Focus on College Students: Letters to St. Lydia and OCF Transitions

Mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, godparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, cousins, and friends, the reality is setting in. Our beloved students are off to college. Oh, how we cherish those phone calls, texts, and emails (even if it is just an SOS call for forgetting to pack something!) How we crave to know the details of their daily experience…. We wonder about their sleep, their food, their time management, their friends, and their daily encounters with God’s tender mercies juxtaposed with temptations wrapped in deception. We pray to the Theotokos for her motherly protection and ask for the intercession of the saints to guide their steps.

In Letters to Saint Lydia, a 2010 release from Conciliar Press, we can—in some ways—live vicariously through the story of Lydia’s freshman experience at college. Lydia faces numerous challenges at college, and to top it off, she wrestles with the fact that she has chosen not to convert to Orthodoxy with the rest of her family. Her roommate, Eleni, surfaces as a light-hearted, levelheaded spiritual Orthodox anchor. It is very comforting to read this book, but even better, it would be a thrill if our college students would read this book. Pick up a copy at the church library or Orthodox Bookstore/ Gift Shop and treat yourself to a good read before you send it off with your next care package.

Also new in the library is a DVD produced by the Orthodox Christian Fellowship entitled, Transitions. The Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) is the official collegiate campus ministry program with a mission to support fellowships on college campuses, whose members experience and witness to the Orthodox Christian Church through community life, prayer, service to others and study of the Faith. Recent studies show that 78% of Orthodox Christian Clergy and 84% of the Laity ranked youth and young adults leaving the Church as the number one issue facing us today. This fresh and exciting look at students' perspectives and experiences is the perfect primer for those go off to college. OCF students share their freshmen experiences ranging from excitement to loneliness and spiritual doubt. Watch the film, discuss the questions(included) and ease the Transition!
To watch the trailer visit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma-lgrHxIX0.