2015 ACM Summer Newsletter
Monday, July 27, 2015 In this Issue:
- · 10 Years of ACM in Annapolis: Why it Matters!
- · New Study Released by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops on College Ministry!
- · Ninth Year of Plebe Summer Ministry at the USNA!
- · Outreach to students in Moldova through OCMC
- · Your Support is Critical to this Ministry!
Completing 10 Years of Ministry at the U.S. Naval Academy and St. John’s College
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! ACM is getting ready for our eleventh year of ministry to begin this Fall semester. In our swiftly-changing culture with its evolving and increasingly relativistic morality, ACM continues to offer the students at St. John’s and the midshipmen at the USNA a life-line, connecting them to the timeless and unchanging truth of Christ, the fullness of the life in Him found in His holy Orthodox Church.
The pressures from secularism, relativism, and pluralism, are affecting those in the Church who don’t understand the dangers that the “new morality” and relativism pose for today’s college students, most of whom are far more influenced by their peers and the desire to “fit in” than they are by the Church. For this reason, ACM offers students and midshipmen the opportunity not only to “stay connected” with the Church but to grow in their faith in Christ, to wrestle with applying the life in Christ to their daily lives, and to address the many challenges they face as they grapple with our culture and the godlessness that surrounds them.
New Study Findings by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North America
A new study just released by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops stresses these points:
Similiarly to their non-Orthodox peers, they (Orthodox students) are naturally tempted to experiment with and to pick and choose among myriads (of) religious spiritual options offered on the vast American cultural market. And this explains the well known fact that the time in college is a period when many young Orthodox people cease their church participation. Indeed, being taken away from the home parish communities, focusing on academic studies, meeting new friends, engaging in new activities, and most importantly being surrounded 24/7 mainly by non-Orthodox persons, many Orthodox students simply drift away from the Church. In this regard, the need for efficient and engaging Orthodox campus ministry (i.e. OCF) is difficult to overestimate as it is an important way to keep Orthodox college students in the bosom of the Church.
;)