MOBILE, AL — October 8, 2026 — National Philoptochos is proud to support Ronald McDonald House Mobile with a $91,351 grant establishing the Family Care Van, a new transportation program serving families whose children are receiving medical care in the Mobile, Alabama area.

The grant made possible the purchase of a new 15-passenger van, two car seats, and a wheelchair-accessible conversion, along with the first year of a part-time driver. Through this program, families will have daily transportation between Ronald McDonald House Mobile and USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital, as well as rides to other area hospitals, medical appointments, pharmacies, and, when needed, work. Twice-weekly shopping trips and occasional outings will help families care for their everyday needs while they are far from home.

For several years, families returning home from Ronald McDonald House Mobile have named transportation as the service they need most. For parents already carrying the weight of a child’s illness or injury, something as simple as a ride can mean being present at a child’s bedside, receiving their own medical care, or bringing home a needed prescription.

To celebrate this milestone, National Philoptochos President Debbie George traveled to Mobile alongside Metropolis of Atlanta Philoptochos President Effie Moraitakis, who were joined by Sarah Kalaris and Despina Koulianos. Together, they were welcomed by the Ronald McDonald House Mobile team to see the Family Care Van firsthand and celebrate the difference it will make for the families who call the House home during their time of need.

Speaking at the celebration, President George reflected on the meaning behind the organization’s name and the families at the center of this work.

“Philoptochos means ‘friend of the poor,’ and for nearly a century, the women of our organization have tried to live up to that name: showing up for families in the moments when they need it most,” said President George. “And there are few moments that ask more of a family than when a child is sick.”

Recalling the moment the grant was first awarded, she shared how seeing the van in person brought its purpose to life.

“At the time, it was a number on a page and a hope for what it could become. Standing here today, seeing it in person, it feels like so much more than that,” she said. “Because this van isn’t just a vehicle. It’s a ride to a treatment that can’t be missed. It’s one less thing for a tired parent to worry about. It’s a few quiet minutes together on the way to the hospital, and maybe, someday, the drive home.”

President George also extended her gratitude to the staff, volunteers, and supporters of Ronald McDonald House Mobile, thanking them for creating a place where families can feel held during the hardest chapters of their lives.

This grant is a testament to the devotion of Philoptochos members at the local level, who recognized the need in their own community and guided the application through the National Philoptochos grants process. Paul Giardina, Executive Director of Ronald McDonald House Mobile, shared his gratitude for their efforts, noting that the advocacy, generosity, and compassion of local members helped turn an idea into a service that will benefit families for years to come.

In closing, President George spoke directly to the women whose service made the day possible.

“To our Philoptochos sisters, here in Alabama and across the country, this is your love in motion,” she said. “Every gift, every fundraiser, every act of service made this day possible.”

The Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, Inc. is the philanthropic arm of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. With over 90 years of experience, Philoptochos has served communities in need through fundraising and charitable programs. The Society includes more than 400 active chapters nationwide. Learn more at www.philoptochos.org.

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Fr. John Chryssavgis, Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Throne and Executive Director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at HCHC, participated in an international conference organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chantilly, France, from October 5–8, 2026, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, held in Crete in June 2016.

The conference brought together scholars and representatives from Orthodox Autocephalous Churches to reflect on the Council’s decisions, documents, reception, and continuing significance for the life of the Orthodox Church.

Fr. John chaired a special panel devoted to the reception of the Council of Crete and the development of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s social document, For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church, published in 2020. The panel featured presentations by Rev. Dr. Nicolas Kazarian (Commission member for the document), Rev. Dr. Dietmar Schon (author of two books on the document) and Rev. Dr. Stephanie Dietrich (Faith and Order moderator of the WCC).

Fr. John also participated in the conference’s concluding session, which offered an assessment of the Holy and Great Council and considered its prospects for the future. 

Drawing on his experience as Press Officer of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Council of Crete and as facilitator of the Special Commission that produced the document, he addressed the relationship between the two, and between the principles of conciliarity and primacy in the Church.

Fr. John said the conciliar life of the Orthodox Church is “scarcely neat, rarely predictable, and hardly efficient,” because conciliarity “depends upon consensus rather than imposition, upon persuasion rather than domination.”

The Council of Crete, he said, offers a revealing example of this.

“Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew worked patiently and persistently with every Orthodox Autocephalous Church,” Fr. John said. “Yet patience did not mean passivity. His All-Holiness also knew when to stand firm: to uphold what had been agreed, to guide the completion of the documents, and ultimately to ensure that the Council actually took place.”

“The same pattern emerged with the document entitled For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church,” Fr. John continued. “Once again, the Ecumenical Patriarch encouraged consultation while maintaining direction.”

Now, For the Life of the World has generated translations in more than twenty languages, as well as articles, special journal issues, scholarly monographs, and international conferences. Interest that initially came largely from the ecumenical world, Fr. John said, is increasingly coming from within the Orthodox world. 

Describing how the two relate, Fr. John said the Council “asked what the Orthodox Church needs to say,” while the document “asked what those words mean for the life of the world.”

Fr. John then moved into a discussion of conciliarity and the Church’s future.

Recovering a genuine culture of conciliarity, he said, will require “patiently listening, humbly trusting, generously sacrificing, and sometimes boldly relinquishing inherited assumptions and entrenched habits.”

He urged the audience that we must acknowledge “we have largely lost the lived experience of conciliarity.”

“Synodality is not an event,” Fr. John said. “It is a culture. And culture, as Julien Green reminds us, “cannot be improvised.” It must be learned. It must be absorbed. It must be practiced.”

Fr. John also said Orthodox Christians should not fear the concept of primacy. 

“Synodality does not mean the absence of leadership,” he said. “Consensus does not mean paralysis. And communion does not mean that no one bears the responsibility to convene and coordinate, to guide and encourage, even—when necessary—to lead and insist.”

“We need the many; but we also need the one, the first. We need consultation; but we also need command,” Fr. John said. “We need consensus; but we also need courage.”

He concluded that the future of Orthodoxy does not lie in choosing between synodality and primacy, but in “recovering the proper relationship” between the two.

“The Orthodox Church will not become more conciliar by diminishing leadership; nor will leadership become more authentic by diminishing conciliarity,” Fr. John said. “Each requires the other. Each corrects the other. Each complements the other. And, at their best, each serves the communion of the Church.”

Fr. John closed by posing the question of “whether we can learn again how to walk together in the time and place we have been placed and entrusted by God.”

This, he suggested, is what conciliarity has meant all along.

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