Discover the Vibrant Community at Archangel Michael Orthodox Church!
Looking for a place where faith, fellowship, and meaningful connections come together? Archangel Michael Orthodox Church in Broadview Heights, Ohio offers a warm and welcoming environment filled with inspiring services, enriching programs, and exciting community events.
Explore Our Activities in 2024! Take a look at these reports to see the many ways you and your family can grow in faith, serve others, and build lasting friendships. From Sunday School and Book Club to youth groups, social gatherings, and outreach programs, there’s truly something for everyone!
Sunday School
Sunday School Director: Angelika Mindala
The 2024-2025 Sunday School year began on September 8, 2024, with a special blessing before the Divine Liturgy. We are thrilled to have over 80 students registered this year! Our dedicated team of 18 teachers—12 returning and a few transitioning to new classrooms—continues to guide and inspire our children.
We are especially proud to see 18 high school students actively participating in our High School program. As we move into the second half of the year, they will focus on a meaningful “Legacy” service project. Their involvement to lead community-building projects helps foster a sense of responsibility and belonging.
Brunch with Santa was a tremendous success, drawing over 200 attendees as we also joyfully celebrated Deacon Noah’s Ordination. Looking ahead, our annual Yolka will take place on Sunday, December 21, 2025. To help offset food costs, we intend to charge $10 per person, allowing us to continue covering 75% of expenses.
I’d like to take a moment to reaffirm our commitment to meeting the Board of Trustees requirement regarding background checks on teachers, substitutes, and teacher-helpers. This has sparked some discussion within our community, but its importance has been re-enforced to me by Father John and our Church President for insurance requirements. This is not my rule.
In alignment with the bylaws followed by Sunday schools across various Orthodox jurisdictions, we will continue ensuring that all students are placed in classes corresponding to their regular school grade levels. Additionally, we want to emphasize that we do not follow a rigid curriculum. Instead, we strive for transparency with our parish by clearly communicating what is being introduced and taught in our classrooms.
Thank you for your support and understanding as we navigate these important matters together.
Finally, we encourage your involvement—whether through teaching, organizing, or leading activities—as your time and talents are essential to the success of our program. Your ideas and suggestions are always welcome as we strive to shape a curriculum that best serves our community. Additionally, we invite you to encourage your children to actively engage in Sunday school by discussing lessons at home.
I believe that together, we can continue to build a thriving Sunday school program that nurtures the spiritual growth and development of our children. Let’s work hand-in-hand to create a lasting impact in our community!
Our Biggest Strengths:
- High Enrollment: We have 86 students, serving diverse age groups from infants to 12th graders.
- Dedicated Teachers: Our enthusiastic faculty is committed to exploring innovative curricula and engaging students.
New Ways to Grow:
- Play Room Concept: Create an interactive learning space for younger students.
- Legacy Projects: Implement meaningful projects for seniors to contribute to the community.
- Children’s Choir Expansion: Explore options to enhance musical expression.
- An Outdoor Pavilion and Playground: Provide additional spaces for engagement.
- Community Building Initiatives: Develop activities or events that foster relationships among students, parents, and teachers to enhance commitment to the program.
Areas of Improvement:
- Commitment Challenges: Conflicting schedules lead to inconsistent attendance.
- School Fatigue: Both students and staff face burnout from busy weekly schedules.
- Gradual Transition for High Schoolers: Graduates may feel uncertain about returning to Sunday school. Personalities and Relationship Dynamics also have played a role in some students desire to return.
Our Hardest Challenges:
- Resistance to Change: Pushback from individuals resistant to necessary changes and protocols is creating friction within the community.
- Time Constraints: A limited teaching window of just 20 minutes after communion, interrupted by coffee hour, restricts lesson depth and effectiveness.
- Disruptive Behavior: Managing disruptive behavior can hinder the learning environment, affecting the overall experience for all participants. This refers not just to students in the classroom, but once some classes have finished and others are still in session.
