Worship and Sacramental Life Ministries
The heart and soul of the Orthodox Christian Church’s life is its worship services and holy sacraments. All other ministries serve as an extension of this most central component of the Church’s life. When parishioners are committed first and foremost to the Divine Liturgy and the other services and sacraments, they are united to God and His divine grace. This grace then enables them to use their time and talents in ministry to work out their own salvation and fulfill the other aspects of the parish’s mission. Fr. Theodore is entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the worship and sacramental life of St. Catherine. He warmly and enthusiastically invites you to get involved in the following ministries if your God-given gifts match the ministry.
Youth Acolyte Ministry
To serve around the Holy Altar is a privilege and wonderful gift to our Lord. We encourage all male youth ages 7 and older to serve as acolytes during divine worship Services, especially Sunday morning Services and during Lent and Holy Week. The acolytes help the clergy in the Holy Altar. They perform liturgical duties such as lighting altar candles, preparing charcoal and incense for the censer, participating in processions, and assisting the clergy with the Services. To serve behind the Altar in this ministry is a great honor. Acolytes can continue to serve in the Altar their entire lives, and some even go on to Seminary and decide to serve the Church as priests and deacons. The altar servers are trained by both the clergy and Men Altar Servers to learn their duties and fulfill their ministry in a spirit of competence, reverence and prayerfulness. Serving requires self-discipline and dedication. Acolytes are given a keen insight into the beauty and importance our worship has in our lives.
Acolyte Men
To serve around the Holy Table is a privilege and wonderful gift to our Lord. Orthodox men are encouraged to serve as acolytes in the worship Services of our Church. The acolyte men help the clergy in the holy Altar. During weekday Services on Feast Days, our youth are most often unable to attend. This makes it especially important to have acolyte men who can help the clergy with processions, the cutting of antidoron, preparing the censer and the hot water, and holding the cloth for Communion and the bowl of antidoron during holy Communion and at the end of the Divine Liturgy. Acolyte men are trained by the clergy and the senior acolytes to fulfill their ministry in a spirit of reverence, competence and worship. Serving requires self-discipline and dedication. Acolytes are given a keen insight into the beauty and importance the Divine Liturgy and other worship Services have in our lives. Acolyte men also help train and mentor our acolyte youth, especially on Sunday mornings and during Holy Week.
Chanting Ministry
Most of the worship Services of our Orthodox Christian Church are chanted in the centuries-old Byzantine Chant Tradition. Without chanters, the worship services cannot be celebrated properly. For this reason, this chanting ministry is extremely important. Byzantine chant is used all over the world in different languages among Greek Orthodox churches. At St. Catherine, we warmly invite those who have the gift of singing and want to learn this chant tradition to join this ministry. It is helpful if chant students can read western music.
Adult Choir
The St. Catherine Choir sings throughout the year for Sunday Divine Liturgies and for select other Services, such as the Parish Feast Day and during Holy Week. If one of your gifts is singing, you are warmly invited to join our choir. We are looking for singers ages 7 and older. Practices are held on Wednesday evenings
Hosanna Music Ministry
Youth Choir
"To develop a love of church music in children, and to help instill a better understanding of orthodox theology in the Saint Catherine Youth."
Music is an integral part of the Orthodox liturgical life. In this beautiful ministry, our children will have the opportunity to participate in the liturgical life through music, and work with the Church School Ministry to learn the music of the church at the end of each Sunday School lesson. By learning the music of our church, and being able to play a part in the church services, our children will better understand the theology of the church and become better equipped to carry on the apostolic faith to the next generation. This is an enormous opportunity to help our children to make the Orthodox faith their own. During our time together, the children will learn the basics of byzantine music, communion hymns, the hymns of the saints, Christmas program material, and prepare for the Holy Saturday Youth Liturgy.
Age Group - PK-5th grade
Getting Involved - This ministry is connected with both the Christmas program, and the Holy Saturday Liturgy. Parents can become involved by encouraging their children to be a part of these beautiful events, and by volunteering to chaperone during rehearsals. Parents can also help by practicing any material that is sent home with their children.
Myrrh Bearing Girls Ministry
All girls between the ages of 4-13 are invited to participate as a Myrrh Bearer on Holy Friday Evening, Holy Saturday Morning and during the Midnight Resurrection Service. This is a wonderful opportunity for the girls in our church to show their love for Christ by participating in services as Myrrh Bearers. We have one mandatory practice a year, usually following Divine Liturgy on the Saturday of Lazarus. The rehearsal will begin immediately after Divine Liturgy. The girls will need to be dressed completely in white with white dresses, white shoes and white gloves. Every year we implement a Myrrh Bearers Dress Exchange asking parishioners to bring clean and ready to wear white dresses, shoes and gloves that they would like to donate so that other girls may use them. We will ask that all items be returned after Pascha cleaned, pressed and ready for the following year.
Prosphora Baking Ministry
This vital ministry of our parish is central to the celebration of any and all Divine Liturgies at St. Catherine. Volunteers in this ministry prayerfully bake the loaves of bread known as the ‘prosphora’. This word means offering, and it symbolizes our offering of our entire lives and all God’s creation back to Him in thanksgiving. The clergy use this bread of offering (the prosphora) in their preparation of the Divine Gifts before every Liturgy. During the Service, the main celebrant lifts up both the Bread and the Chalice of wine and says, “Your own of Your own we offer to You in all and for all.” We offer ourselves and all creation, which we have received from God, back to Him in thanksgiving, and we receive the Gifts of His Body and Blood, which we partake of for the remission of sins and life everlasting. We warmly invite you to join this ministry team in baking the prosphora and directly contribute to fulfilling this vital and necessary role of Orthodox Christian life and practice. The current cadence for baking is roughly 3 to 5 times a year, baking two loaves of prosphora each time. Our ministry leads will provide the recipe and baking instructions for first-time volunteers.
