Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

Pascha does not bring parish life to a close. In many ways, it opens anew the daily work of receiving people, strengthening the faithful, and tending the life of the parish with steadiness and care.

Every parish is different, but the pattern is familiar. The services, preparations, pastoral conversations, visitors, catechumens, confessions, meals, logistics, family adjustments, and quiet acts of service all come together in these holy days. Much of this work is never seen by most people, but it matters deeply in the life of the Church.

The Office of Pastoral Life exists to support clergy and clergy families in that real and daily work. At its heart, this work is about strengthening the people who carry the work of pastoral life: helping clergy and clergy families remain connected, encouraged, steady, and attentive to the life God has entrusted to them.

As you read this newsletter, I hope you will see not simply a series of updates, but a growing effort to strengthen clergy families and parish life across the Orthodox Church in America. Thank you for your encouragement, your participation, and your support of this work.

In Christ,
Fr. Nicholas Solak
Director, Office of Pastoral Life

In the life of the Church, much is asked of those who serve.

Clergy and their families carry the quiet weight of pastoral care. Over time, that sacred work, while deeply meaningful, can also become physically, emotionally, and spiritually demanding.

This is why retreat is not a luxury; it is a necessity. The Office of Pastoral Life is pleased to present BOTH a Clergy and Clergy Wives retreat for 2026!

These retreats are intentionally designed spaces for renewal, set apart from the daily responsibilities of ministry. These gatherings invite clergy and clergy wives/clergy widows to step away from the constant demands of serving others and enter into a rhythm of rest, reflection, and genuine connection with one another, each with a retreat designed specifically for their needs.

For clergy, the pastoral retreat offers time to be spiritually refreshed, to engage in meaningful conversation with brother clergy, and to rediscover clarity in their calling. It is an opportunity to be poured into, rather than always pouring out.

For clergy wives and clergy widows, the retreat provides a space of understanding and shared experience, a place where relationships are strengthened, encouragement is freely given, and the unique role they carry is both acknowledged and supported. It is a reminder that they are not alone in this journey.

These retreats are not about stepping away from ministry; they are about sustaining it.

When those who serve are given the space to rest, to be encouraged, and to reconnect with Christ and one another, they return strengthened and better able to lead, to love, and to continue their work with renewed purpose.

Metropolitan Tikhon’s Retreat Message

His Beatitude explains how caring for clergy and their families is an essential part of the Church’s faithful stewardship. These retreats strengthen clergy and their families, which in turn strengthens our parishes.

Father Nicholas Solak’s Clergy Wives Retreat Message

Clergy wives quietly carry the many unseen responsibilities of church life, and they need opportunities to be refreshed. This retreat was created as a response to Christ’s invitation: to step away, even briefly, and be renewed.

Father Nicholas Solak’s Pastoral Retreat Message

These few days are intended as a simple opportunity to gather—for prayer, for conversation, and for time with brother priests from across the Church. The theme this year is “The Fields Are Ripe for the Harvest.” Many are seeing new interest in parish life, which is a blessing, and also something that calls for attention and discernment. The retreat will give us space to reflect on this together.

The Clergy Wives Retreat is now open for registration

July 27–30, 2026

Antiochian Village Retreat Center in Bolivar, PA
Come Away and Rest

Key Presenter:

Dr. Ioana Popa, physician-psychiatrist, educator, executive coach, Christianspiritual-care provider, speaker, trainer, a mother, wife, and grandmother.

Dr. Popa’s full biography can be found with many more details on the retreat page.

Pastoral Retreat registration is coming soon

September 29 – October 2, 2026

University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, IL
The Fields Are Ripe for the Harvest

Key Presenters:

Mother Christophora, Abbess of Holy Transfiguration Monastery

Father John Parker, Dean of Saint Tikhon’s Theological Seminary

Many other optional individual workshop sessions and speakers can be viewed on the retreat page.

 

The work of the Office of Pastoral Life begins with a simple conviction: those who care for the Church also need care, encouragement, and support. When clergy and clergy families are strengthened, parish life is strengthened with them. This is not peripheral work. It is part of the Church’s responsibility to sustain those who carry the daily weight of parish ministry.

