The third of a six-part Prelacy Lenten program took place on Wednesday, February 27, at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral in New York City, presided over by His Grace Bishop Anoushavan, Vicar General. The lecturer was Meline Karakashian, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, who spoke on “The Challenges of being a Mother Today.”
Dr. Karakashian spoke about the ideal mother just before and after the 1915 Armenian Genocide, showing how the mother-child relationships had changed. After the genocide it seems difficult for our mothers to let go because of the fear of losing their children, she said. We have not really studied this and other effects that the genocide has had on our mothers. We need to create opportunities for our mothers to discuss these sort of issues openly and freely, she suggested, and the church community is the ideal place for that type of thing to happen. Afterwards, the participants engaged in interesting discussions on different styles of rearing children and on ways to overcome challenges mothers face today.
Next Wednesday, the speaker will be Maggie Kouyoumdjian, Sts. Vartananatz Sunday School Director (NJ), who will speak about “Lessons from Famous Mothers from the Bible – A Brief Reflection.”
