Dear St Hermanites,
Glory to Jesus Christ!
I received this e-mail, forwarded to me by our Romanian priest, Fr Nicu, which was sent through Archbishop Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Church in America. Archbishop Nicolae says he met Mark Brewer last fall in Chicago.
I have been in touch with Mark, who is a lawyer in the US, and his brother Phil, who is the president of St Stephen's Charitable Trust Fund/ SPCK Bookshops in England. Feel free to contact me for more info if you are interested in going to England for a few weeks this summer to help out.
Please also keep those involved with St Stephen's Charitable Trust Fund in your prayers!
Love in Christ,
Mira
My e-mail is alloneword: mira(dot)mouse(at)gmail(dot)com
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Your Eminence:
Master, bless!
The Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (England), an Orthodox missionary charity, needs energetic Orthodox people to volunteer (as they do in Project Mexico or IOCC) to come to the U.K. for important missionary work; i.e., selling Christian books in England.
England is a land full of surprises to modern Orthodox Christians: Saint Augustine of Canterbury established his episcopacy in 597 and Orthodoxy flourished for over 450 years (until the Norman conquest in 1066). One of our shops is actually inside the former medieval kitchen of the great Durham Cathedral. There lie the holy relics of two renowned Orthodox saints, Cuthbert and Bede!
Having taken over the chain of 23 SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) bookshops from the Anglicans in November 2006, we are now transforming them into shops where Orthodox literature, icons and the like are readily available to England's tourists and the broader public.
As you can see from our website, the book shops are situated adjacent to some of England's most beautiful cathedrals and are themselves situated in historic buildings.
England offers breathtaking scenery, mild summer weather and most importantly, the opportunity to live and work in an English-speaking environment hungry for the True Faith.
Could I respectfully ask Your Eminence to please extend an invitation to the people in Your Eminence's Episcopacy, who have a missionary zeal for Orthodoxy (at least 18 years of age) to work for 2 to 10 weeks this coming summer? We can provide accommodation (in the homes of local Christians) and with the Lord's blessing, a rewarding experience of a lifetime.
In Christ,
Mark Brewer
P.S. Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust is a registered charity in the U.K. (#1109008). Information about the Trust can be found at this link: http://www.ststephentrust.org.uk/index.html. The bookshops website is www.spckonline.com
P.P.S. Our "sister" charity in the United States, The Orthodox Christian Mission Fund of Houston, Texas is tax-exempt under §501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Tax-deductible donations may be made to defray the costs of travel to England for this missionary project, and if made for that purpose, should be so earmarked. Of course, tax-payers should always consult their own tax-professional or other service provider for advice on tax-deductibility issues.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
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7 comments:
This is a brilliant opportunity! Thanks for sharing this, Mira. The SPCK shops are amazing, and I had the privilege of visiting many of them when I lived over there. Most of them are very high quality booksellers.
Mira, could you tell us a few more details, like whether or not it's full or part time or the flights are paid for and such? What locations are available? Do we get randomly placed or can we request work in a specific city? It's probably a bit much for me to be doing with a new baby but if Greg and I can combine holiday with helping out that might be really neat.
the American tax break via Houston probably won't apply to Canadians....
widgetokos.
so cute.
as the 'widget' will be, I'm sure :):)
Do you know what the dates are? I'm already in England and I should have a couple weeks in June I can commit before I return home. Cheers.
To answer some of the posted questions, Saint Stephen would most like full-time workers,
but part-time applicants will be considered. Available dates range throughout the late spring and into the fall. Applicants may state available dates and we will coordinate something. Just contact Nola, the recruitment coordinator: winans@bplaw.com.
Has anyone here been following developments since Mark Brewer put out this thoroughly disingenuous call for volunteers to help in the shops?
Brewer is now in deep trouble with the Texas Bankruptcy Courts for filing for bankruptcy in bad faith, members of the Orthodox Church in the UK have publicly disowned him and his disgraceful treatment of his staff simply beggars belief.
Would someone like to pass this information on to Archbishop Nicolae? If Brewer comes under the Archbishop's jurisdiction then some sort of disciplinary action is clearly called for; if he doesn't, then the Archbishop would do well to publicly distance himself from this shabbiness before it brings the entire Orthodox edifice into disrepute...
SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info
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