practicing Episcopalian with his wonderful wife (but goes to the Greek Church on feast days and festivals) with two fantastic little boys.

Baptism brings them into the community of the faithful baptized; and wins them prayers and the accompanying graces even if they are unaware. [So there, you silly Anabaptists!! ]

Blessings to All!

Dr John

There are two OCA parishes fairly close to Southampton, the cathedral in NE Philly and St. Mark's which is somewhere in Bucks County. Never been to either, but I'm guessing they're all English. There are a bunch of ethnic parishes around Southampton.

There's also a Carpatho-Russian mission in Levittown which is really small, but is all English.

A little further away is St. Philip's in Souderton.


http://www.st-philip.net/

That is the church I was baptized in and it has a large convert contingent and is all English. The senior priest is a former Lutheran, though I don't know how active he is anymore. I have not met the current priest, but I've heard good things about Fr. Noah.

Orthodoxy in America will show everything around whatever area you're looking in.

http://orthodoxyinamerica.org/

Oh dear, I was translating directly from the Greek and it didn't come across correctly--I meant that my mom was the official godmother to my cousin in the Episcopalian church...As you may know, in Greek, we say 'he/she baptized me or him/her' for 'they are my/his/her godfather/godmother'.

And please, for those here who like to shoot 'canons', please allow for a ceasefire....

Alice

Andrew,

The Orthodoxyinamerica site is very helpful.

Regards,
Alice

Alice, Orthodoxyinamerica is a good site, however I would suggest calling and confirming that
A) it is the right number for the church
b) if a person answers that number and indeed it is the church listed on the website I would ask that person the address and confirm it against what it found on the website just to be sure you're not going to end up driving 30 minutes and ending up at an empty field or the wrong town!
I have found that this website sometimes needs to be updated, and in no way am I discrediting the website.. it is a lot of work I can imagine and mission churches move, phone numbers can change, churches can close, roads can be renamed etc...