Communications Committee
Committee Members: John Mindala II, Phil Tesar, Nick Rolin, Matushka Jenn Klembara
Under the guidance of Fr. John Memorich, our team—consisting of John Mindala II, Phil Tesar, Nick Rolin, and Matushka Jenn Klembara—dedicates its time and talents to enhancing communication about the Church’s ministries, events, and the profound messages shared by our priest.
Over the past year, our committee has achieved the following:
Website Development and Maintenance:
- Continued backend development of the website, ensuring its health through regular plugin and server updates.
- Implemented Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices on various pages to improve search rankings.
New Website Features:
- Introduced a Questions & Answers section, organized by categories, accessed at: stmichaelscleveland.org/qa
- Launched a Scriptural Meditations section featuring reflections from Saints and Fathers of the Church. These meditations auto-populate and randomize on the website footer and are organized into categories. This is ongoing and will eventually feature it own stand-alone section
- Introduced the Icons of Our Church section, which digitally preserves and showcases the content of The Holy Icons book—that dates back to the early years of our iconography project.
Content Management:
- Hired a part-time person to input years of archived content from Word documents into the website and to create weekly updates inspired by “Sermon in a Nutshell” Facebook posts.
Charity Raffle:
- Researched and implemented a raffle platform, developed the backend interface for the inaugural Charity Raffle, and designed promotional graphics to boost awareness and donations.
Photo Gallery Integration:
- Developed a custom photo gallery that integrates with our existing Flickr account while maintaining consistency with our website’s template.
Social Media Growth:
- Increased engagement on Instagram through more frequent ‘Stories’ postings, shared meditations, and content highlighting popular feast days.
- Strengthened our YouTube presence by creating playlists, digitizing old VHS videos, and organizing existing content.
Other Key Projects:
- Continued regular Zoom meetings to discuss ongoing and upcoming initiatives.
- Maintained existing digital assets, including the parish TV for internal announcements and the outdoor digital sign.
- Published monthly issues of The Archangel newsletter.
We remain committed to leveraging technology and creativity to better connect our parish community and share the Church’s message with a wider audience.
Stream Team
Members: Phil Tesar, Cheryl Andrews, Connor Noll, Alyssa Rolin, Melissa Tesar
As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to our community and the world. For the safety and well-being of our parishioners, the decision was made to temporarily close our doors for in-person gatherings. But even as we faced these challenges, one thing remained clear: our commitment to staying connected as a faith family and continuing to share the message of hope and love through Jesus Christ.
To ensure that no one felt isolated or left behind during this time, we embraced technology and began live streaming our services. This was not just a temporary solution, but a way to reach those who couldn’t join us in person—whether because of health concerns, distance, or other reasons. Through the power of live streaming, we’ve been able to:
- Stay spiritually united, even when physically apart
- Share the Word of God with a wider audience, reaching parishioners both near and far
- Maintain a sense of community, with live interaction, prayer requests, and support
- Continue the tradition of worship, prayer, and fellowship that defines who we are as a parish family
Currently, our Stream Team consists of a dedicated team of parishioners, committed to bringing the Divine Liturgy and other services to the homes of many around the Country. This team includes Cheryl Andrews, Connor Noll, Alyssa Rolin, Melissa Tesar and Phil Tesar. Our team signs up for services that fit their schedule, typically operating the system at least one Sunday per month, and sometimes more. From our Studio in the back of the church, our main responsibilities include operating the video cameras, controlling the microphones for the choir, clergy and readers and ensuring the viewers at home feel like they are a part of the service. In addition, we maintain a large selection of equipment, extra microphones, cables, cameras and other items needed to adjust on the fly.
To date, we have streamed nearly 400 LIVE services – ranging from Divine Liturgies, Weddings, Funerals, Baptisms, Special Services, Lectures, Hierarchical Liturgies, Services of Great Lent and much more! We are always looking to add additional teammates to our Stream Team. If you are interested in learning more, or are just curious and want to sit in on a service and see how this all comes to fruition, please contact Phil Tesar ([email protected]).
