Sunday School News - October 2025
- Dr. Jane Brasko Kelly
- Sep 29
- 8 min read
Dear Sunday School Families,
We are so happy to have begun a new year of faith, learning, and community at Saint Luke Greek Orthodox Church! We are excited to experience another enriching year of Sunday School and look forward to partnering with you in nurturing the spiritual growth of our children.
This year, we are focusing on several key goals to strengthen our Sunday School program:
Increased Attendance: We want to see our classrooms full and vibrant each week. To help encourage regular participation, we are excited to announce the return of our Attendance Awards! Those with the most regular attendance will be recognized at the end of the school year in Church by Father Christ and our Sunday School teachers.
Communion for Students: Sunday School teacher and students will receive Holy Communion before the congregation. Teachers will come up before students. We ask that our teachers in our 3-year-old class through fifth grade go first, followed by our secondary teachers, and finally our students. This will prevent students from arriving before our teachers, which is a safety issue. Allowing Sunday School students and staff to go first will help us to maximize their time in the classroom as well.
Parent Engagement: We welcome and encourage parents to take an active role in their children’s spiritual education. Whether it’s assisting with events, volunteering in the classroom, or simply staying informed, your involvement makes a difference! As Father Christ said in his September message to the parish, “Put the Divine Liturgy on the calendar before everything else. Arrive on time so the rhythm of the Liturgy gets a footing. Sit where they can see. The eyes of our youth engage when they can watch the clergy, readers, altar boys, and chanters.” Father Christ spoke to this and in his September Epistle message (see below)
Student Safety
The safety of our children is our top priority. While Saint Luke is a close-knit, loving, and welcoming community, recent events at Villanova and other tragedies remind us that even our area is not immune to emergencies. With that in mind, we are implementing several additional safety measures this year to ensure the safety of our students and staff. Rest assured, any discussions with students will be conducted in a manner that is age-appropriate and balanced. We are aware that these messages, drills, and practices are regularly discussed with our children at school; however, we also need to ensure their safety at Saint Luke.
Lockdown Magnets: Lockdown magnets are used in schools to secure classroom doors quickly during an emergency without the need for keys. The magnets cover the door's latch plate, preventing it from locking while the door remains closed. In a lockdown scenario, the teacher removes the magnet and closes the door, which then automatically latches, securing the room. his system saves precious seconds by eliminating the need to find keys or manually operate the lock, allowing for a faster and more effective lockdown response. If you are not familiar with these magnets, please watch this video.
New Pickup Procedures: Please note, dismissal time for all Sunday School classes, unless otherwise indicated, is 12 pm. Therefore, if Liturgy is over before noon, we hope that you will enjoy child-free fellowship with friends, family and other parishioners at coffee hour before arriving at the Sunday School classroom(s) for pick-up. If your child is to be picked up early, or, in the case of the older students, if your child will leave class early because of another Sunday commitment, please inform your child’s teacher prior to class. This year’s registration form asks parents/guardians to identify family or friends who are allowed to pick up their child after Sunday School. Although many faces are familiar at Saint Luke, dismissal time can be pretty busy. This change is just one more way we can work together to keep every child safe. Middle and high school students may continue to leave on their own, as in past years.
Safety Plan: We are working closely with the Marple-Newtown Police and the Marple-Newtown Fire Company to develop a clear evacuation plan in the event of a fire or other emergency that necessitates our departure from the building. Once the plan is finalized, we will conduct practice fire drills and lockdown drills with our students a couple of times a year. We will communicate these dates to both students and parents in advance. These drills ensure that both students and staff are familiar with emergency protocols, so that everyone remains safe and calm in the event of an emergency. Every classroom will be equipped with a map of the building that includes both primary and secondary escape routes.
Security Cameras: Cameras have been installed in the social hall, stairwells, and other areas of the church. We have asked the Parish Council to install six additional cameras, to be placed on both the first and second floor hallways at both ends, as well as on both floors of the stairwell that leads to the back door exit and the lawn on the right side of the church, where the cross stands.
Teacher Assignments
First Floor | Room Number | Teacher(s) |
3 year olds | Room 103 | Lisa Palmieri and Kathy Zarvalas |
Pre-K | Room 101 | Faithe Kalisperis and Marinela Tsapournas |
11th and 12th Grade | Room 100 | Danny Milinkovic and Evan Palmieri |
Second Floor | Room Number | Teacher(s) |
Kindergarten | Room 201 | Marilena Ristas and Helen Kopitas |
1st Grade | Room 205 | Thomas Ristas and Phoebe Harris |
2nd Grade | Room 203 | Eleni Kornblatt and Evie Karros |
3rd Grade | Room 202 | Sophia Tsakiris and Jennifer Kyriakodis |
4th Grade | Room 207 | Marina Despotopoulou |
5th Grade | Room 204 | Eleni Mironidis |
6th Grade | Room 200 | Sophia Milinkovic and Evie Touring |
7th and 8th Grade | Room 206 | Art Karros and George Kevgas |
9th and 10th Grade | Room 209 | Peter Pavlis |
Upcoming Dates
📅 October Schedule
October 5 Worship and Classes - Spark Sunday for all GOYA-aged students: “What does it mean to be an Orthodox Christian?”
