November 22, 2024, Hendersonville, North Carolina Mission progress has been improving steadily for Fr. Photios. Recently, St. Athony’s Mission had 25 new visitors at Wednesday’s Divine Liturgy with his mission now totally 56 parishioners, 20 of which are children. A recent development for Fr. Photios is that he has been in talks with a Presbyterian parish near him with the potential of them gifting them their old parish for his mission use. This building is estimated to be around 150 years. The downside right now is that they will need to do some renovations to the building as it does not have running water and parishioners must go to the adjacent Fellowship Hall to use the facilities. There is not a lot of Icon space in the building, but this can be worked on and improved. It has a capacity of 100 individuals, which would be a drastic upgrade for them. St. Anthony the Great Mission currently has 3 seminarians. One will be ordained deacon in the near future.
Regarding the hurricane damage the area sustained recently: Fr. Photios reports that there has been a steady improvement in living conditions albeit it will be years before things return to normal and help is still needed. Fr. Photios stated he is grateful for the hurricane relief from other parishes. There are still people without water due to the hurricane, and unfortunately, e coli is now an issue with water in area. So, they must be cautious utilizing drinking water. Spillover individuals without homes have been placed in a nearby trailer park area.
Finally, Fr. Photios has stated that his mission is doing well financially right now, and he is grateful for the monthly support he receives from Share the Faith Ministries as it helps his family get by month to month. Fr. Photios has plans to work towards becoming a graduated missions a year from now and looks forward to working with us for the next calendar year. Learn more about St. Athony the Great Mission in Hendersonville, NC here.
Please continue to donate to Share the Faith Ministries in order to help missions succeed like St. Anthony the Great in Hendersonville. Our aim is to provide the much-needed support to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission of spreading His word in every corner of the United States by helping sustain young missions, priests, and their families.
