Fr. Peter Kavanaugh offers guidance on how to address some of the challenging questions with which parents will be faced.

On today’s episode, Melissa Elizabeth Naasko interviews Casey Kassiani Newman, an iconographer, mother, and wife of a deacon . She maintains her studio, Kassiani’s Art Studio from which she produces icons and children’s art and iconography educational materials. She is the creator of the incredibly helpful Sparks4Orthodox materials for children.

Kassiani’s Art Studio on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/kassianis.art.studio?igsh=M3g3emZ3dDBveWh4

Sparks4Orthodox Website

https://sparks4orthodoxkids.com/

Sparks4Orthodox on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/sparks4orthodox?igsh=cnlyamFodnlnajRn

Fr. Ignatius Green reflects on the importance of and need for beauty. Fr. Green is St. Emmelia's Spiritual Advisor for the OCA.

Amanda Chagnon is a wife and mother of three who is now using her professional experience as a nurse to care for her medically fragile child. She talks with Melissa Elizabeth Naasko about the joys and challenges in homeschooling with chronic illness.

In this episode, Fr. Noah Bushelli (Saint Emmelia Ministries Director) joins Mindi to discuss the spiritual aspects of reading, especially selecting books.

Books mentioned:

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

The Cosmere series (and other works) by Brandon Sanderson

The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin

The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Fr. Peter Kavanaugh offers suggestions for helping our children to form good Orthodox friendships.

On today’s episode, Melissa talks with Steve Christoforou. Steve’s smile and friendly voice is familiar to Orthodox youth and their families because of his incredibly popular Be the Bee internet series and the accompanying Bee Retreats. Melissa and Steve talk about the positive and the many negatives of engagement with social media. Recently, Steve has made an intentional effort to reduce the role that social media plays in his life and he shares the way he’s managed it and the positive effect this had in his life. These days, Steve is the Director of Operations and Community Engagement of FOCUS North America, an organization dedicated to helping Orthodox Christians serve the needy.

Among the many books mentioned are:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Wave Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Billy Summers by Stephen King

How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer

Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevski

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

AND MANY MORE!

Fr. Peter Kavanaugh offers suggestions for the challenges of Orthodox dating.

Two of our Summer 2023 interns join Mindi for a discussion about favorite books and how their parents helped them learn how to love good literature.

The books discussed are:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodr Dostoevsky 

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

Fahrenheit 451 and Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom