September 1, 2024

Dear Sisters,

Happy  Ecclesiastical New Year!

There are so many beginnings in our lives, and we celebrate those, so why not celebrate this as well!  This new year brings focus on our church, our family and our clergy family!

Your NSP Board has been BUSY!  The executive board has met via zoom, and been in constant communication.  We are meeting in Chicago the weekend of October 25-27, 2024,  Our agenda is in the works, and we plan on sharing that with you, as well as the notes from that meeting.  It was brought up to open the board meeting and we have plans to do that.  Our focus will be on our retreat, being held in the Metropolis of Denver in October 2025.  Another topic is clergy family wellness and what we can do.  There are so many stories; so many branches from the Clergy Family Tree, and we need to keep talking!

I was invited to represent the NSP this past month to a private luncheon with His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, while he was in Chicago to give the benediction at the DNC.  I sat  with Fr. Alex Karloutsos and two archons from the Chicago area.  It was a great opportunity because they asked questions about the sisterhood, what we do, what our focus is and what we need and how they can help.  Anytime we have the opportunity to speak about clergy families, I do so, it's important for all of us.

I received a beautiful letter this past week, and what it left me with was this passage from Hebrews 10:24: For in working closely together with one another, you can surely inspire all those around you “to love and good works”. We all are in the same village, we are there when one is celebrating or hurting, whether it is our husbands, our children or ourselves.  That’s what the Sisterhood is all about.  

Have a blessed month and year!

Pearlann Bithos