Clergy Financial Wellness in Focus at Fall Synaxis
More than 80 clergy of the Orthodox Church in America took part in the Office of Pastoral Life’s Fall Synaxis on Tuesday, September 16, which featured Archpriest Stephen Vernak as keynote speaker.
Father Stephen, parish priest of Christ the Savior Church in Harrisburg, PA, and program director of the Office of Pastoral Life’s Financial Health Initiative, delivered a talk titled “Clergy Financial Health: Strengthening Our Ministry.” He highlighted financial well-being as a vital concern for clergy and their families, addressing not only practical issues of money management but also stewardship, wellness, and household management.
Drawing on personal and pastoral experience, Father Stephen spoke candidly about both the blessings and challenges of clergy family life.
After the keynote, participants joined facilitated breakout groups for peer learning and reflection. Discussion topics included family of origin attitudes toward money, parish and diocesan culture around financial conversations, spousal involvement in clergy financial health, aspirations for financial wellness, and the role of deacons as observers and advocates of parish financial realities.
The Synaxis is a quarterly online gathering that offers clergy across the Orthodox Church in America opportunities for support, learning, and shared reflection.
For more information on Synaxis and other Office of Pastoral Life programs, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or visit opl.oca.org.
About the Office of Pastoral Life
The Orthodox Church in America’s Office of Pastoral Life supports the well-being of clergy and their families, the foundation of parish life across North America. Believing the health of the Church is inseparable from the health of her clergy, the Office offers programs that build resilience, connection and pastoral joy. Programs include Thriving in Ministry peer-learning groups, Financial Health Initiatives, quarterly Synaxis Gatherings, National Clergy Retreats and Clergy Wives Ministry. In partnership with bishops, dioceses, parishes and our generous donors, the Office of Pastoral Life helps create sustainable conditions in which priests, deacons and their families of the Orthodox Church in America can flourish spiritually, vocationally and personally through every season of parish ministry.