OCF News & Events : Real Break

Making a Real Change - Real Break 2010

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:15:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

“Keeping our College Students Connected to the Church”

Making a Real Change

Fishers, IN – November 13, 2009

This Spring Break, over one hundred college students have the opportunity to make a real change for those less fortunate through Orthodox Christian Fellowship’s Real Break program.

Real Break is an alternative spring break service-learning program designed to provide college students with life-transforming experiences that strengthen their faith and broaden their Christian world-view. OCF offers several trips to locations all around the globe where students have the opportunity to serve and minister to the poor with compassion and humility.

OCF currently has 12 trips planned, which run from February 20^th through March 27^th. Trip locations include: Alaska, Constantinople, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Jerusalem, Mexico, Romania and San Francisco. College students will have the incredible opportunity to renovate parishes and monasteries, work with innocent orphans and serve those less fortunate them.

For more program information and registration, please visit www.ocf.net/realbreak or call 1-800-919-1623.

About OCF

Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) is the official collegiate campus ministry program under SCOBA. Our mission is to support fellowships on college campuses, whose members experience and witness to the Orthodox Christian Church through community life, prayer, service to others and study of the Faith. Our headquarters is located in Indianapolis, IN and supports over 270 local university chapters across North America. In addition, we provide a variety of thoughtful and innovative programming, including regional training, annual conferences, and domestic and international service learning programs.

For additional information contact:

Presvytera Shyla Hadzellis

Development Director, OCF
shyla@ocf.net
www.ocf.net

OCF is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and the official campus ministry of SCOBA.

SCOBA Agencies combine efforts with Archons and Ladies Philoptochos

Gabriel Otte — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:29:00 GMT

Ft Lauderdale, FL. OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship) is pleased to announce another Real Break trip to Constantinople. Real Break Constantinople serves God and other people while participating in the life of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. His Grace Bishop Savas the newly appointed Director of Church and Society of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America will lead the group assisted by the Rev. Mark Leondis the National Youth Director for the GOA and Chairman of the Board of Orthodox Christian Fellowship and the Rev. Dr. Christopher T. Metropulos the Executive Director of OCN (The Orthodox Christian Network) and the Pastor of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The Real Break Trip to Istanbul, Turkey, begins on March 14, 2009.

The group consists of 22 participants from five different Orthodox Christian jurisdictions. The college students from around the country are traveling to Constantinople to receive the blessings of His All Holiness and refurbish a church and a cemetery that has fallen into disrepair. Fr. Kevin Scherer, Executive Director of OCF commented, "OCF is honored to have the opportunity to assist the Ecumenical Patriarch in his efforts to restore and maintain the parishes of his ancient see. This Real Break trip in particular provides our students with a transformative perspective into both the past and the present struggles of our Church. The participants will work hard in a very short span of time."

The group of clergy and college students will work on a St. Kyriakos Church and the Patriarchal Cemetery of Erikapi which borders the Land Walls close to the Vlachernae Palace. Along with the Church, the Patriarchal Cemetery is a site that was desecrated many years ago. There are about 300 tombs which have broken slabs of marble, knocked down headstones and crosses. The team will be responsible to bring the Church and cemetery back to their original state. His Grace Bishop Savas stated, "Laboring to bring order to a sacred space in disrepair has spiritual as well as physical consequences. Clearing away years of accumulated filth and debris, restoring tarnished images, obscured by layers of dirt, to their original beauty, inevitably affects the inner lives of those who do such work. I know from having participated in last year's restoration effort that the men and women who will be taking part this year will experience a renewal of heart analogous to the renewal the Church of St. Kyriakos and the Cemetery of Erikapi will undergo, to the glory of God."

The Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate are co-sponsoring this project with OCF, to underwrite the materials and supplies for the project. Special funding for the media coverage of this Real Break trip with OCN will be provided by the National Ladies Philoptochos Society. Fr. Christopher the Executive Director of OCN stated, "It is an honor to be partnering with OCF our sister agency of SCOBA. The trip will afford OCN the opportunity to work side by side in the Ancient City of Constantinople with the future leaders of the Church in America, while visiting the Mother Church and the venerable Patriarchate. We expect this to be the beginning of collaborative work with other agencies who travel and share the love of Christ with faithful throughout the world".

Faithful in the United States and around the world are encouraged to visit the web site of Orthodox Christian Fellowship www.ocf.net , The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese www.goarch.org and OCN at www.myocn.net to view daily progress of the trip as well as photo's and various interviews with the participants and His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW.

The* Orthodox Christian Network* is one of the official agencies of SCOBA,commissioned by our hierarchs to create a national, sustainable and effective media witness for Orthodox Christianity throughout North America.

OCN produces the only nationally syndicated Orthodox Christian radio broadcast, as well as several other outreach programs, including DVDs and Internet-based media, in direct collaboration with our sister SCOBA agencies (e.g. IOCC, OCMC, & OCF), as well as with various Orthodox Christian jurisdictions and pan-Orthodox, para-church organizations. Our goal is to engage the broader culture of North America with Orthodox Christianity's rich theological, spiritual and moral heritage, and to thereby strengthen the Orthodox Church's witness and contribution to the culture in which we live.

Real Break Constantinople 2009 OCN Coverage

Gabriel Otte — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 06:21:00 GMT

There will be a daily coverage of the trip by the OCN on their website at http://www.myocn.net/index.php/Real-Break-09-Constantinople.

There will also be a daily blog on by some of the students on the trip. This can be viewed under the OCF Real Break Constantinople trip site.