Highlights from OL XIII

Although this is posted late, I thought I should just give some bulleted highlights of the OL conference held in Washington on June 15-18:

— Over 100 participants registered for the conference and we filled the Retreat House next door (sleeping accommodations) to overflowing their capacity.

— There was a significantly larger Orthodox presence this year than in the past, probably because of the extensive involvement of Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA.

— With our 150+ books from Eastern Christian Publications, and now 100+ video/audio recordings from OLTV, we hade eight tables of material on display for sale along with three tall dispaly racks of DVDs.

— The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center brought out some special items from the museum collection including items presented to the pope by various Eastern patriarchs, making a special display during the conference.

— Metropolitan Jonah served a complete Orthodox Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in his cathedral see of Saint Nicholas on Massachusetts Avenue (near the VP’s residence) with a dozen or so priests, deacons, subdeacons and a schola from the Cathedral choir.  Bishop Hlib Lonchyna was seated in a place of honor at the iconostasis.

— Bishop Hlib Lonchyna served a Catholic Divine Liturgy in the Ukrainian National Shrine of the Holy Family near the JP II Center with Metropolitan Jonah seated in a place of honor at the iconostasis.

— All the speakers received very high marks for their presentations, some even ranking them as 20 on a scale of 1-10!

— The theme on spirituality seemed to “hit home” for quite a number of participants who commented how much they learned and experienced during the conference.

— The only complaints we received were that the plenary hall was sometimes too cold, and not enough “fasting” food on the menu, both of which we hope to improve on for the future.

All in all, it was another great conference, and if you missed it, audio and video recordings of all the plenary sessions and prayer services will soon be available to buy online at www.olconference.com/OL-browse.html.