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We are a part of the Antiochian Orthodox
Archdiocese under Metropolitan PHILIP. Our Bishop is BASIL of
the Diocese of Wichita and Mid America. And, we are one of
seven Antiochian parishes of the East Texas Deanery.
We began as an outreach effort in 1992 to
the growing west side Houston, TX & the greater Katy, TX area.
There were originally 5 families (Abdallah, Bassila, Brewer,
Lukenbach & Samarni) who had come from our mother parish of
St. George and wanted to try and establish an Orthodox
presents in the Westside of Houston. Fr. Joseph Shahda,
pastor of St. George, agreed that their was a real need; and
so, he assigned his assisting deacon, (later Bp. THOMAS), to
serve this small west Houston group with Typica and
Communion. The deacon would finish Liturgy at St. George and
then drive across town to our small rented community center to
do services, for the six or so families. He would literally
be vesting as he walked in the front door to do Typica with
communion. Without all the loving spiritual prayer and
support of the St. George parish and her clergy we would not
have come into fruition as an Orthodox Parish.
In 1994 our group had grown to about 11
families. We had inherited an iconostasis from a long
forgotten parish life conference in El Paso. We then set that
up for use in our worship space an old dance studio. Our
first 1st full Holy Week & Pascha services were served by a
retired priest from the Atlanta area. After these services,
we knew that with God’s help we were going to be an Orthodox
presents in the greater Houston area.
By the end of November 1994 Fr. Matthew
MacKay was assigned to the west side Houston mission station;
at that time we had 17 families. After Fr. Matthew and his
family arrived we were made an official Mission and were given
our Name. Our name St. Joseph the betrothed is a very great
honor! We are one of only a few Orthodox Churches with this
name. [Unlike in the Western church the name St. Joseph is
not used by the East very often because the Church does not
want anyone to be confused and think St. Joseph is Jesus’
biological father.] We are blessed when we look at our
iconostasis; we see the whole Holy Family; Jesus (savoir),
Mary the Theotokos (mother), John the Baptist (cousin) & St.
Joseph the betrothed (protector). Because we are the only St.
Joseph Orthodox church in America we like to say that we have
a direct line (no waiting) when we ask for intercessional help
from our patron saint.
After 3 ½ years in our rented office park
space we had grown to 30 families. Our lease was up and we
were getting crowded. Now it was time to build our 1st
building. Land was very expensive in Houston area; but with
St. Joseph’s intervention, we were able to purchase 5 and ¾
acres of land and build a metal multi-purpose building. St.
Joseph, as a carpenter, was a perfect saint to have
interceding for us as we built our church. For 4 ½ years we
worshiped, taught Sunday school, catechized, did Baptisms/Chrismations,
had Weddings & Funerals and held social events in our all
purpose building. Now we had grown to 50 families and it was
again time to build our real Temple.
After a one year’s worth of fund raising,
blueprints and another year of building we had a traditional
domed Byzantine style cruciform church. One year after we
built our church we were blessed to have our temple
consecrated by Bp. BASIL. As the Bp. said, “This is a once in
a life time experience for a congregation to know that you
have been blessed; be grateful not proud!” Today we are a
very grateful Pan-Orthodox congregation of about 82 families
half cradle and half convert members. It is a wonderful mix &
flavor of people nationalities, ethnicities, cultures; and,
our Pot-luck dinners reflect this the most: Arab, Russian,
Greek, Romanian, Georgian & Tex Mex, come taste and see! Our
future hope is to be a constant and sustainable Orthodox
Christian presence in the greater Houston area. A place where
you are taught the true faith, where we act out Christ’s love,
are comforted by God’s Spirit and make holy memories for
generations.
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©2006 St. Joseph Orthodox Church
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