July 1, 2004

Almaden’s Greek Orthodox Church to break ground for new preschool

Father ‘Dean’ Mendrinos to retire at end of year

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

Almaden’s St. Basil The Great Greek Orthodox Church is about to break ground for a new preschool adjacent to its 4,000-square-foot campus.

The good news, however, is dampened by the retirement of the parish’s longtime beloved priest, Father Konstantine Mendrinos, endearingly called by church members “Father Dean” the pastor of the church since August, 1990.

The church will build a $300,000 preschool that’s expected to be 3,600 square feet. The project was approved more than a year ago and now the church is making final preparations to erect one pre-fabricated building behind its main campus.

The church has announced a Montessori preschool will operate in the new building and will serve 68 children, opening its doors in January. “All children in the community will be welcomed here,” explained Father Dean on a recent Sunday morning before giving his liturgical message.

He added that the church would use the new building on weekends to teach religion education to its parishioners.

“They (Montessori) will lease the building from us,” he said. “This was my vision seven years ago. We wanted to be visible to the neighborhood and be of service somehow because we knew there was a shortage. We knew this would be a win-win situation for us and the neighborhood.”

Father Dean explained funds to build the preschool came from the parishioners’ stewardship or financial contributions, as the church does not receive any financial support from the San Francisco Metropolis, which is the supervising body overseeing the parish. “We’re responsible for all our expenses. We haven’t had to fundraise.

Our members are very generous. The lease for the building will pay for the costs to build the school in 12 years.”

Father Dean
Father Dean has been at the head of St. Basil The Great Greek Orthodox Church for nearly 15 years. He will say his last liturgy on Christmas, but he will continue to live in the San Jose area until June of 2005.

The 61-year-old spiritual leader, whose official title is priest of the parish, will eventually be moving to Sarasota, Fla., to care for his elderly parents. Although he won’t a have a parish, he will continue to perform church work by writing liturgical music.

“Father Dean is a very humble person. You know that you can confess anything to him and he’s not going to judge you. He receives you and he counsels you in a very loving way. He encourages all of us to express humility in the community,” said longtime parishioner Cathy Lynch, with tears welling in her eyes at the prospect of losing her beloved priest.

Similarly, Sheri and Hank Winkenwerder, who’ve been members of the parish since 1995, said, “We love Father Dean. We’re going to really miss him. We’re going to be sad to see him go.”

And 78-year-old parishioner Tulla Kasnestis said, “He’s very much a part of our lives. He’s dedicated to us individually. He’s a wonderful man. He presents everything in such a beautiful and sincere way.”

Father Dean received a bachelor’s degree in music from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. He also studied music at Juilliard and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and studied music with a music conservatory in Massachusetts. He also obtained a master’s of divinity from Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, Mass. He taught music at the seminary for eight years while serving other parishes. He wrote children’s music for the seminary’s department of religious education.

Father Dean explained a hierarch called a “metropolitan,” has been considering available priests in the San Francisco Metropolis within the Greek Orthodox Church Archdiocese of America—which represents the Western states—to become the priest of the church. The metropolitan recently visited the parish. “He’s going to find someone wonderful for this parish because it’s an outstanding and faithful group of people who are serious about living a Christian life. They’re very responsive.”

Father Dean and his wife, Roxanne, have been married for 37 years. She has a doctoral degree in library science from Boston College and works at Foothill College as head of library automation, systems, technology and technical services. They have two children, Alexandra, 34, and George, 32. They play musical instruments. “We’ve been really blessed and my wife and I look forward to eventually living in Florida where our families will be much more accessible,” said Father Dean.

St. Basil’s
The 16-year-old church has about 140 families on its roster, with about 400 parishioners. At least 160 attend Sunday worship services. About 20 percent of the parishioners are seniors and the rest are young families with children.

The Winkenwerders fall in this category. They converted when Sheri was pregnant with her second child, David, who’s now 11 and who was baptized in a Russian Orthodox Church in Saratoga.

“We love this church. We have such openness,” said the blond, blue-eyed woman while sipping a cup of hot coffee after Sunday services.

Unlike other Greek Orthodox parishes, primarily attended by Greek immigrants and Greek Americans, St. Basil’s is multi ethnic with families from Romania, Korea, Jordan, Syria, Russia, Australia and Poland, to name a few.

Women’s leader Tulla Kasnestis, who’s a widow, said the reason church members love to attend worship services on Sunday is because, “We’ve become a family.”

Taking an opportunity to proselyte, Kasnestis stressed that members don’t have to be Greek to belong to the church. “We have many converts, including a young Jewish woman who was recently baptized.”

Lynch, for her part, said she attends regularly because she loves the deep ritual meaning behind the liturgy. The single mother of two children has been an active member of the church since 1998. “I joined the church because I found that the people were truly living the lives of Christians.” After getting a divorce, she felt ostracized from her former church members. “I was really greeted here and embraced with a lot of love and support.”

Lynch and her daughter, who were baptized Roman Catholics as infants, explained that they were chrismated, which means they were confirmed and received the Holy Spirit.

The church features a lending library, a bookstore, a small choir—which leads the congregation in singing—a small youth group and a Sunday school.

Father George Masters, a lay priest who helps with the choir on Sunday, said, “It’s an exceptional parish, there’s no question about it. It’s absolutely phenomenal.”

The priest, who’s a teacher by profession, said for being such a small parish, it’s one of the most successful mission parishes in the country sending missionaries to Albania, Rumania, Mexico and Alaska on Orthodox Christian missions. “We have a strong missions committee and they raise at least $15,000 a year. We’re a generous parish,” said Father Dean

The church has about 20 altar servers or acolytes, young men from the parish who assist in the liturgical worship service and a sub-deacon, John Heilman, who’s serving a mission in Alaska and three female chanters. The church also has a women’s auxiliary group called Philoptochos—which means friends of the poor—who participate in many philanthropic activities throughout the country. The parish is also heavily involved in helping poor working mothers with children at InnVision once a month.

At least 95 percent of all Greeks claim membership in the Greek Orthodox Church, part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Until 1054, the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches were one body. Theological, political, and cultural differences split the church in two, and those differences were never reconciled. The faith adheres to all tenets prescribed by Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

St. Basil The Great Greek Orthodox Church is located at 6430 Bose Lane, San Jose, Calif., 95120, near Camden Avenue and Almaden Expressway. Weekly services include Sunday Matins, 8:15 a.m.; Sunday divine liturgy, 9:30 a.m.; men’s fellowship, Thursdays, 7 a.m.; Greek language classes, Sept.-June, Sat., 11 a.m.; and weekly morning Bible study Thursdays, 10 a.m. For more information call the church at 268-3214 or Father Dean directly at 910-8740, or visit www.stbasil.com.