It’s been two years since St John Cassian Orthodox Chapel moved into its home at 1731 13th St. N., in Bessemer, Alabama. Our contractor skipped out on us, and there’s still an enormous amount of work to be done on the building itself; we’re still finishing up the iconostasis project, we had a catastrophic failure on the plumbing at Pascha last year (which was supposed to have been replaced as part of the original renovation, but, unsurprisingly, the unscrupulous contractor did mostly cosmetic changes and replaced none of the 75 year old drain pipes to the sewer); we’ve been the target of graffiti and malicious vandalism, resulting in the destruction of several windows in the rear of the building; and, our little community has been rocked with several devastating losses, especially with the deaths of William and Susanna Knarr, only 13 months apart.

However, because of the mercy of God and the intercessions of St. John Cassian, the chapel has survived, and despite the serious financial setbacks we’ve faced, we are moving forward. The chapel has the opportunity to settle and restructure some of the existing debt we took on to begin the renovations on the building, doing which will allow us to finally finish some capital improvements on the building. Many of these improvements, like the replacing of the windows broken by vandals, are vital to retaining the structural integrity of the building.

We ask primarily for your prayers, that God and St. John will continue to bless us and the work being done in Bessemer. Despite the difficulties of the past two years, the chapel continues to have a steady stream of inquirers and catechumens, proving that God has placed us where we need to be in order to minister to those looking for His Church. However, if you can, we also again ask for your financial support of our ministry here, so that we can continue this work to God’s glory. In these difficult and uncertain economic times, we know it is a lot to ask; and we certainly would never ask you to rob your local parish of your donations on our behalf. But, if you can spare just a small $5 or $10 donation toward the repairs necessary on the building, even small donations can make a huge impact on what we are able to do and when.

We at St. John Cassian Orthodox Chapel are incredibly grateful to all of you who have supported us so faithfully over the years, and are humbled by the tremendous generosity our network of friends both in the community and in the wider space of social media have always shown us. Remember that we are a registered 501c3 non-profit, and all your donations to the chapel are fully tax deductible.

If you would like to donate online, you can do so using the links/addresses below:

Donate Via Papyal

Donate Via Square

Donate Via Venmo @StJohnCassianOrthodoxChurch