Samaritans
Members: Kathy Kovalak, Pat Hanchuk, Liz Herberth, Fran Foster, Claudia Virostek, Mary Beth Lucak, Linda Kostura, Nancy Jackson, Cindy Toncic
St. Michael’s Samaritans have existed for about 50 years. Right now we only have 9 members. The Samaritans meet the second Wednesday of each month. We start at 9:30 with a molieben for the sick and shut-ins. Afterwords we assemble 100 bag lunches for St. Herman’s. They contain a ham sandwich, container of applesauce, spoon, bottle of water and cookies. Except for the ham, the items in the bags are all donated by the members of the Samaritans. They are then taken directly to St. Herman’s. After our project we enjoy a Lenten potluck and fellowship. During the Christmas season we pack and help deliver boxes of cookies to our parishioners who are 80 and over. A few of our members still make blankets for infants which are delivered to Metro Hospital.
Halos (Ages 3-12)
Halos Director: Sarah Mindala
Halo’s is a vital group in the life of the parish. We meet about 9-10 times throughout the year, with an average attendance of 35-40 people, including both adults and children. Our Christmas gathering is usually the largest, held in someone’s home, and typically sees around 50 parishioners and one special guest in red.
One of the main focuses of Halos is charity. We organize 3-4 service projects a year, which may include items like bagging candy after Halloween, collecting items for a ministry, or preparing bagged lunches for St. Herman’s during the Christmas or Easter season. Everyone is joyful about giving and pitching in to help. Recently, we have added serving at St. Herman’s in the summer and singing Christmas carols to neighbors during our annual Christmas party.
Organizing events can be tricky to ensure all age groups are included so it truly is a club the whole family can enjoy. Our events range from open gyms, jump yards, and pool parties to parents’ night out and even guest speakers from our parish sharing their professions with our kids. However, some families “age out” as it is not possible to cater to all ages. It would be wonderful to have another age group for 12-18year olds that could piggyback with our Halo’s, so families can still come to the gym together and have the older kids organized with more suitable activities. There is interest in this with talking to several parents, but the need for some organized leadership is required to get this effort moving in the right direction.
Funding for the church youth also needs a boost. Halo’s has a very limited pool of funds, primarily the income from coffee hour. We try to help subsidize the cost for parents when holding functions outside of the church to ensure everyone can attend, but these costs exceed our current coffee hour revenue. We appreciate the parents of Halo’s who continue to cover costs out of their pockets for food and crafts for the parish youth. After all donations and reimbursed expenses, we still operated at a loss this past year of $400.
Having three children actively involved in Halos and parish activities, I can see we are cultivating a love for God and the Church, as well as developing lifelong friendships. I have a vision to take Halos beyond its current state, but this requires more volunteers and time. My hope is the elders or the late teens/college students can look at helping with Halo’s as a way to volunteer in the Church. It takes a village to raise a child and the Halo’s gatherings can be a place all are welcome to help raise these children.
Lastly, I have enjoyed serving and dedicating many hours each month to cultivate fun and fellowship among the families in our church. It’s a wonderful church to call home.
Jr R Club (Ages 13-17)
Jr R Club Director: Nicholas Memorich
In the year 2024, the Junior R Club participated in Coffee Hour. The money that was put into the giving basket was given directly to various charity efforts that were ongoing in the church at the time. As we have no treasurer, no records were kept. It’s probably better that way. As the good book says, “give with your right hand so that your left hand does not know what your right hand is doing.” (Matthew 6:3)
We did not officially have members in the year 2024, and collected no dues. All kids of junior age (12-HS Senior) are welcome, and perhaps assumed to be a part of this club. Whether or not they participate is really the only thing that matters. For them to participate would require activities to participate in, and, to be honest, we really haven’t put much effort in creating those opportunities.
There were still some highlights to note.. 1.) We had good participation at the Lazarus Saturday church clean-up. 2.) Matushka Catrina Kovalak, and family, helped to dye eggs for Pascha (A Junior R Club tradition). 3.) A
large group joined the Kovalak family in a tradition of tomb hopping after Holy Friday services. 4.) Numerous Juniors from our church helped ready St. Vladimirs Camp for the camping season, and then participated at camp
as campers.
In the year 2025 we hope to be more of a presence in the church. Please pray for us.
