Skip To Main Content

Find It Fast

Students work to add Christian Orthodox service at Culver Academies

Tom Coyne

Culver Military Academy students attend a weekly Christian Orthodox Service. (Photo by Tom Coyne) 

 

Christian Orthodox students at Culver Academies say they appreciate that school leaders added a service for them, the 11th spiritual life weekly service available at the Indiana boarding school.

“It gives us a sense of community because it brings us closer to God, especially with people who have the same traditions and faith as us,” said Elizabeth Vojcanin ’25.

Vojcanin, her brother George ’27, and Luka Paic ’25, were the student leaders who took the initiative and worked with Amah Medard ’96 W’92, associate director of college advising and academic affairs, to create the service to meet the needs of an increasing number of Christian Orthodox students at Culver.

“We thought, ‘Why don’t we try to get this as a service because it’s fulfilling our spiritual life,’ ” Paic said.

The Rev. Dr. Sam Boys, director of spiritual life at Culver Academies, said Culver had never had a Christian Orthodox service and Christian Orthodox students often felt displaced because they didn’t feel comfortable going to Protestant or Roman Catholic services.

“As the director of spiritual life, I’m always wanting to meet the needs of all the families who come to Culver and the spiritual traditions of all the families,” Boys said. “We can’t always do that, but we try to.”

Boys said Medard began reaching out to Christian Orthodox priests in South Bend, Fort Wayne and elsewhere and found four willing to conduct services regularly at Culver. There currently are 12 students who regularly attend the weekly Christian Orthodox service.

George Vojcanin said attending Guided Meditation services left him unfulfilled and feeling “disconnected.”

“This really brings me closer to God and it helps me get through the week and helps me get through all the craziness of Culver and anchors me for the week ahead and the month ahead,” he said.

Most of the Christian Orthodox churches are organized along national lines. Students at Culver include Serbian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and Ukrainian Orthodox.  

The Rev. John Schmidt, a retired priest, leads the Christian Orthodox service at Culver Academies. (Photo by Tom Coyne) 

 

The services are held Monday evenings because they depend on a rotating group of priests to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, which usually is held in the Rose Room of Memorial Chapel.

Paic said they have a packet every week from which they read.

“We learn things that are a part of our heritage,” he said.

Eleni Kurtis ’23 started a club for Christian Orthodox students two years ago. Elizabeth Vojcanin ’25 and Luka Paic ’25 were among the half dozen students who initially joined. The club met monthly on the first Monday of every month.

When the club grew to nine students last year, Vojcanin and Paic began working with Medard to try to create a weekly service.

Students said it makes them feel more at home because it reminds them of attending services with their parents.

“It’s like I’m back home,” Paic said. “It resets me for the week.”

Elizabeth Vojcanin agrees.

“It’s working great. We love it,” she said. “I think it provides us with a sense of spiritual calmness. I would say it helps us start the week off right.”

Elizabeth said a lot of people who find out she is Orthodox Christian are confused about the difference between her religion and the Roman Catholic Church. She explains that there was a split between the churches in 1054 because of differences in liturgy and theology.

One obvious difference is that Christian Orthodox celebrate Christmas on a different date. Most Christians celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 while Orthodox Christians celebrate it on Jan. 7. 

Elizabeth said students at Culver are more understanding of people of different faiths.

“I think people at Culver are just ultimately more understanding of everything, people’s backgrounds, people’s cultures, people’s traditions. I feel we all have a sense of understanding and open mindedness about that. They’re just really interested to learn about our culture,” she said.

Boys said the route taken by the Christian Orthodox group is typical of how new services are started at Culver, beginning as a club and growing into a service if there is enough interest. He said Culver resumed another service this year, Sacred Flow Yoga, which has about 35 students.

Here is a list of other services held at Culver: Guided Meditation, Interdenominational Christian Chapel (Protestant), Islamic Studies, Jewish Shabbat Service, Nature Spirituality, Philosophers’ Café, Roman Catholic Mass, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Unitarian Universalist (which includes Buddhists, Hindus and those interested in Meditative Free Writing).

“I think we’ve come to a point where our spiritual life program is as diverse as it’s ever been,” Boys said. “It’s quite amazing.”

 

The Rev. John Schmidt, a retired priest, talks with students after the Christian Orthodox service. (Photo by Tom Coyne) 

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Required

The Culver Cannon Newsletter is sent out weekly on Fridays.

More Recent News