Western Diocese

His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian paid a visit to Mary Manoogian-Demirjian AGBU School, on Wednesday, November 07, 2007. The focus of this prescheduled visit was to meet with the high school age students. The Primate along with a small group of school and diocesan officials visited several classrooms.

The Primate was delighted to meet with the teenage students.  During the several brief classroom appearances, the Primate in his condensed remarks, mixed with humor and jokes, engaged the students on the otherwise heavy and difficult religious-philosophical issues.  The humorous but thought-provoking conversations between the Primate and the high school students were both entertaining and educational without overwhelming the students.

Lara in response to Primate’s question on the definition of Christianity said that “Christianity is our religion,” then Roy added that “Christianity is the religion of Jesus Christ.” His Eminence added that we should also inspire others to be Christians. In another discussion, the Primate asked about the importance of the Church. Students responded that Church was a place to converse with God; to pray; a place to learn about God; a place for fellowship; a place to ask God for guidance and assistance, etc. The Primate was pleased with the responses of the students and added that the students and the faithful in general should approach the clergy and himself more often and share their concerns and questions, in order to strengthen the Church and the fulfillment of Her mission.

In another classroom, His Eminence in a simple language explained to the students that greed was the root of all evil and problems in the world; that greed was a symptom of distancing ourselves from God. Prosperous and peaceful nations were nations that feared and respected God, the Primate added.

In an interesting analogy, the Primate compared prayers in our lives to the signs on the highways. The highway signs guide us, and lead us towards our destination. Prayers also provide us with guidance through our journey and path in this earthly life, ultimately leading us towards the destination where God wishes us to arrive in our eternal life, instead of colliding with evil or wandering in the wrong ways which would ultimately lead us towards destruction and eternal damnation.

The Primate challenged the students of a class that had just recently visited Armenia to describe the shortcomings of the Church and what more could be done to improve and strengthen faith among the Armenians. Solair Kargodorian responded to the challenge by asking the Primate to visit them more and to improve the outreach programs of the Church. The Primate was extremely pleased with her answer and promised to visit the school on a monthly basis. His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian who turns 50 this year, emphasized the need to reduce the average age of the Diocesan clergy, mentioning that in the beginning of his primacy at the Western Diocese the average clergy age was 60-65 and after few years he has been able to reduce it to 40-45. The Primate goal is to reduce the average clergy age of the Diocese to 30-35, in order to breathe a youthful and new energy in the life of the Church in the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church in North America.

In the conclusion, about 300 students congregated in the hall, where student-representative Nicole Berksanlar offered an excellent opening remarks in Armenian, on the occasion of the Primate’s visit to Mary Manoogian-Demirjian School, greeted the Primate and thanked him for his visit, since it meant a lot to the students that His Eminence would interact with them and take into account their opinions.

In the conclusion, The Primate presented all students and members of faculty with several memorabilia and gifts for each. The Primate presented two framed pictures to the school.