THIS WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sunday,  March 19, 2023
Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross

 
Sunday,  March 19^th
Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross
8:15am Orthros
9:30am Divine Liturgy
Oratorical Festival after Services
5pm Lenten Vespers at our Holy Trinity Cathedral
 
Monday, March 20^th
5pm – Great Compline
 
Tuesday, March 21^st
5pm – Great Compline
5:30pm Philoptochos Meeting with Guest Speaker
“Women and Children at Risk”
 
Wednesday, March 22^nd
5pm Presanctified Divine Liturgy
5:30pm - 7pm  Greek School
8pm  Adult Greek School
 
Thursday, March 23^rd
5pm Great Compline
7pm - 8pm  Bible Class
8pm Adult Greek School
 
Friday, March 24^th
8:15am Presanctified Divine Liturgy
11am Bible Class
7pm –  Great Vespers and 4^th Salutations to the Theotokos
 
Saturday, March 25^th
Annunciation/Greek Independence Day
8:15am Orthros
9am  Divine Liturgy
6pm  Vespers
 
Seven-Year Memorial Service for Alexandros “Al” Orosz with Flowers and Coffee Hour
on behalf of his wife, Peggy Orosz and Family.
May his memory be eternal.
 
Nine-Year Trisagion Service for Mahari Haile with Coffee Hour
on behalf of his wife, Neghisti Haile.
May his memory be eternal.
 
14-Year Trisagion Service for Michael Dimopoulos
on behalf of his wife, Kalliope Dimopoulos and Family.
May his memory be eternal.

Philoptochos Ladies will be passing a tray for Holy Cross School of Theology today. All monies will be sent to the National Philoptochos towards supporting our Holy Cross School that educates our future priests.  Thank you.
 
We will be hosting the Lenten Vespers Service this evening at 5pm with all the neighboring Orthodox Churches.  Our Guest Speaker will be Fr. Theodore Petrides from Sts. Constantine & Helen Church in Reading, PA.  After the service we will be hosting a fellowship hour in the Hall with a meal and pastries.  Please make plans to come and stay.  Also, for those ladies who wish to bring a fasting meal, please do so. Thank you.
 
Last Sunday, March 12^th  after the Hierarchical Liturgy, we had a fundraiser Luncheon in the Hall for our Holy Cross Theology School in Boston. We are extremely grateful to our Metropolitan Savas for His inspiring words in all the Services and especially for His support to the fundraiser during last weekend. Dr. Beck, Professor of New Testament  and the three seminarians all spoke about the School. There are some exciting changes to the School, and I will have this information in the Source. On behalf of our Parish Council and our entire Community I would like to thank Angie Megoulas & Anna Ntzanis along with Maria & Melissa Kotsalos, Tom & Athena Balafoutas and Tom & Anna Mallios for making a beautiful and plentiful lunch for all that stayed for the luncheon. I also would like to thank the GOYAns, ladies & men that set up the hall for the luncheon.  Our  GOYANS served the head table and along with our Philoptochos ladies all the tables in the Hall.  They did a beautiful job.

I also would like to thank all the Organizations and individual faithful for their generous contributions and supporting remarks for our School. Everyone was earnest and thoughtful towards our only Greek Orthodox Seminary in America. I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart.  We were able to collect  more than $9,300 from donations. I would like to continue the appeal this week including next Sunday to collect more donations from our Parishioners who were unable to attend the luncheon and perhaps reach or possibly surpass a total of $10,000.   It was an extremely busy weekend, and everything came together and went smoothly with God’s grace. Glory to God!!! Thank you!!!
 
Pastitsio for the Festival will be made on Saturday & Sunday, April 1st & April 2nd starting at 9am.  George Spanos is the chairperson for this item. Please come and help.
 
Bookstore news:   The Bookstore is open on Sundays after Church. This is a special ministry in our Cathedral. There are many inspirational books, holy icons and other items that you may wish to buy for your home or give as gifts especially now during the Great Lent. Please come by and see our bookstore. There is a nice variety of items.
 
