Twelfth Parish Development Forum to be Held in Palos Hills IL, July 9-11
The Diocese of the Midwest announced today that the 2026 Parish Development Forum will be held at Saint Luke’s Church in the Chicago suburb of Palos Hills, IL. The Forum will begin at 1:00 PM Thursday July 9 and conclude before noon on Saturday July 11, 2026.
The Parish Development Forum is a clergy and laity conference dedicated to exploring the challenges facing contemporary Orthodox parishes, delivering actionable ideas and good practices valuable to parish leaders, and creating mutually supportive relationships among participants.
“The 2026 Forum theme will be “St. Tikhon’s Vision for the Church in America: An Experiment for Parish Life”, noted Archpriest Stephen Frase, Clergy Chairperson for the Forum. “Saint Tikhon was a transforming figure for Orthodoxy in America following his arrival to America in 1898. He found a fledgling Church operating under significantly different conditions than in historically Orthodox countries. What he encouraged was, in many ways, an ecclesial experiment—faithful to Orthodox Tradition, yet, adapted to a radically new social environment. His vision and important contributions included an emphasis on English language worship, active lay ministry, conciliar parish and Church governance and leadership, a missional expansion of Orthodoxy through extensive parish planting, an emphasis on adult faith education and laying a foundation for a unified, local, self-governing Church in America. Principles that continue to be significant for today’s American parishes.”
“This will be the twelfth Parish Development Forum,” said Joseph Kormos, Forum Lay Chairperson. “While no Forum was held in 2025 due to the OCA’s 21st All-American Council, the 2024 Forum attracted an active group of parish leaders from six OCA Dioceses, the Antiochian Archdiocese, the Greek Archdiocese, and from Ukrainian Orthodox parishes in the US and Canada. The agenda will include keynote presentations, facilitated small group discussion, time to forge interparish connection and relationships and daily worship. Keynote contributors will include Professor Scott Kenworthy, historian and author of a recent book on the life of Saint Tikhon, Archpriest Alexander Rentel, former OCA Chancellor and Professor at Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Father Nicholas Anton of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops in America and others.
“Our Chicago location provides an excellent conference setting. The host parish is 22 minutes from Chicago Midway Airport and ten minutes from I-294. Over half of the OCA’s parishes are within a manageable drive of the site,” noted Mr. Kormos.
Forum registration will be online only and will begin in mid-May. To maintain an atmosphere of fellowship and dialogue among attendees, registration will be limited to 80 persons. A block of rooms has been reserved at a local hotel at special Forum rates.
Questions and enquiries may be directed to Mr. Kormos at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).