Cleveland R Club (Ages 18+)
Spiritual Advisor: Fr. John Memorich
President: Lara Herzak
Immediate Past President: John Mindala
Vice President: Daniel Herzak
Secretary: Phil Tesar
Treasurer: Melissa Tesar
Membership: Karen Visocky
Sunshine Committee: Lara Herzak
For our first parish ministry report, I’d like to reflect on our contributions in 2024. Below is a list of events hosted by the R Club and its members last year, many of which are long-standing traditions. Since the founding of the FOCA in 1927 by our own Fr. Vladimir Prislopsky, who served our parish for 37 years, our chapter of the R Club has played a crucial role in supporting the health and vibrancy of our parish community.
We would greatly appreciate the support and participation of the Board and church leaders in these events and
activities. I encourage the Board to join the R Club and become active members, as your involvement would have a meaningful impact.
Our Church would not be where it is today without the dedication of both current and past members, whose efforts continue to have a positive and lasting legacy on our parish community.
January 2024
- Coordinated the Chili Cook-off
- Sold Super Bowl Squares
February 2024
- Organized an outing to the Cleveland Monsters game on Pucks and Pierogies Day
March 2024
- Sponsored a Lenten meal following Presanctified Liturgy
- Hosted Wines Around the World where guests sampled wines and appetizers from different countries
- Hosted Coffee Hour
- Sold March Madness Squares
April 2024
- Sponsored a Lenten meal following Presanctified Liturgy
May 2024
- Organized an outing to see Always…Patsy Cline at Playhouse Square
- Celebrated Mother’s Day by contributing to the gifts for all the women of the Church
June 2024
- Hosted a Father’s Day cookout where a free meal was given to all the men of the Church, as well as high school and college graduates
July 2024
- Hosted Coffee Hour
- Members attended the FOCA National Convention in Akron, OH
August 2024
- Chapter dinner and meeting
September 2024
- Bake Sale
- Members attended the Ohio District FOCA Convention in Campbell, OH
- Hosted Designer Purse Bingo as a fundraiser for St. Vladimir’s Summer Camp (sold out!)
- Sponsored the St. Nicholas Giving Tree where gifts were collected and sent to a seminarian’s family at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Caanan, PA, as well as sent additional support to St. Herman’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska
December 2024
- Sponsored the Christmas Social after Liturgy
- Archangel Michael Choir participated in the 4th Annual FOCA Virtual Nativity Concert
Additionally, the R Club tithes 10% of event proceeds, unless earmarked elsewhere, to Archangel Michael Orthodox Church.
To learn more about the R Club and the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians in America, please visit
orthodoxfellowship.org. Click on About, then ‘About Us’ and ‘History”.
55+ Club
President: Nancy Jackson
Secretary: Karen Visocky
Treasurer: Pat Patrick
Social: Mary Jane Lucak
Sunshine: Pat Hanchuk
Currently 55+ Club has 32 Members. We’ve been told this was a much larger group years & years ago….. but membership has declined over time due to many circumstances. We also have a few members from our “Sister Churches”–St. Andrew, St. Theodosius, & Holy Trinity that have joined our Club.
We’re always looking for new members to join us!
Our meetings are “Normally” the Third Tuesday of the month…….but this Club is Very Flexible and
sometimes the dates change or we do an activity instead of a meeting and there are times we have no meeting—–so Members are advised to check church bulletin for information……Like I said we are a “Flexible Group” ! We normally have around 20-25 people in attendance at meetings and that’s probably because we also have Lunch after our regular meetings that different people provide and always a great turnout if we have an activity to enjoy!
For our First meeting of the year wehave a Memorial Service for all of our deceased members from when this Club was established.
55+ Club has also donated the Troica Candle for the church for the past several years. Our activities have been Lunches out at various area restaurants, Indians Baseball games, casino trips, visit to Ellwood City Monastary, participating in Church’s coffee hour, Pre-Sanctified Meals and more that I just can’t think of right now. Some of our outings & lunches we have invited non-members or guest of members to join us.
