Archbishop Elpidophoros addressed the Board of Trustees Meeting during the 33rd Annual Leadership 100 Conference in Naples on February 28, 2024.
He expressed gratitude for the organization’s vital role in supporting the Church over its forty-year history, emphasizing the enduring legacy of its founders.
He highlighted Leadership 100’s broader contributions beyond financial support, noting its role as a powerful think tank and resource for the Archdiocese.
Archbishop Elpidophoros praised the leadership of Chairman Jim Logothetis and the Executive Committee, recognizing their invaluable ministry within the Church.
Looking ahead, he encouraged members to envision the next forty years and the role of Leadership 100 in engaging young people and serving the Church’s mission.
He concluded with a prayer for the accomplishment of their purposes, for the good of the Church and the glory of God’s name.
Please, read Archbishop Elpidophoros’ address:
My friends – and I am so proud and happy to call you “my friends,” – we are gathered once again in Naples to bring forth the fruits of the Annual Leadership One Hundred Conference; this being its thirty-third.
The thirty-third in the forty year history of this amazing organization! I will have more to say on this significant anniversary in my main address to the plenary, but for now, let me say, as I did previously to the Executive Committee – our founders may have passed on, but the foundation that they built remains firm and strong.
We have so much to celebrate and so much to be thankful for. Leadership 100 provides an essential service to the Church, and it involves more than simply the funding. You provide insight and vision, and help to set the agenda for the Archdiocese by bringing to the surface the ministries and organizations that benefit from this wonderful endowment for the Church.
This Board of Trustees is like a powerful think tank, and incredible resource for our Sacred Archdiocese and for me personally as your Archbishop. I count on all of you, the members of the Board and especially the Executive Committee – all of you being led by our Chairman, the inimitable Jim Logothetis. Together with the officers and members of the Committee, ably supported by Executive Director Paulette Poulos, the Chairman has been unexcelled in his guidance for the Endowment.
All of you are providing an invaluable ministry within the Church. And I use the word “ministry” on purpose. What we call in Greek, διακονία, is much more than liturgical service, or even the dedication of one’s time, talent, and treasure. Ministry is what is accomplished; not only what is intended.
I shall speak more about this on Friday at my major address to the membership. For now, suffice it to say that the accomplishments of the last forty years have kept this Archdiocese in very good stead.
Now, we must dream a little, and think about the next forty years, and what those will mean not only for the generations to come, but for the young people of the present, who are more and more seeing Leadership 100 as a true ministry in which they engage with all their hearts.
I know that you feel as I do, and I thank you for the vision that you are willing to see and the horizons that you are willing to reach for.
May the Good Lord grant that achieve all our purposes – for the good of His Church and the glory of His Holy Name.
Photos: GOARCH/Dimitrios Panagos / Source: Goarch
