Balance of excellent speakers with social time

Elizabeth Clines and John Daly of the Louisville Chapter are recipients of the 2021 Legatus National Program Chair of the Year Award. Their chapter has presented a variety of popular events and has experienced steady growth, and today has 70 members. Members meet monthly and have three forum groups, two for men and one for women.

Clines is a former board member who has helped organize chapter events. Her husband, Tom, is CEO of United Mail, which provides direct mail and marketing services. She was a co-founder of Corpus Christi Classical Academy in Simpsonville, KY, explaining, “I love evangelizing, and I thought it would be wonderful to open a school.” Established in 1999, Corpus Christi is an independent academy operated with the approval of the local archdiocese.

Daly is a retired executive from the restaurant industry. He is a current board member of the chapter. Both Clines and Daly are founding board members.

What have you done to make your monthly programs interesting to members?

Clines: One thing we agreed about early on that has proven popular is that our speakers address a wide variety of topics. We do have speakers on faith and evangelism, for example, but we’ll also have presenters on topics related to health and business. Our speakers are both priests and laity, and we’ve also welcomed some young people, like Franciscan University of Steubenville graduate Pete Burak.

How do you believe these programs have benefted you and your fellow members?

Clines: It has helped us to learn about and become more on fre for our faith. It is also an opportunity to meet new people who want to go out and make Christ more present in our community. It was a privilege to serve on the board and help organize these events.

Why do you think your meetings have been so successful?

Daly: Our board is interested in feedback. After each event we solicit participant feedback, and then we talk about it at our next board meeting.

As Liz mentioned, Pete Burak has been a popular speaker. Other favorites have included Sam Goodwin of St. Louis, who has a plan to visit every country in the world. He was held captive in Syria for two months, arrested for no other reason than he was an American. He said his faith sustained him.

Father John Bartunek of the Legionaries of Christ delivered the talk “Spiritual but Not Religious: How to Find Meaning in a Material World,” and was well received, as was Paul Kengor, who speaks on communism. Paul Voss, an associate professor at Georgia State University, gave a popular presentation on ethical decision making.

Liz’s two daughters, Colleen and Maggie Clines, gave a wonderful presentation on the Anchal Project, a nonproft they created for women in India that gives them a pathway out of the sex trade. Tey make and sell clothes, bags, and quilts.

As much as we enjoy our speakers, in past years we have had nights in which we have had no speaker and socialize for the evening instead. When we have a speaker, our schedule is pretty quick, and we don’t always have the time to hang out and talk with one another as we would like. We’re going to have two such nights in 2022.

What venues have you used to present your events?

Daly: In recent years we’ve made use of country clubs, as restaurants haven’t been able to accommodate a group of our size. We get as many as 65 people turning out for our events.

How has Legatus beneftted you personally?

Daly: I have appreciated the opportunity to make some nice friends. I’ve also been inspired by meeting people who take their faith seriously and want to grow in it. We always have enjoyable, relaxing evenings with great speakers who challenge us.