Holiday Food Drive

Once again, Nativity of Christ is participating in the Food: The Perfect Gift drive to raise funds and food for the Marin Food Bank. I hope you will join me in this effort to help thousands in San Francisco and Marin who are at risk of going hungry this holiday season. With your help, the Food Bank will distribute food for holiday meals to more than 3,000 Marin households during the holidays.

The Food Bank supplies food to local non-profit organizations that serve thousands of families, seniors, children and individuals. Here are two shocking facts about hunger in Marin:

• The majority of people receiving food assistance are not homeless. Over 60% of the clients who rely on the Food Bank live in homes with at least one working adult. They are working poor families and senior citizens whose incomes cannot stretch to pay basic living expenses and buy food.
• Children in our city are particularly at risk – one in five children in Marin is not getting enough food to eat.

This is an excellent chance to make a difference in our community and I encourage you to be part of this important effort.

Here are ways to help!

Donate Funds**: Visit http://holidaydrive.marinfoodbank.org/team/4765657894 to make an online donation.  You can also donate by check.  Write a check to the Marin Food Bank and put it in the offering plate or send it to the office. **With every dollar donated, the Food Bank can distribute $6 worth of food to those in need.

Donate non-perishable foods: Food Bank barrels are located in the Narthex and in the Fellowship Hall.  The Food Bank particularly needs the following items:

Tuna & Canned Meat
Cereal
Peanut Butter
Beans, Rice, Pasta
Soups & Stews
100% Fruit Juice
Canned Fruits & Vegetables
No glass, please

Help Spread the Word:Holiday_Food_Drive1.PDF Forward this email to friends and family and encourage them to donate.

Thank you in advance for your help! Together, we can no one goes hungry this holiday season.

2011 Community Christmas Card

We are once again producing a Community Christmas Card to spread the good news and greetings of Christ’s birth to families, individuals and friends throughout our community.  The proceeds of this card will benefit the RCA (Retired Clergy Association) Benevolence Fund.  This group is made up of Retired Clergy and widowed Presbyteres who are currently receiving very minimal or no monthly pensions.  We are requesting a minimum donation of $20 to include your name in the 2011 Community Christmas Card.  Please send your response form ( 2011_community_Christmas_card_flyer.pdf ) to the Church Office, Attn: Christmas Card Committee, by November 23, 2011.

Fr. Luke Palumbis named Priest at Nativity of Christ

Dear Parishioners of our Nativity of Christ Church,
As the date of Father Constantine’s retirement grows closer, we are pleased to convey to you that His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos, has officially appointed Fr. Luke Palumbis to serve as the new priest and pastor of our Nativity of Christ Parish.  Father Luke is currently serving the Saint Basil Greek Orthodox Church in Stockton, CA. 
We are confident you will be pleased with the Metropolitan’s choice of Father Luke and equally confident you will find him to be a loving, caring, and pious parish priest.  Father Luke and his Presbytera Eleni have two young children, Panagioti, 5 years old, and Nikola, 2 years old. 
The transition between Father Constantine’s retirement on August 28th and Father Luke’s officially designated starting date of October 1st has not been completely established.  The Metropolitan’s current plan is to bring in an interim priest, Father Sotirios Rousakis, to celebrate Divine Liturgy on Sundays and special feast days during the month of September, and any scheduled sacraments. 
Further information will be provided as we learn of final scheduling for the transition period.
Faithfully in Christ,
Fr. Constantine and Peter Eliades, Parish Council President

Father Constantine to Retire

After serving 27 years as parish priest of the Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church, located in Novato, Reverend Constantine Efstathiu will be retiring on August 28, a date that also marks the 45th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.  After presiding over the Sunday Divine Liturgy, he will be honored by the parish at a luncheon and reception sponsored by the Ladies Philoptochos Society of the church.  In the evening the church parish council will host a Celebratory Banquet in Father Constantine’s honor.

Father Constantine, a native of Los Angeles, graduated from the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, in 1965.  Following graduation, he and his wife, Kay, nee Stylianopoulos, of Seattle, Washington, were married.  They traveled to Greece where Father did graduate work at the University of Thessalonica Theological School for one year.  Upon their return to the United States, he was ordained a deacon on August 27, 1966, at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles, and a priest on August 28, 1966 at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church in Pasadena.  He served as an assistant priest for one year at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in San Francisco, and in 1967 was assigned to the St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church in Stockton, where he served 17 years before being appointed to succeed Father James Adams, the Marin church’s first parish priest, who was transferred to Los Angeles to serve the St. Sophia Cathedral parish. 

During his tenure at Nativity of Christ Church, Father Constantine has focused on the Liturgical life of the Church, the Sunday School program and related youth activities, stewardship, missions, outreach, and philanthropy.  Under the Petaluma resident’s watch, the church membership grew to 300 plus families and the Sunday School expanded to more than 100 children.  While serving in Marin, Father Constantine oversaw the building of the parish’s 400-seat Community Center.  The new facility enabled the church-sponsored Marin Greek Festival to move from the Marin Civic Center to the parish grounds, and provided a basketball court for Marin youth leagues and a welcoming space for parish fellowship.  A priest who believes in giving to the community, Father Constantine has inspired the parish to make philanthropy a substantial line item in the ministry budget and to give a percentage of the earnings of the annual Marin Greek Festival to a local charity.  A few of the Marin organizations who have benefitted are the Novato Youth Center, Marin Advocates for Children, Marin Food Bank, and most recently, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Bay.  Fundraising for mission work in Africa, Central America, and Albania has been a cornerstone of each Lenten season during Father Constantine’s ministry.  The consecration of the church edifice, a major milestone in the life of the parish and an occasion requiring more than a year of extensive preparation, took place in 2003 under Father Constantine’s guidance.

Peter Eliades, Parish Council President, echoes the sentiments of the parish community, saying, “Our Parish of The Nativity of Christ approaches Father Constantine Efstathiu’s retirement with such bittersweet emotions.  The love and spiritual guidance he has offered each and every parishioner will be sorely missed, as will his heartfelt spirituality as evidenced every Sunday while presiding over the Divine Liturgy.  On the other hand, we are so happy that his hectic everyday schedule will be greatly eased, and he will have the opportunity to spend more time with Presbytera Kay and their beloved family.”

When asked about his impending retirement, Father Constantine responded: “I have many mixed emotions, of course.  I’m extremely grateful to God for His many and bountiful blessings and for the privilege to serve Him as a priest these past 45 years.  I’m deeply indebted to my wife, Kay for her love and unflagging support in my ministry.  I’m also very grateful for the love and respect of the parish and of the many parishioners whom over the years I have had the privilege to work with and serve.  I pray the parish will show my successor the same love and respect they have shown me and my family.  By God’s grace, I hope to continue to serve the Lord as He sees fit.  I’m retiring not from the priesthood but from the everyday responsibilities of the parish.  It is time to turn the reins over to younger hands.”

At Father Constantine’s celebration of 40 years in the priesthood, the Marin parish gave him a trip for two to Greece, which Father and Presbytera Kay will take in September, an encore to the honeymoon trip they made to Greece in 1965. 

Friends of the parish are welcome to partake of the retirement festivities by attending the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, August 28, followed by a reception on the deck.  Reservations may be made by calling the church office at 415-883-1998.