The Lenten pastoral retreat of the Western American Diocese is scheduled from Monday the 17 to Wednesday the 19 of March, 2014, at the Old Holy Virgin Cathedral located at 864 Fulton Street in San Francisco.

The theme of the retreat is "Prayer and Fasting: the Two Wings of Great Lent". Archimandrite Irenei (Steenberg) will be speaking about prayer on Monday and Priest Sergei Sveshnikov about fasting on Tuesday. Also included in the program will be an opportunity to discuss pastoral issues, participation in the Great Lenten Divine Services, confession and the concelebration of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

On Monday the 17 of March at 7:00 pm all the clergy will pray at a panykhida for the ever-memorable Metropolitan Laurus, who lead the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia into Canonical Communion with the Church in Russia and then in less than a year reposed in the Lord on the Sunday of Orthodoxy (+ March 16, 2008).