Choir
Choir Director: Subdeacon Benjamin Wharton
The Musical Ministry (Choir, Cantor, Reader) of a parish is a cornerstone of Orthodox Christian worship. We provide the responses and sing the hymns at all Orthodox services. We know the human voice, created by God, to be the most unique, expressive, and beautiful instrument known in all of Creation. Because of this, all our hymnography is acapella; there is no need for any other instrument. The very words we sing and chant at every service is the very Word of God, which constitutes our Church Theology. The Choir is asked to participate in all the services held within our Church. We not only provide responses for our regular Saturday Great Vespers, Sunday Divine Liturgy, and other Feast days throughout the Liturgical year, but also for Pre-sanctified Liturgies, moleibens, weddings, funerals, and baptisms. It is a unique position in which we, as the Choir, can be a part of our parish family’s Holy Sacraments – coming together as family in Christ.
The ongoing strengthening of the musical ministry at Archangel Michael Orthodox Church garnered many fruitful results. On Sunday, March 10, 2024, the Choir had the rare privilege of sharing response duties with the Saint Tikhon Seminary Choir at the first of two Hierarchical Divine Liturgies of the year. At this blessed service, we were able to witness our own very Michael Herzak, bass, tonsured to the order of Reader. Again, on December 15, 2024, we were delighted once again to sing responses at our second Hierarchical Liturgy of the year, which saw Noah Klembara ordained to the Holy Diaconate. The Choir wishes the very best to both Reader Michael and Deacon Noah and their families. The Choir participated again in the FOCA Virtual Christmas Concert and will do so once more in 2025. While no caroling was performed this year, the previous two years saw available members of the Choir go joyously caroling to parishioners now cared for in assisted living. We are hoping to continue that tradition for this year’s Nativity season.
Moving forward into the new 2025 calendar year, we will continue to actively recruit new, committed Choir members and Readers. Regular, meaningful rehearsals will be held as well as a planned workshop for Readers. We will continue to strengthen our existing musical library with familiar hymns and new additions. An emphasis will be added this year on the importance of regular, committed attendance at rehearsals AND services – as there is always room for improvement regarding dedication to our Church musical ministry.
Book Club
Director: Matushka Jani Memorich
Our Bookclub group was started in 2012 with approximately fifteen members. Through the years, we have kept most of our members, despite losing one of our beloved “founders” Joan Benny. May Her memory be eternal! Our members include people from other churches and even friends of parishioners.
From the outset, our Bookclub was intended to be a social gathering of book lovers. We do not specifically read religious books and often read books that top the “best books to read” lists. Everyone has input into what we read and in the past few years, we have broken from selecting all 6 books for the entire year. We now pick three books and after the first six months, we pick the remaining three. That way, if something good comes along, we can be flexible.
Our meetings are typically on the third Friday of every other month starting in January and are held in the Church basement at 7pm. We hardly ever make it to 9pm 😊. We bring treats and have coffee or wine, depending on our mood! Sometimes we align our treats with the story we are reviewing. This is a wonderful time for us to visit, discuss a book we mostly all read and get to know each other better. We have always only had women in our group but welcome men. If you or anyone you know would like to participate, our door is always open to new members.
In addition to our meetings at the church, we also have an annual luncheon for our first of the year meeting in January and on occasion we have gone to see a movie of one of the books we read. We also participate in the annual Lenten dinners by hosting one of them.
As I have been the defacto leader during the time we have had Bookclub, I have fallen more in love with the joy of reading which my own mother passed onto me. In addition, I have become enamored with our members. They are family to me and for that, I am truly thankful. For all the opportunities our amazing parish offers to engage in fellowship and support our faith, this is something you can do for yourself, for the love of reading!
Solos
Director: Father John Memorich
The Solos were formed in 2024 by a group of widows and widowers who sought to create a welcoming space for those navigating life after loss.
Recognizing the need for connection among all single members of the parish, The Solos has since expanded its outreach to include anyone who is unmarried—whether widowed, divorced, or never married. The group serves as a safe and uplifting environment where individuals can share experiences, form meaningful friendships, and strengthen their faith journey together.
The Solos is a ministry dedicated to reminding individuals that they are never alone—God’s love, along with the care of their parish family, surrounds them always.
