www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Orientale Lumen Speakers Finalized

The speakers for the three Orientale Lumen XII Conferences scheduled for this summer on the theme of "Feast Days of the Eastern Churches" have been finalized as follows:

East -- Washington, DC -- June 16-19, 2008
Metropolitan Kallistos, Greek Orthodox (video recording)
Archimandrite Robert Taft, SJ, Ukrainian Catholic
Father Daniel Findikyan, Armenian Orthodox
Father Thomas Loya, Byzantine Catholic
Sister Vassa Larin, Russian Orthodox
Prof. Richard Schneider, Orthodox Church in America
Prof. Shawqi Talia, Chaldean Catholic

West -- San Diego, CA -- June 23-26, 2008
Metropolitan Kallistos, Greek Orthodox (video recording)
Archimandrite Robert Taft, SJ, Ukrainian Catholic
Father Daniel Findikyan, Armenian Orthodox (video recording)
Father Thomas Loya, Byzantine Catholic
Father Maximos Davies, Romanian Catholic
Sister Vassa Larin, Russian Orthodox
Prof. Richard Schneider, Orthodox Church in America

North -- Detroit, MI -- July 7-10, 2008
Metropolitan Kallistos, Greek Orthodox (video recording)
Archbishop Nathaniel, Romanian Orthodox
Bishop Ibrahim, Chaldean Catholic
Archimandrite Robert Taft, SJ, Ukrainian Catholic
Father Thomas Loya, Byzantine Catholic
Sister Vassa Larin, Russian Orthodox
Prof. Richard Schneider, Orthodox Church in America

Speakers are expected to discuss the feast days of the Church from their own perspectives, either their particular Church or their academic specialty. Last minute registrations are still being accepted. More details can be found at the conference website: www.olconference.com [olconference.com] including a color brochure, registration form, and detailed agenda. You can register online or call the conference office at 703-691-8862.

Jack Figel
Conference Chairman

Could anyone help me understand why, after over 1000 downloads of the color brochure and 400 downloads of the registration forms for our three conferences from the OL Conference website, we have very few registered to come?

Is the topic not interesting?
Are the speakers not worthwhile?
Is the cost too high for the registration fee?
Is the cost of travel (airfare & gasoline) too high to come?
Are people waiting until the last minute to register?

I would appreciate any and all comments for consideration of whether to conduct these conferences next year or not.

Jack Figel

Jack,

I am going to be candid from my perspective. It is not the program that is the issue. I see the following as issues:

1.) The times of the conferences coincide with family vacations, and I am sorry an OL conference does not seem like a fun event for children.

2.) From a Greek Orthodox priest's perspective, the conference is only three weeks away in Washington before the GOA Clergy-Laity Congress that is also in Washington. The congress is a mandatory event for us, and the finances dictate that that event comes first in any planning. Most clergy do not get an excessive amount of time away from their assignments including that of vacations. OCA clergy have their National Council later this year and so on for other clergy of other Orthodox jurisdictions.

3.) I really do think you need to space these conferences out to an every other year event. With the climbing cost of fuel and transportation, this may be a more pragmatic approach. Also by seeing if there may be mandatory conflicting events may help in planning these conferences.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Father Anthony,

Thanks for your comments. We have been holding these conferences in the summer time since we started, and no one has every suggested your comments. I very much appreciate your input. We started 12 years ago in the summer BECAUSE we thought people could get time off from their jobs more easily, university venues were more available to keep costs down, and academics were also off for the summer so they could be speakers.

I was not aware that the GOA and OCA meetings were mandatory for clergy. Since I don't think they occur every year, perhaps having OL conferences in the "off years" from those meetings would help. But what about lay persons?

Finally, the group that gathered at the first meeting in 1997, and each subsequent year, voted themselves to meet every year to keep the momentum going. But maybe we can do that by rotating each year to three different locations -- one year in Washington, the next year on the west coast, the next year in the midwest, etc.? Your views are VERY valuable. Thanks!

Other comments and perspectives are welcome.

Jack

Jack,

As far as laity are concerned especially those that have families and children, I refer you to my first point. You have to take into consideration most families at present are just getting by and a vacation to one location is about all they can afford.

As to any national meetings such as the GOA and OCA events, they are always compulsory upon the clergy and certain lay delegates.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Father Anthony,

I can understand families and vacations. We were hoping that Washington and San Diego might be possible locations where people would want to vacation, and they could do both in one trip. Would any other time of year be better for lay persons?

How can I find out the schedule for future years of the various Orthodox national meetings? I don't think future years are listed on any Church websites that I've seen.

Jack

Jack,

Not knowing the cost for vacations in venues like Washington or San Diego, I really can not comment any further.

As to the dates, etc. for national Orthodox meetings it is quite simple, GOA every even-numbered year. The OCA is is every third year. The Antiochians every odd-numbered year. As to other jurisdictions it is hard to say unless you consult their websites. As for the GOA, the 2010 Clergy-Laity Congress will be going to the last week in June permanently, and the venue is always announced at the conclusion of a Clergy-Laity Congress for the next one. We have known Washington was the site for this congress since the one held in Nashville in 2006.

