October 1, 2018
BOSTON - The Department of Religious Education of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese is pleased to announce the appointing of Katherine Orfanakos Demacopoulos as the new Archdiocese Chairperson and Betty Broogos Pizzi as the new Assistant Archdiocese Chairperson of the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival.
Katherine and Betty will be replacing our beloved chairpersons, Fr. John and Presvytera Margaret Orfanakos, of blessed memories, who dedicated much of their lives to the Oratorical Festival by serving as chairpersons for more than thirty years.
Katherine Orfanakos Demacopoulos, Archdiocese Chairperson, is the daughter of Fr. John and Presvytera Margaret Orfanakos. She grew up attending Oratorical Festivals the way other children attended baseball games. She attends St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church in Greenlawn, NY, where she has served as the parish Oratorical Festival chairperson for ten years and as the director of the youth choir for eleven years. Katherine has also worked for twenty-five years in software marketing. She currently serves as a vice president of marketing for CA Technologies.
Betty Broogos Pizzi, Assistant Archdiocese Chairperson, is a retired New Jersey educator who now resides in Naples, FL. She attends St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church, where she is the director of Sunday School and a member of the Philoptochos, the youth ministry team and the scholarship committee. Betty also organizes and supervises youth volunteers at her church festival, helping them earn community service credits required for graduation. Her love of the Oratorical Festival was inspired by Presvytera Margaret
Orfanakos many years ago. Together, they would generate topic ideas and provide writing and speaking workshops to the children of their parish. Today, Betty welcomes every opportunity to work with our youth and share her enthusiasm for the Oratorical Festival.
The Department of Religious Education looks forward to beginning the 2019 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival season and continuing to grow the program under our new leadership!
Presvytera Margaret Orfanakos of blessed memory (left) with her daughter Katherine Orfanakos Demacopoulos (right)