The St. Michael Banquet

Putting on a banquet for the parish feast day is quite an event of its own. Many details need to have been worked out in order to assure by preparedness that this anticipated dinner will be a happy occasion for all in attendance. I'm happy to report that everything was at it's finest.

The head table, or featured quests and speakers included: the president of the council member's of the church of St. Michael, Spiro Thomo. Our parish Pastor, the V. Rev. Hiromonk Peter Preble, visiting priest Fr. John Daly of St. Nicholas Church, His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae Condrea, and Mr. Walter Haddad, president of the council of Eastern Orthodox churches of Worcester, who in turn, addressed us with a brief presentation.

The meal, organized by Henrietta Panu, delicious and most appropriate for November, was a turkey dinner with all the fixings. Served on eloquent white dinnerware, which included heavy flatware and brown cloth napkins. Centerpieces of colored gourds complimented the other harvest arrangements in the hall, which were provided by Linda Nizamoff.

Family and friends from St. Michael and St. Nicholas parish, filled the Romanian hall almost to capacity. The sunny but brisk day, added to the ambience of what has become a rich tradition which spans many generations. Next month, we will participate in the feast day of St. Nicholas, which usually follows a joint Liturgy and consists of a fish dinner, due to pre-Christmas fasting regulations.

A large screen in the room, entertained us with photos of the more recent happenings at our church, featuring many happy and successful events. Although our church events are filled with mostly seniors and older adults, we on occasion, have amongst our midst visitors of the "smallest" kind. To the right, on my page, you can see Ryan, two months old, taking it all in. He chose to be present with little notice, but we all know, that if he wanted to, he could have made his presence well known. He did not go unnoticed though, and we would like to thank Carol Porra, for the fine photo of him, and the many others that she takes as unofficial or official, photographer of our church.

Spiro said profoundly, as he did last year, that the holiday's are just ahead and wished us well in the New Year.

We have a lot to be thankful for-- each other, and, for a tradition that has brought us together to celebrate the feast day of St. Michael, our parish nameday, our love, faith and, our wonderful church.