Saint Brendan Orthodox Christian Church, Lynn Haven, Florida was directly affected by Hurricane Michael on October 10th, 2018. Thanks be to God, all members and regular attendees of the mission survived and are well. The mission chapel itself suffered damage, as our host location at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church suffered severe damage to their rectory and religious education building. The window blew out in the chapel behind our altar, and many items suffered water damage from sitting in water, mold, mildew, as well as in being forcefully blown about. We also lost some items (Gospel book, alb, cork floats for our oil lamp, the fair linen on the altar). Damaged items included our thurible, candlesticks, altar cross, green vestments, gold cope set, our altar frontals, our altar missal, Ritual and Book of Needs, the priest's copy of the Saint Colman Prayer Book, the altar itself, and some of our incense stocks. Happily, we were able to salvage most of our belongings with the help of the Catholic parish caretaker, and some damage has been reversed (many thanks to our two catechumens Jerome & Benjamin from Enterprise, AL.)
IOCC teams have also already been on the ground and been able to render some much needed assistance.
If you were looking for how to help the mission, or have church items to donate to replace those lost or damaged, please contact Fr. Mark Rowe, the Vicar General of the Western Rite for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia who has a fund set aside for that purpose. Please visit our official website at ROCOR-WR.ORG and look for the news item, link for the PayPal button, and earmark for St. Brendan mission.
Fr. Aristibule and family are trying to clean up their residence as well. Further donations of plastic bins for packing, assistance with removing the many trees downed on the property, food, water, cleaning supplies, or if you will be in the area to help with cleanup efforts for the Hurricane, please contact Father Aristibule at his cellphone: 1 (850) 517-8281
As soon as we have the necessary items, and can ensure we have a safe place to meet, we will resume services. If you have a lead on a location in the Western Wiregrass or Emerald Coast area where we can hold services and classes, please let us know.
- Fr. Aristibule Adams
