Winter 2011 - Hellenic College

TA
Holy Cross Spotlight
“The Church is a body
with many different
needs. We need to
reflect on how to
contribute, but need
to be imaginative with
how we serve.”
-Perry Hamalis (SOT 1996)
For many of our Hellenic College Holy Cross
alumni who have graduated over the 75-year
history of our school, ordination is the path that
they have undertaken as a way to serve Christ
and His Church. While there is no doubting
the nobility and holiness of this sacred vocation
within the life of the Church, many of our
HCHC lay alumni, both male
and female, have also taken up
Perry Hamalis
the yoke of ministry by utilizing
their God-given talents in other
ways. Perry Hamalis is one such
example. He holds the Cecelia
Schneller Mueller Chair of
Religion at North Central College, a Methodist
affiliated school in Naperville, IL. Although he is not ordained, Perry is still very much involved in ministering and
teaching others about the Orthodox faith in a religiously diverse academic environment.
Perry Hamalis grew up in Elmhurst, and attended Holy Apostles Church in Westchester, Illinois, where he was
baptized by the much-loved protopresbyter, Fr. William Chiganos. He later went to Boston College for his
undergraduate studies, majoring in philosophy. During this time, he developed close friendships through OCF with a
number of the seminarians who were already attending HCHC. He recalls that he would receive rides to the campus of
HCHC while he was at Boston College, and would often attend services in the Holy Cross Chapel. As a result of his
familiarity with the student body and his exposure to the “Holy Hill,” he experienced a very smooth transition when he
enrolled at Holy Cross as a seminarian in 1992.
8 Together Again December 2011