Currently, much of this work is made possible through matching grant support, which means that each gift does more than its face value might suggest. Parish generosity helps unlock and extend resources already committed to this mission. In other words, every parish gift, no matter the size, is multiplied by our grants and is contributes to our shared efforts to build a stronger and more sustainable foundation for the care of clergy and clergy families across the Orthodox Church in America.

Parishes have an important role to play in that work. A gift from a parish is not simply a donation to another program. It is a concrete expression of care for the people whose faithfulness, stability, and spiritual health matter deeply to the life of the Church. It is my hope that more parishes will come to see the Office of Pastoral Life as something worthy of their support and prayerful investment.

Help the Office of Pastoral Life maximize the impact of our Lilly Grants by contributing to our matching fund!

Your parish’s gift will be doubled, directly supporting our essential programs for clergy. To learn how your parish can participate, please click here.

We deeply appreciate your partnership. If you know individuals who are passionate about supporting the health of our clergy, please connect with us — their generosity can go even further through this match.

Over the past several years, many clergy families have shared a similar experience: financial strain is rarely dramatic, but it is often steady and persistent. Expenses accumulate, unexpected needs arise, and the pressure to provide stability for one’s household quietly grows. For many priests and clergy wives, these concerns can weigh heavily in the background of parish life.

The Office of Pastoral Life’s Financial Health Initiative exists to address this reality in a practical and constructive way. Through financial literacy cohorts, practical tools (i.e., budgeting app), confidential coaching, and targeted incentive grants, the program helps clergy households take concrete steps toward greater stability and long-term planning.

We are pleased to announce that enrollment for the 2026 Financial Health Initiative cohort has opened! Thirty (30) clergy households will be welcomed into this year’s program. Participants will join SmartDollar – which includes an asynchronous nine lesson financial learning course, helpful tools (i.e. budgeting app, tax software, and will maker) as well as unlimited access to a personal financial coach. At the conclusion of the program, participants become eligible to apply for a $5,000 incentive grant that can be used toward debt reduction or savings.

Clergy families who have participated in previous cohorts have consistently described the experience as both practical and encouraging. Beyond the numbers, many have found that bringing greater clarity and intention to household finances allows them to focus more freely on the work of parish ministry.

Clergy households interested in participating in the 2026 cohort are encouraged to apply here. We look forward to welcoming a new group of clergy families into this work.

The application link was emailed on May 1st. Missing the link? Please reach out to FHI Director, Father Stephen Vernak at fhi@opl.oca.org.

Financial Health Initiative Facts

Who may participate
Active clergy households of the Orthodox Church in America.

Who is eleigible?

Fact Sheet Here

2026 Cohort Size
30 clergy households

What participants receive

• Guided financial literacy cohort using the SmartDollar platform
• Access to confidential financial coaching
• Practical tools for budgeting, debt reduction, and long-term planning
• Eligibility to apply for a $5,000 incentive grant for debt reduction or savings

Program focus

• Reducing financial strain in clergy households
• Strengthening long-term financial stability
• Allowing clergy families to focus more freely on parish life

Complete the basic application ASAP! No later than Thursday, May 14, 2026.

The life of a clergy wife is deeply connected to the life of the parish. In ways both visible and unseen, many of us support the work of the Church through the care of our families, our relationships within the parish community, and the encouragement we offer our husbands in their priestly ministries. Every parish is different, but there are also experiences that many clergy wives share in common as we navigate the rhythms and responsibilities of parish life.

One of my hopes for the Clergy Wives Ministry is to help strengthen those bonds of connection across the Church. Clergy wives need opportunities to know one another, to share wisdom, and to find encouragement in the company of women who understand this life from the inside.

That work is continuing to take shape, and I am grateful for the ways it is already beginning to grow. Several initiatives are emerging to help clergy wives connect more intentionally and to support them in their shared calling within the life of the Church.

Below are some of the opportunities currently being offered through the Clergy Wives Ministry:

• One Book, One Sisterhood: Join your sister clergy wives as we read this year’s book together, The Joy to Serve by Matushka Juliana Schmemann. More information can be found on the Clergy Wives Ministry home page.

• Clergy Wives Retreat: Come Away and Rest with Dr. Ioana Popa. (We hope you’ll be able to join us July 27–30, 2026.)

• Matushki Meet-Ups: Our Pilot Program was completed this February, evaluation is underway, beta testing and scaling coming in 2027.

• Website: A newly relaunched website will become our hub for resources, news, and connections.

