Leadership

Reaching Out to Strengthen Faith

Even with a degree in opera performance from Boston University, Jean Mosessian, choir director at the St. David Armenian Church of Boca Raton, FL, welcomes any help in improving her skills or those of her fellow choir members.

A mortgage broker by profession, she stepped up to lead the choir early in 2003. In March she was one of a handful of Florida Armenians to take part in a training session for choir directors, organists, and deacons organized by the Eastern Diocese.

“I want more help, because we need it,” said Ms. Mosessian. “If we can’t learn to do what we need to do, our choirs are always going to sound the way they have sounded.”

Strengthening Parishes

In 2003 the Diocese and the Association of Armenian Church Choirs of America (AACCA) sent clergy and lay experts to regional workshops – in Boca Raton, FL; White Plains, NY; Houston, TX; Washington, DC; and Worcester, MA – aimed at improving the celebration of the badarak.

At the workshops, choir members developed a deeper appreciation of what they had to do to be more responsive to the conductor. Organists discussed musical communication issues. Deacons covered their role in the Divine Liturgy, and studied the words and rituals of the service.

“We want to create a uniform type of celebration of the badarak in the Diocese, because you go from one parish to another and there is a big difference,” said Fr. Untzag Nalbandian, the Diocese’s director of youth and education. “Everything we can do to assist and support the parishes helps.”

Besides spending time with experts, workshop participants also received a variety of materials to further their education on their own.

Reaching the Youth

Also taking its show on the road in 2003 was the Armenian Church Youth Organization of America (ACYOA), which sponsored regional conferences on faith and chapter development in Cheltenham, PA; Chicago, IL; Worcester, MA; and Jacksonville, FL.

The conferences featured presentations by clergy, Diocesan staff, and lay leaders, on the mission of the ACYOA, remaining Christian in a non-Christian world, and chapter health. A total of 105 participants from 22 parishes attended the four regional conferences.

“The conference really made me think about how I can help improve my parish and how I can improve personally as a Christian,” said Danielle DerAsadourian, 18, from St. James Church of Evanston, IL.

The positive response ensures the workshops will continue in the future.

“Events like these are essential to help strengthen youth involvement in the church,” said ACYOA participant Vicken Bazarbashian, of the St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Church of Wynnewood, PA.