“Insight of Pope Francis’ Recent Visit to Armenia”
The Trinity Men’s Union of Holy Trinity Church is pleased to have as its Guest Speaker, Ray Flynn, at its dinner/meeting on Monday, November 14, 2016, and welcomes the Greater Boston area community to attend. Ray Flynn, the former Mayor of Boston and former Ambassador to the Vatican, will give an “Insight of Pope Francis’ Recent Visit to Armenia.” The dinner/meeting, which will begin with the social hour at 6 p.m., followed by a losh kebab and kheyma dinner at 7 p.m., will be held in the Charles and Nevart Talanian Cultural Hall.
Ray Flynn was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican during the Clinton administration from 1993-1997. He is the former beloved Mayor of Boston, serving three terms from 1984-1993. While serving as Mayor, he helped raise millions of dollars of medical aid and assistance for the earthquake victims of Armenia. While ending his state visit to Russia, he made a detoured stop to Armenia and met with many top government leaders. He had developed many close personal friendships with a number of global leaders including Nelson Mandela, Michel Gorbachev, Pope John Paul, Lech Walesa and Mother Teresa.
“I first met former Mayor Flynn in December 1988 in Armenia,” recalls Fr. Vasken A. Kouzouian, Pastor of Holy Trinity Church. “It was in the weeks following the devastating earthquake that shook much of our homeland to its core. I was a student of the Gevorkian Seminary in Holy Etchmiadzin, when he arrived to deliver humanitarian aid from the people of the City of Boston. Having grown up in Boston, his visit was especially meaningful to me. I found him to be warm and endearing. He was genuinely interested in my life as a student so far from home. Ray Flynn has a way of putting people at immediate ease. Having accomplished so much in life, he has never lost his genuine nature and warmth. As the former Mayor of a city with a large Armenian population and Ambassador to the Vatican, it will be interesting to hear his perspective on Pope Francis’ recent visit to Armenia. Let us welcome this true friend of the Armenian people.”
Ray Flynn is a sought-after political advisor for both Democrats and Republicans alike as well as a religious commentator, and a frequent guest on many of the major news networks. He was an All American Academic Basketball Player at Providence College and an Honors student at Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He has received 17 Honorary Doctorate Degrees from leading universities. He is also a best-selling author of The Accidental Pope and John Paul II, A Personal Portrait of the Pope and the Man. He remains active in sports, coaching Special Needs children in baseball and soccer, and is a leading advocate of adult stem cells and bio-ethical issues in medical research, as one of his grandsons was born with a rare neurological disorder.
Donation for the dinner is $15 per person; reservations are required by Sunday, November 13, by emailing David Dorian at tmuhtaac@gmail.com, or calling the Holy Trinity Church Office, 617.354.0632.