• Zoom Gatherings: Clergy widows met online during Great Lent this year and were encouraged by reflections on the life of the Theotokos; look for more Zoom Retreats coming this fall.

• Service: opportunities to volunteer and support those we love.

  • We were honored to raise over $20,000 for the reliquary of Saint Olga of Kwethluk, Wonderworker and Matushka of All Alaska. This reliquary is currently in the design phase and expected to be built this coming fall.

  • Currently, fundraising is underway to support sisters who would like to attend this summer’s Clergy Wives Retreat but are unable to do so without financial help.

  • We now have a future volunteer opportunities signup form on the Clergy Wives Ministry website available to you at any time. Please take a moment to review how you can be involved. Learn more here.

One of the many moments of success within the Office of Pastoral Life’s Thriving in Ministry (TiM) program is the number of peer learning groups that have continued meeting together for several years, 5 years and beyond! These groups have developed a rhythm of trust, honest conversation, and mutual encouragement. Clergy and clergy wives who meet regularly in this way often discover that the simple discipline of listening, reflecting, and sharing the experience of parish ministry together becomes an important support in the work of parish life.

As the program has matured, we have also begun asking what the natural life cycle of a peer learning group might be. Beginning this year, groups that have been meeting for five years or more have been invited to consider their next step. Each group has been offered three possible paths: to conclude their time together as a Thriving in Ministry group, to continue meeting as a self-sustaining group that remains within the TiM network, or to continue meeting together outside the formal structure of the program.

This transition reflects the growing maturity of the program. When a group has built trust, developed meaningful relationships, and established habits of shared reflection, it has already accomplished something valuable. At the same time, making space for new groups allows more clergy and clergy wives across the Church to experience the same kind of supportive peer learning.

The current Thriving in Ministry grant will conclude at the end of 2028, and part of our work now is preparing for what comes next. Our hope is that the habits and relationships cultivated through this program will continue to bear fruit, while also making it possible for the Office of Pastoral Life to continue offering high-quality and meaningful peer learning experiences for clergy and clergy wives across the Orthodox Church in America and other Orthodox jurisdictions for many years to come.

It is a joy and an honor to offer a few words about Thriving in Ministry. My involvement with these groups goes back many years. Over time, I have had the privilege of facilitating a group of priests, a group of clergy wives, and now a group of bishops.

It is difficult to fully express the value of these gatherings. Words such as powerful, transformative, and deeply personal point in the right direction, but they still do not capture the whole of it. These groups are a gift from God. In them, participants find encouragement, honesty, trust, and the kind of fellowship that strengthens both life and ministry.

Because these gatherings are so precious, they should never be taken for granted. Like all gifts, they require attentiveness, humility, and gratitude. They are strengthened when participants come with openness, care for one another, and thanksgiving to Christ, who is present in the midst of them.

For that reason, the prayer of the heart is simple:
Thank You, Lord, for the gift of these TiM groups, and for the ways You work through each facilitator and each participant to bring strength, wisdom, and grace.

In ministry, we are called to serve Christ’s Church faithfully and energetically, and much is demanded of us on a daily basis. Opportunities for clergy to step back, reflect together, and learn from one another are therefore both rare and valuable.

The Office of Pastoral Life’s Synaxis program was created to provide such a space. Through regular online gatherings, clergy from across the Orthodox Church in America come together to listen to a speaker, reflect on a shared topic, and then continue the conversation in smaller groups of brother clergy. These conversations allow bishops, priests, and deacons to exchange wisdom, raise questions, and reflect on the realities of parish life in a setting marked by trust and mutual respect.

Alongside these gatherings, the Office of Pastoral Life has also begun hosting Clergy Conversations, a shorter and more focused format designed to explore specific pastoral topics that benefit from open discussion among clergy.

Participation in both Synaxis gatherings and Clergy Conversations continues to grow, and the feedback from clergy has been consistently encouraging. The strength of these gatherings lies not only in the topics discussed, but in the opportunity for brother clergy across the Church to listen to one another and reflect together on the work of pastoral ministry.

We are very excited that our online community is open and growing on Facebook and Instagram! The purpose of providing social media that you and the greater OCA community can follow is to provide a place where all the good can be shared.

Posts showcase all that is happening in the programs of the OPL and what is taking place in our greater community in how we can support one another. Please click and follow today!