As is the rule of monastic life, the day will begin and end with prayer with Matins at 8:30 am, followed by the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 am, and Vespers and Vigil at 5:30 pm.

A special healing service will be held at approximately 4:15 pm.

Two main presentations will be held in the afternoon — “Perspective on Healing” with Dr. Demetra Velisarios Jaquet and Fr. Steven Voytovich and “Holy Unction: Human Illness, Healing, and Wellness” given by Rev. Dr. Alkiviadis Calivas.

In addition, the day will include tours of the monastery Churches, a demonstration of the monks’ dog program, as well as time for hiking, conversation, reflection and quiet. Activities for children and teens are also planned. Traditional ethnic and American style food will be available for purchase.

The Monks, Nuns, and Companions of New Skete are a Stavropegial monastery of the Orthodox Church in America.

EAST BROOKFIELD, MA – July 28, 2008: This past Monday, The Rev. Father Kenneth M. DeVoie of Emmanuel Orthodox Catholic Church in Warren, MA was asked to leave the East Brookfield District Court because he was a Priest. Father DeVoie was requested to be present in court by a family in his Parish for moral and spiritual support as their son was facing criminal charges – later dropped. According to Fr. DeVoie, and prior to the Judge being seated, the Assistant Clerk of the Court, Charles King, asked one of the Court Officers to inquire as to why a Priest, Fr. DeVoie, was in the Courtroom. Being called to the rail, Fr. DeVoie indicated that he was present, at the open hearing, at the request of his parishioners for moral and spiritual support. He was further asked who the parishioner/defendant was. Upon finding out why Fr. DeVoie was in the Courtroom, the Asst. Clerk, Mr. King, notified the parishioner/defendant’s Attorney, David Cataldo of Worcester, that Judge Charles A. Abdella “did not like Priests.” Fr. DeVoie was asked to step outside the Courtroom by Atty. Cataldo who confronted Fr. DeVoie as to why he was wearing his collar (clerical black suit) in the Courtroom, was told that Judge Abdella did not like Priests and that his presence in court jeopardized the defense of this case. Atty. Cataldo, yelling angrily and making a visible scene in the Court Building foyer, told Fr. DeVoie he had no business being in Court and to “do his thing at Church but not here in court.”

“It was really amazing”, recounts Fr. DeVoie. “I have been to court with parishioners on numerous occasions throughout the years, nothing like this has ever happened before,” he said. Fr. DeVoie said; “I was asked by others filing into the Courtroom, for their cases, if I would say a prayer for them – which I privately and gladly did.” “I really felt badly for those I was there to support. It was absolutely criminal to be asked to leave a public courtroom that was in open session because the judge did not ‘like Priests.’ I thought justice was suppose to be blind?”

Father DeVoie has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice (BSCJ) with honors from the University of Massachusetts, has worked with juvenile offenders in State custody, is a 9 and 1/2 year Veteran of the United States Coast Guard – a Federal Law Enforcement Agency (4yrs. Enlisted & 5 1/2 yrs. as a Commissioned Officer), has been married for 21 years and has two children. He pastor’s Emmanuel Orthodox Catholic Church in Warren, MA and is Supervising Priest to St. Stephen’s Orthodox Church in Springfield, MA.

Complaints are in the process of being filed with Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Committee on Professional Responsibility for Clerks of Courts, and with the Office of the Bar Council.