St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Norwich, CT has indeed been a very active little parish that is growing spiritually and physically. There has been much activity over the past few months. Having come to the middle of the Winter Season, the faithful parishioners of St. Nicholas are always doing something to maintain and build up the Body of Christ at their beloved parish. 

We began the fall, with the opening of Church School. This year is a blessing as we are blessed to have 11 Children enrolled in our Church School Program. That is 5 more than last year. This is due to the new families that have joined our parish. To start off our Church School Year, we held a special Moleben Service on Sunday September 9th following the Divine Liturgy in which the children, their families, and the Church School Teachers participated. Following the Moleben, everyone enjoyed an afternoon Picnic filled with food, fun, and fellowship. Everyone had such a great time that there is already talk and discussion about the End-of-the-Year Picnic. As for future activities for our Church School, we have Youth Sunday on the First Sunday of every month in which the Children participate in the Divine Liturgy with reading the Hours and Epistle, doing the Collection, Holding the Communion Cloth, as well as other responsibilities that are usually fulfilled by adults. Also, in the near future we are going to introduce Family Nights in which we will come together as a family and play games, watch movies and have plenty of Christian Fellowship. We are also going to introduce monthly Pot-Luck Dinners.

We are also planning our Annual Bowling Outing with the children of our parish as well as a Lenten Retreat, and a Church School Lock-In on Good Friday Night where the children will keep Vigil in front of The Tomb of Our Lord. Along with the Church School, our parish is growing in numberJJ Over the past few months, 5 new families have joined the parish bringing with them their own eagerness, excitement, love, faith, and dedication and commitment to grow in faith and in love! We also have growth within our Choir. The Choir, under the direction of Matushka Katia Vansuch has a total number of 11 dedicated members who faithfully come each week to the Choir Rehearsals as well as bring peace, joy, and prayer to all of the Liturgical Services. Not only do they practice each week for the weekly services but also they also are learning new music to sing during the Divine Liturgy and Vespers. Look for a concert in the near future.

We had our Annual Fall Festival and recently we had our Christmas Bake Sale in which both were very successful. At these fundraisers, we sold our Homemade Pierogies, Stuffed Cabbage, and Borscht along with a Bake Sale Table, Country Store, and Religious Store. We also had Vendors at this year’s Festival, which was an addition. These events were indeed enjoyed by all!!

As these are only two of the many fundraisers that we do here at St. Nicholas, we look to them as an opportunity to reach out to our community by providing for them a taste of who we are as Orthodox Christians.

In the fall, we also had a major project at our church in which we had the installation of a new furnace and chimney lining for the Church! In order to assist with the finances for this major project, we established a Furnace Fund which is very successful!

We also had the Christmas Stocking Project in which the Children of the Church School sold Christmas Stockings to hang on the walls in the Church Hall - this was indeed another successful event for our parish. We also had the Annual Nativity Eve Holy Supper which was well attended.

With the New Year, we are now planning for our Annual Pascha Bake Sale which will be held on Saturday March 22!! Look for the flyer in the near future. We are also planning many other activities that will occur within the life of our parish over the next few months.  We are also continuing our mission work with collecting food and clothing for the Homeless on a regular basis.

We, here at St. Nicholas continue to work hard and work together so that, God Willing, each year we will continue to grow in our life, mission, and activities here at St. Nicholas. However, as always, we must be patient and follow GOD’S Voice and allow HIM to guide us.

So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, even though St. Nicholas Church in Norwich, CT may be small in number, we are growing and we are growing together and you can see that there is much activity within the life of our beloved parish and as always, there is much more for us to do!

Thank you for allowing us to share with you our Life and Mission here at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Norwich, CT!