Educational program

Educational program
KENT -- "Sowers of God's Peace" is the theme of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown's annual Ministry Convocation from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Kent State University student center.
The Rev. J. Bryan Hehir will deliver the morning keynote address, "The Scriptures and Social Teaching: Sources of Catholic Social Vision." Father Hehir is president of Catholic Charities USA and is distinguished professor of ethics and international affairs at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
The convocation will offer 56 workshops for about 800 people in various parish ministries.
This year the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will participate, and the program will feature workshops on the covenant between the synod and the diocese. Registration is $30. Walk-ins are welcome. Participants are eligible for five hours of religious education certification. Catholic teachers may be eligible for credits for their state license. Call (330) 744-8451 or e-mail sgreco@youngstowndiocese.org.
Couple to minister
AUSTINTOWN -- The Rev. John and Filese Hauser of Son Grace Ministries of Oklahoma City, Okla., will be at West Austintown First United Methodist Church, 6749 Mahoning Ave., at 8 and 10:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. A family-night casserole and dessert supper is at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Son Grace Ministries will be featured at services at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The pastor preaches and teaches, and his wife sings and witnesses.
Choir director honored
GIRARD -- Girard First United Methodist Church recently honored James A. Antell of Austintown for being its choir director for 40 years. The church commissioned composers Don Besig and Nancy Price to write an anthem in his honor. Antell was also given gifts and a scrapbook. He's a graduate of Youngstown State University's Dana School of Music, and retired in 1996 as a teacher in Austintown Schools.
Pontificate observance
YOUNGSTOWN -- Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has asked members of the six-county Catholic Diocese of Youngstown to observe a special "Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer for Pope John Paul II" on Oct. 16, the 25th anniversary of his pontificate. Catholics are encouraged to attend Mass that day. The bishop will celebrate Mass at noon Oct. 16 in St. Joseph Church, Canton, which will also end the diocese's 60th anniversary.
Festival of Icons set
WARREN -- The 14th annual Festival of Icons will be Nov. 1 in St. John Orthodox Church, 2220 Reeves Road. The speakers will be Dr. Peter Bouteneff, a teacher at the St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York, and Dr. Nicola Blagoy Nicoloff, a cardiologist and choir director at St. John Orthodox Church, Campbell.
The program is: Molieben service, 8 a.m.; coffee, 9 a.m.; Bouteneff's "Introduction to the Unthinkable," 9:30 a.m.; Nicoloff's "Why Do I Believe When I Cannot See?" 11:15 a.m.; lunch, 12:30 p.m.; Bouteneff, "The Grace of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church," 2 p.m.; round-table discussion, 3:30 p.m.; Great Vespers, 5 p.m.
Vendors will have a variety of icons, books, crosses and other religious items from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The cost is $10 for the lectures and $20 for the lectures and lunch. Send checks to St. John's.