October 12 Worship and Classes
October 19 Worship and Classes
October 26 Worship and Classes - Grandparents Sunday and Sunday School Open House. All parents and grandparents are invited to visit the Sunday School classrooms of their children and grandchildren at the end of Divine Liturgy.
🌟 Important Dates Ahead
November 9th: Godparents’ Sunday- invitations will be given by each teacher to students and their families
November 14–16th: GOYA Fall Retreat
March 1st: Sunday of Orthodoxy & Picture Day
March 7th: Trip to see Kardiotissa Weeping Icon and visit to Holy Protection Monastery
2025 FOCUS Back-to-School Backpack Fundraiser
It is with heartfelt gratitude and deep humility that we recognize the immense kindness and generosity of our St. Luke family, enabling us to raise $8,750.00 to provide 350 backpacks to children in the School District of Philadelphia, the Upper Darby School District, and the Chester Charter Scholars Academy. Thanks to you, we met our goal for 2025! Shall we aim for 400 backpacks next year? We are profoundly indebted to Father Christ for his leadership, support, and promotion of this important community outreach project. The success of our fundraising and the involvement of our St. Luke family were due to his blessed work.
While the backpacks and supply kits purchased from FOCUS for children in Philadelphia were sent directly to the District, our Sunday School students and their families came together following the Liturgy on Sunday, August 17, 2025 for a flash fill event to fill 85 backpacks with supply kits: 60 backpacks for the third grade classes at CCSA, while another 25 were designated for children in the Upper Darby School District. Our Sunday School students and families were energized by the project and their service was remarkable. We are gratified that our young people, their families, and our parishioners had an opportunity to see that the FOCUS Back-to-School Backpack program was about more than just raising money. It was also about service to those in greatest need. We celebrated the work of our donors and all those present with a pizza party, with promises to do this again next year. The backpacks were delivered to CCSA on Monday, August 18, 2025.
Special note: We were very blessed to meet a new community partner, John DeMasi, another worker in God’s Vineyard, who picked up the 25 backpacks from St. Luke’s to distribute to children in Upper Darby. Mr. DeMasi gave us a clearer picture of how much suffering and need exists within sections of Upper Darby, essentially our own back yard. Again, because of the kindness and unparalleled generosity of our St. Luke’s family, we were able to finish our 2025 FOCUS Backpack Initiative by sending an additional 48 backpacks directly to Mr. DeMasi for him to deliver to Stonehurst Elementary School in Upper Darby, one of the “toughest areas of Upper Darby, where the children have little chance of having a decent life”, according to Mr. De Masi. Thanks be to God for bringing John DeMasi and the struggling children in Upper Darby to our attention.
Sunday School Thanksgiving Outreach
Prior to mid-November, the St. Luke Sunday School hopes to once again collect Thanksgiving-themed paper plates, napkins, cups, tablecloths, aluminum pans, and serving spoons for a Thanksgiving meal for 300 incarcerated women at the Philadelphia Industrial Corrections Center (PICC). This annual Sunday School outreach to 300 women incarcerated on the Thanksgiving holiday is coordinated with the charity Why Not Prosper, which serves both presently and previously incarcerated women by offering them a hand up, not a hand out (https://www.why-not-prosper.org/). We are currently waiting for updated information from the prison about which items meet with their approval for donation. As soon as we receive that information, we will share that information with you, along with instructions about how to obtain the items, how to drop off the items, and how to sign-up to donate the items. Stay tuned!
2025 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival
The 2026 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival topics, tips, and resources have been released. We will include all of the topics in next month’s Epistle, but we have already given them to the teachers and to the families of 7th -9th graders (Junior Division), and 10th-12th graders (Senior Division). You may access this official Oratorical packet of information here:
Parents, please discuss this opportunity for your children to delve deeper into their faith by asking them to review the topics and by encouraging them to participate in the first step of the Oratorical Festival ladder, the St. Luke Parish Oratorical Festival. Further details will be forthcoming, but the parish festival is projected to take place in either February or March 2026. For questions about the Parish Oratorical Festival, please contact Art Karros, akarros@gmail.com.
Readers for Divine Liturgy
Please encourage your children to volunteer to read the Epistle or the Communion Prayer during Divine Liturgy. This is a great way for your child to become involved in the worship of our faith. We will send you the reading(s) ahead of time so that your child can practice and become comfortable with the texts beforehand. To volunteer your child, please contact our Directors at stlukesundayschool@gmail.com.
Please take a moment and read Father’s September Pastoral Message here, or at https://www.st-luke.org/pastoral-message
If you haven’t already done so, please register your child at
*For more news, visit the Sunday School website, https://www.ss.st-luke.org; stop by the Sunday School office; or contact us at stlukesundayschool@gmail.com (Jane Kelly, Panayota Kevgas, Sophia Milinkovic).
Thank you for partnering with us to create a safe, welcoming, and faith-filled Sunday School experience for all our children.
We are excited for the year ahead and look forward to growing together in faith and fellowship. Thank you for your continued support and for entrusting us with the spiritual education of your children.
In Christ’s Love,
The Saint Luke Sunday School Team
