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The Office of Pastoral Life of the Orthodox Church in America has launched the second cohort of the Financial Health Initiative, a program designed to support the financial well-being and stability of its clergy households.
Cohort 2 began June 1, 2026, with 36 clergy households participating from across the Orthodox Church in America. Forty-five households applied for the second cohort, exceeding the program’s original capacity of 30 households. Additional fundraising allowed the Office of Pastoral Life to expand the cohort and welcome six more households, while nine households remain on the wait list.
The Financial Health Initiative, or FHI, is part of the broader work of the Office of Pastoral Life to strengthen and support clergy and their families. Through the program, participating clergy households receive structured financial education, budgeting tools, access to financial coaching, and a $5,000 incentive grant. The program is intended to help clergy households develop stronger financial practices, increase clarity around household finances, and take practical steps toward long-term financial stability.
“Clergy households carry real responsibilities, both in the parish and at home,” said Father Nicholas Solak, Director of the Office of Pastoral Life. “The Financial Health Initiative is one way the Church can offer practical, concrete support that touches daily life. Financial health is not separate from pastoral life. When clergy households are more stable, more confident, and better equipped to make faithful decisions, that strengthens the priest, the family, and the parish community they serve.”
The launch of Cohort 2 follows lessons learned during Cohort 1, which began in 2025. Feedback from the first cohort helped the Office of Pastoral Life and the Financial Health Initiative team refine the program and continue developing a model of support that is both practical and responsive to the realities faced by clergy families.
The strong response to Cohort 2 reflects the importance of this work and underscores the value of practical formation in financial literacy, planning, and household money management.
“We are grateful that we were able to include more households than originally planned,” Father Nicholas said. “That is a sign of good stewardship and of the generosity of those who believe in this work. At the same time, the remaining waitlist reminds us that this need is real and that continued support for clergy households remains an important part of the Church’s life.”
Father Stephen Vernak, Director of the Financial Health Initiative, noted that the program is designed to provide both structure and encouragement.
About the Office of Pastoral Life
The Orthodox Church in America’s Office of Pastoral Life supports the well-being of clergy and their families, the foundation of parish life across North America. Believing the health of the Church is inseparable from the health of her clergy, the Office offers programs that build resilience, connection and pastoral joy. Programs include Thriving in Ministry peer-learning groups, Financial Health Initiatives, quarterly Synaxis Gatherings, Retreats and Clergy Wives Ministry. In partnership with bishops, dioceses, parishes and our generous donors, the Office of Pastoral Life helps create sustainable conditions in which priests, deacons and their families of the Orthodox Church in America can flourish spiritually, vocationally and personally through every season of parish ministry.
