About the OVM

“We Offer These Gifts”: A Program for the Theological Exploration

About the Program

• Mission Statement of the Office of Vocation & Ministry
• The Grant
• Theological Foundations

About the Leaders

• Vocation and Ministry Program Coordination
• Hellenic College Leadership
• CrossRoad High School Program Leaders
• Evaluator

Mission Statement of the Office of Vocation & Ministry

The Office of Vocation and Ministry (OVM) at Hellenic College provides opportunities for college students, high school students, and those who serve them, for growth in Orthodox Christian vocation and leadership through theological inquiry, ongoing reflection, and service activities by way of retreats, workshops, classes, conferences, study sessions, and mini-grants.

The OVM defines vocation as one’s unique and ongoing response to Christ’s call to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength, and the neighbor as oneself. It seeks to encourage all participants to consider their life as vocation, and to nurture the next generation of leaders who are called to full-time ministry in the church, whether to the ordained priesthood or to lay ministry.

The OVM seeks to be theologically and faithfully Orthodox Christian; to be excellent stewards of the resources of this Lilly Endowment Inc. grant to Hellenic College; to work with integrity, energy and creativity; to provide engaging and rich programs through effective administration; to publish resources to share learning; and to utilize collaborative inquiry for ongoing program planning and evaluation.

The Grant

The Office of Vocation and Ministry (OVM) was established in 2003 when Hellenic College became one of 88 accredited colleges and universities in the United States to receive a prestigious five-year grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for "the theological exploration of vocation."  The Lilly Endowment, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in America and Europe, believes that vital religious communities are essential for a flourishing and humane society, and targeted a key need in this regard:  To keep these communities strong and vibrant a new generation of talented leadership, both ordained and lay, is essential. 

The Endowment identified Church-related colleges and universities as a locos of opportunity for such efforts.  The Endowment's three interrelated objectives for this effort are:

1.      to help college students make connections between faith and their vocational choices

2.      to increase the number of candidates for full-time Christian ministry

3.      to enhance the capacity of a college's faculty to teach and mentor students in these arenas

The Lilly Endowment hopes that their grant-funded programs become a permanent part of their host institutions-that these colleges and universities, together with their wider religious communities, continue to fund the programs through their own resources. To help with this transition phase, Lilly invited Hellenic College to apply for a sustainability matching grant of $500,000 to continue its initiatives for an additional three years, through June 2011. Hellenic College gladly accepted this invitation, applied for the funding, and received word in May of 2006 that the Lilly Endowment would award Hellenic College the sustainability matching grant.  The College is currently well on its way to securing the matching funds.

 

Program Leaders

Vocation & Ministry Program Coordination

Ann M. Bezzerides, Director of the Office of Vocation & Ministry, earned her Ph.D. from Boston College in Theology and Education with her dissertation titled, “Conversing with John Chrysostom as Christian Religious Educator.” She also earned an M.Div. from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary where she has served as a lecturer in Religious Education. She edited Christ at Work: Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Vocation, which serves as a guiding text for OVM programming. Having grown up in the Boston area, Ann learned the books of the New Testament during Vacation Church School at HC/HC, in the very classroom that now, in renovated form, is the Office of Vocation & Ministry. Her research interests include any and all topics related to an Orthodox theology of vocation and ministry; the history and contemporary practice of Christian Religious Education; hermeneutic of retrieval for the use of Patristic texts for the formation of today's educators; evaluation methodologies and practices for ministry; Christian faith and higher education; and youth ministry. She is extremely thankful for the opportunity to serve through this initiative. Tel: (617) 850-1308 Contact Ann M. Bezzerides

Dn. Nicholas Belcher, Assistant Director of the Office of Vocation and Ministry, is a 1997 graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. He joins the office having recently graduated with a Master’s of Divinity degree from Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Prior to attending seminary, Dn. Nicholas taught World History and Advanced Placement Government and Politics at the Altoona Area High School for four years. He also spent four summers at the Antiochian Village Campin Ligonier, Pennsylvania, which instilled in him a love for working with Orthodox youth. On April 22, 2007 he was ordained to the diaconate by His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP. Dn. Nicholas prays that God will grant him the help of His divine grace to serve the Office with love, humility, and diligence. Tel: (617) 850-1309 Contact Dn. Nicholas Belcher

Stephanie C. Skedros, Development and Public Relations Coordinator, is an alumna of Boston College. She carries a strong background in higher education in the area of admissions and financial aid. In fact, she served as the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid for Hellenic College/Holy Cross in the early 90s. Stephanie has also worked at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Graduate Theological Union. She is committed to the mission of Hellenic College/Holy Cross and feels blessed to serve the Office of Vocation & Ministry in this capacity. Tel: (617) 850-1311 Contact Stephanie C. Skedros

Mary Long, Assistant Director, comes to the OVM from her position as the Resource Coordinator of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Department of Youth and Yong Adult Ministries. She earned a B.A. in History at University of Texas-Austin and an M. Div. at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Her research interests include Orthodox youth and young adult ministry, especially as related to pop culture and the internet, and the sociology of religion. Mary was actively involved in OCF during her undergraduate years, and was on staff for the first two years of CrossRoad. 

Evaluator

Dr. Frances Kostarelos, University Professor at Governors State University in Illinois, is the Project Evaluator of the Lilly Endowment Inc. Vocations initiative at Hellenic College. Dr. Kostarelos received her bachelors, masters, and Ph D from the University of Chicago. Her background as a cultural anthropologist has proven to be a valuable tool as she collaborates with the OVM to continually improve and implement student and faculty programs. Dr.Kostarelos visits the campus regularly and provides the office with her wisdom, support and guidance on how Hellenic College can be the best stewards of the grant. Furthermore, through extensive research, she highlights how the institution and campus life are changing over the length of the five-year grant. Dr. Kostarelos has focused her scholarship on the anthropology of religion, and specializes in the study of American Evangelicals and Orthodox Christianity in America and Greece. She is the author of Feeling the Spirit: Faith and Hope in a Black Evangelical Storefront Church, University of South Carolina Press, 1995, and numerous other articles.

Hellenic College Leadership

The President of Hellenic College, Rev. Nicholas Triantafilou, is fully committed to the program aims of the Lilly Endowment Inc. grant. He believes that every opportunity should be made for young women and men to explore their Orthodox faith in light of their personal goals, whether as a full-time matriculated student at Hellenic College or through one of the other programs sponsored by or at Hellenic College. He believes that developing a new generation of leaders for the Orthodox Church in North America is a primary educational objective of the College, and is particularly concerned about increasing the number of potential clergy for Greek Orthodox parishes in the United States.

Dr. Lily Macrakis, Dean of Hellenic College, earned her doctorate from Harvard University. Her experience in the education of college-aged students is extensive. Before accepting the position of Dean at Hellenic College in Fall 2002, Dr. Macrakis was a Professor of History at Regis College where she also served as Chair of the History Department. She has taught as a visiting professor in several universities including Harvard, Boston College, University of Aegean and University of Crete.