Greek Independence Day Celebration with luncheon next Sunday, March 26^th. Early bird tickets for luncheon are $20 and on March 26^th it will cost $25 per person. Children 12 & under will have free pasta with marinara.  Tickets are on sale in the hall.
 
Icons for sponsorship.  If you want to sponsor one of the Holy Icons or you know of someone who would like to sponsor one, please let me know asap.  Please call me at 717-818-1160 or email me at frmichael@holytrinityhbg.org.  Our Church is adorned with these beautiful Holy new icons. It is the House of the Lord with His Saints praying for us!  Please see the list of icons that are available in the Narthex.
 
Please fill out your Stewardship Pledge for 2023 with careful and prayerful consideration and please return it to the Church Office if you haven’t already done so. Since the Stewardship Budget for 2023 Stewardship year is 4% more than 2022 Stewardship year and the inflation is more than 8%, we are hoping for you to consider those factors and add your generosity in consideration accordingly. In fact, we are looking for the average pledge to be a little over $1,250 for the year. It can only be possible with your help and support. May our Lord bless each and every one of you and your families.  We should all try to support the Cathedral, as the Church should be our charity priority. To go online for your stewardship please use this link:

https://www.eservicepayments.com/cgi-bin/Vanco_ver3.vps?appver3=wWsk24ZWJSTZKsGd1RMKlg0BDvsSG3VIWQCPJNNxD8upkiY7JlDavDsozUE7KG0nFx2NSo8LdUKGuGuF396vbSr_Ti-mK6rPUZPQhXZWa0yXHubq5Z7ap5JVmPErc4ZeYHCKCZhESjGNQmZ5B-6dx8iPQSt7DRZ9l76pVvnsE7A=&ver=3
  
Stewardship Pledge:  You can find stewardship cards in the Narthex and in the Church Office.  As of 2/27/23 - 248 families have pledges, which is 49% of our families. The actual pledges are $217,534 at 43%. We thank all the families that have pledged so far for 2023 and may the blessings of the Lord always be with you and all in your families.
 
ALL Scholarships are available on the ledge by the Office. High School Seniors and College students please take what pertains to you. Correction:  For the Papoutsis Scholarship please find it on the ledge or reach out to:     Jamie Rockmore at jamiepapoutsis@yahoo.com.
 
2023 FESTIVAL SAVE THE DATE  - May 19, 20, 21 2023 - OPA!  Our Annual PA Greek Fest will be held the weekend of May 19th in 2023.  Please save the weekend and keep it free from other activities so you are available to help.  In particular, we need you to take off on Friday, so we have enough help on the first day. 
 
2023 Festival Baking Schedule –  
Pastitsio (George Spanos) Weekend of April 1^st-2^nd; 
Mousaka (George Spanos) Weekend of April 22^nd-23^rd; 
Kourambiedes (Donna Graham) Saturday, April 29^th; 
Baklava (Loukia Balafoutas) Saturday May 6^th and Monday-Wednesday May 8^th-May 10^th .
Cupping/Boxing – Monday and Tuesday, May 15^th & 16^th.
  
To cut down on printing and postage of unwanted documents, please contact the church office (717-763-7441) by phone or email (treasurer@holytrinityhbg.org) if you would like an end of year statement for tax purposes.  We can forward one to you via email or mail. 
 
Philoptochos will be making tsourekia for Easter. They are taking orders in the Hall.  Baking for Tsourekia for Easter will be Tuesday, April 4th starting at 9:00 am till finished. Pick up will be available on Wednesday, April 5th at 11:15-1:15 and 4:00-6:00 pm in the Church Social Hall.   Also Thursday, April 6th at 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm. We will also sell on Palm Sunday after Church April 9^th. 
 
 On Saturday, of Lazarus, April 1^st, 2023, the Sunday School children will be preparing lunch bags for the Homeless to be delivered on Western Easter. This project is for children in Kindergarten to 8^th grade who are not preparing crosses for Palm Sunday. The children from Kindergarten till 4^th grade will be decorating the lunch bags and grades 5^th to 8^th will be preparing the sandwiches and putting them in the bag with cupcakes, chips, candy and fruit. All others will be making palms with the adults.