Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry Convocation - 2011

The Ministry of Presence

The Very Rev. Fr. John Kowalczyk is Chaplain at SCI Waymart (Forensic Unit) in Pennsylvania for the past 24 years and the pastor of St. Michael's Orthodox Church in Jermyn, PA since 1985. He has served as Director of Field Education Studies at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary since 1987. Seminarians from St. Tikhon's complete an internship at the prison in their second year of Theology.

Putting Penance Back Into the Penitentiary

This workshop focused on the issue of repentance and the corresponding
healing for those incarcerated that comes from Confession. Fr. Demetrius Nicoloudakis is pastor of St. Matthew’s Greek Orthodox Church in Blandon, PA (USA) and has been involved in Prison Ministry for over 12 years.

Prison Ministry in Bulgaria

Elena Yoncheva is the Executive Director of Prison Fellowship International in Bulgaria.

Prison Ministry in the Ukraine

Fr. Viktor Iatsenko is the Department Head of the Synodal Department of Prison Service in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Prison Ministry in Russia

Archpriest Oleg Skomorokh, from the Russian Orthodox Church, St. Petersburg, Russia, has visited prisons since 1995. He has headed the Department of Prison Service of the St. Petersburg diocese since 2005. He is the author of the history of Christian Service in Prisons (a senior thesis in the St.Petersburg orthodox spiritual academy 1998) and the Practice of Prison Service (the dissertation of 1999). In 2009 Fr. Skomorokh was appointed as Director of a special project to develop the Department of Prison Service for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Removing the Grave Clothes - Part 2

This session will provide a step by step training to implement The
St. Lazarus Project Team Mentoring Model to assist someone returning
from jail or prison.The primary speaker is Barbe Fogarty from St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Kutztown, PA She participated in the Berks County Halfway Church, a ministry of fellowship with people returning to the community after prison.

Removing the Grave Clothes - Part 1

When a person is released from prison there are many challenges he
or she will face; finding work and housing, re-establishing family
relationships, staying in recovery from addictions and finding a new way
of life. Moreover, many people in jail and prison feel stuck, lonely,
resentful, angry, frustrated and hopeless. This session will introduce
the St. Lazarus Project Team Mentoring Model for returning sons and
daughters to successfully reintegrate. Speakers: OCPM National –
Chaplain Patrick Tutella. OCPM Pennsylvania – Fr. Demetrius
Nicoloudakis, Barbe Fogarty.

Reunion Fellowship Meals: Community Building in the Parish for Reintegration

Speakers: OCPM Minnesota - Rick Wagner, Sandra Anderson, Carol Karos.

Monk Cosmas - Question and Answer

Monk Cosmas - Leaving Hell Behind

Fr. Monk Cosmas (Shartz) Fr. Cosmas was born at the mid-point of the twentieth century, in 1950. He was raised Methodist and was the son of a minister. Soon after entering college he drifted away from Christianity, seduced by the allurements of secularism and decadence, and spent many years in the spiritual far country. He entered the Greek Orthodox Church in 1996, therefore, as a repentant sinner. He is a tonsured reader. In 2004 he joined the brotherhood of the Monastery of St. John.

Opening Comments from Chaplain Patrick Tutella

Welcome and Greeting from Greece

OCPM Board Chairman Kory Warr welcomes the delegates and introduces Metropolitan Paulos/Christos Kolosakas Greece for a greeting.