The locations, etc. for other National jurisdictions are chosen in a different manner yet announced in most cases a year before the event.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

"Is the cost too high for the registration fee?
Is the cost of travel (airfare & gasoline) too high to come?"

These would be mine. Though, I expect that the conference fee is reasonable considering the requirements of putting on something like this.

Hoping (waiting) for a conference in the South. I'm trying to get a Society of St. John Chrysostom chapter started down here (North Texas area) which might assist in getting some support for that possibility one day.

My suggestion would be - instead of having three separate Conferences for each region, invite all these guests to one location and make it one 5-day event. I would really love to hear from multiple speakers mentioned but they are at different events, and I cannot make them all.

Also another suggestion, both the Apostolic Visitator for the Syro-Malankara Church - Aboon Joseph Mar Thomas; and the Head and Father of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, His Beatitude Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil will be in Chicago over the July 4th weekend. Both are going to be inaugurating and blessing the newly built Syro-Malabar Catholic Cathedral.
-- Perhaps inviting the bishops as honored guests for this Conference will get the word out quickly within those two Churches, at least in the Chicago area -- (Detroit isn't too far for Chicagoans to travel on quick notice!)

It seems these last two comments are in opposition to each other -- a centralized, single conference would require MORE travel expense, which is why we went to regional conferences. When we started, the conferences were over 4 full days, and people complained it was too long.

We are having mostly (5 out of 7) the same speakers at all three locations, and were hoping that having the same program on three dates and in three locations would allow maximum flexibility and opportunity for people to attend.

We sent a letter to the bishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in Chicago last week, but it was a general letter to all bishops inviting them to come to the conferences, and not specifically knowing about this upcoming visit. Should I send another letter? Is there an email address I can use?

Jack

The cost appears to be high but as one who has attended 4 previous conferences, the experience is well worth every penny....and more! Jack gathers talented speakers who present challenging material for both laity & clergy alike. The dynamics of these gatherings are unlike any other I've experienced. Not only educational, it is a time of prayer & fellowship, different traditions coming together to share themselves with one another.

In his Apostolic Letter Orientale Lumen, Pope John Paul of blessed memory encourages those in the West to look to the East "for fuller and more thorough understanding of the Christian experience." (OL, I:5)

From my own experience as an active Catholic reclaiming my Eastern heritage, those in the West believe (as they were taught) that the Latin Church contains the fullness of faith and there is no need to look beyond that which they received, early in formation.

It would be good if those responsible for religious education (both Catholic & Orthodox alike) were encouraged to attend these conferences to learn more about the Churches of the East, returning to their respective communities, hopefully, catechizing the faithful more effectively.

I have 5 children and only one wife. A 5 day or longer event would cause my one wife to wax apoplectic. Given that the OL conference have been very laity-friendly I favor regional events that allow people to drive or take short plane trips. No idea how popular my take is.

Are there regional coordinators that help get "local" hierarchs and groups involved? People to drive clergy around, tours of parishes, etc.

Byzantine TX,

Yes, in San Diego, the local SSJC-WR group that formed at the first West Coast meeting 3 years ago has been very helpful in promoting the OL conference locally, arranging church visits, liturgical services during the conference, etc. They also continue with their own local events on a regular basis, having meetings, tours, etc. for Southern California through out the year.

Jack

For those who cannot attend, are there avenues open to us which will enrich our souls with the papers presented at past conferences?

The cost of bandwidth is relatively cheap to the production of the DVDs I saw for sale. I don't know if the board would be willing to make transcripts available online, but if there is a declining appreciation of the conferences, publishing them and seeing to it that it is distributed to the target audience may result in a greater interest, which may increase attendance.

Some people don�t attend such a conference because they may be academic neophytes and under the impression that the talks would be over their head or otherwise intimidating. I don�t apply this to Orientale Lumen, but it would apply to other conferences I am more familiar with. That may be a false perception that is out there.

Terry

Terry,

Yes, indeed. The papers presented are published in a proceedings book from each year. All through OL 7 are available; OL 8 and OL 9 E/W are being printed this week and will be available soon. We are waiting on some speakers to submit their papers from OL X and XI and EuroEast II. They can be purchased at www.ecpubs.com. [ecpubs.com.]

We also offer past OL plenaries and liturgical services in CD and DVD format through the conference website: www.olconference.com. [olconference.com.]

And, many of the OL plenaries and liturgical services have now been made available for online viewing at www.oltvweb.com. [oltvweb.com.] More are continually being converted to audio and video streaming.

We have not considered publishing the papers online as PDFs thinking audio and video streaming would be more appealing. The whole area of e-publishing of material is difficult to consider when it could impact hardcopy book sales, which we rely upon to publish more books in the future. Without a revenue stream from book sales, there's no money to make future publications.

Jack