Every two years, priests and delegates from each parish of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States of America meet to present and discuss the situation of parishes and pastoral-missionary issues within the Deanery Assembly. At the 2017 Assembly in Troy, MI it was decided that St. John Cassian Parish of San Antonio, TX will host this meeting in 2019.
The work of the Assembly began on Friday afternoon, November 1, 2019, with the blessings prayer offered by HE Metropolitan Nicolae. The role call followed, then the presentation of the Agenda, the reading and approval of the Minutes from the previous Assembly in November 2017. Our host, Father Valentin Ilies, welcomed us and presented us the rented space that they have used for more than 2 years and at the same time the new church the community bought, reconsolidated and adapted according to the Orthodox tradition. The guest of honor of the meeting was Hieromonk Petru Pruteanu, author of important liturgical works and friend of the parish.
The first theme on the Assembly Agenda was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Romanian Missionary Diocese in America, followed by a presentation referring to the Commemorative Year of the Patriarchs Nicodim Munteanu and Iustin Moisescu and of the translators of church books in the Romanian Patriarchate. The meeting continued with the parish reports of the Deanery during the last two years. The first day of the event concluded with the meeting of HE Metropolitan Nicolae with the priests from the Deanery. Several future pastoral and catechetical projects were discussed.
The work of the Assembly was resumed the following day, Saturday, November 2, by presenting the theme "From the life of the Romanian village" of Father Aurel Sas from St. Simeon parish of Detroit, MI. The presentation was accompanied by the exhibition "The face of the Romanian village" received from the Romanian Patriarchate with the blessing of HB Patriarch Daniel. Father Julian Aniței from Holy Protection of the Mother of God Mission of Houston, TX completed the presentation dedicated to the Commemorative Year with a presentation of the efforts of church translators, from the first appearances in Romanian to those of our time. Father Julian recalled the pastoral-missionary needs of translating Romanian theologians and fathers into English.
The next part of the Assembly was dedicated to the reports of the different activities in the parishes. The Ladies' Auxiliary Report (AROLA) was read by Mrs. Mirela Manga from Holy Trinity Parish of Troy, MI, a member of the AROLA committee. The Sunday School Report was prepared and read by Mrs. Violeta Vancea, the Sunday School Director at Ss. Constantine and Helen Cathedral of Chicago. The ROYA Report (Youth Association) was presented by Macrina Aniței, Alexandru and Andrei Barbolovici. The election of the Deanery Consistory was the last item on the agenda of this meeting.
HE Metropolitan Nicolae expressed thanks to Fr. Dean Calin Barbolovici, Father Valentin Ilieș and to all the faithful of the parish for the beautiful organization of this Deanery Assembly. Being the Saturday of the dead, a memorial service followed. The day ended with the participation of HE Metropolitan Nicolae and all the present priests at the Vespers service held at St. Anthony the Great Church (OCA) of San Antonio. At the end of the service, Rev. Prof. John Behr from St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary of New York gave a lecture.

Gabriel Ilieș, Secretary of the Assembly