Inside this issue:
The Vincentian Mission In Kenya
Leadville, Colorado ...Revisited!
African Novices Find A Home In St. Louis
Also visit:
Toward A Brave New World...
The Vincentian Mission
Mary Sturgeon gave this speech at the Summer Commencement ceremonies for DePaul University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in June 2003. Mary had taken part in a Vincentian Heritage course and trip to France a few months earlier.
"Today our lives are forever changed. We have something no one can take away from us: a college education. Today calls for great celebration but we must also commit ourselves to justice.
The question is: How do we do that? It's called the Vincentian mission and we've all heard about it throughout our years at DePaul, but I'd like to tell you more about it.
As you know, DePaul University was named after St. Vincent de Paul, who lived in 17th century France. Vincent believed in the basic human dignity of every person and he put his belief into action by loving and serving the poor. Most importantly, he and his friend Louise de Marillac called others to do the same. In keeping with this tradition, we have been given an education grounded in morals and values in the hopes that we will respond to Vincent's call to serve.
Whether we are first generation college students or come from a long line of college graduates, whether we got our degree because of financial assistance or were lucky enough to have families who could afford our tuition, whether we studied too much or not enough, we are all here today, each one of us a beneficiary of the Vincentian mission.
With us, are the faculty, staff, family and friends that have challenged us to look at the world in new ways so that we can use what we have learned to change the hearts and minds of others as well as the socio-economic structures that cause oppression.
We must remember that while we receive our degree, there is an 11-year-old boy who, because of a lack of teachers and resources, still cannot read. There is a mother who cannot feed her children and a man who cannot get an operation because his minimum wage job provides no health insurance. We are called to ensure that everyone in this world has access to the same opportunities that have brought us here.
This past December, I went on a DePaul service immersion to El Salvador where I had the privilege of meeting a Jesuit priest named Dean Brackley. In 1997, more than five years after the Peace Accords were signed, Brackley said, 'There's a marvelous sanctity and generosity and charity, side by side with appalling contempt for the dignity of others, especially the poor. Both are present. It's a country that wears the paschal mystery on its sleeve. There's dying and rising going on, with a crucifixion at every corner and a resurrection on every block.'
My prayer today is that every one of us can be part of the resurrection Ð a resurrection of hope, of love and of justice. I hope that as we make a better life for ourselves, we lift others with us. It is not enough if our education only benefits us, our families, our city, our country. We must help everyone reclaim their dignity. We are called to let them know that we love them, that they deserve better and then we must help them access what is rightfully theirs.
When I look at my fellow students in this room, I see people who will be entering professions where we will have a profound impact on others. I see artists, authors, social workers, policy makers and scientists in this room. That is, of course, if we can find jobs.
However, we will never be truly happy in our lives as long as we allow people around us to suffer. We must always keep in mind that everything we do has an effect on someone else.
Let's heed the advice of St. Louise: '...be sure you are not depriving your poor. Always look to their needs and give them the best you have; it belongs to them.'
Let's use our education for the sake of those who have been denied one. Let us share our blessings so that we may go forth and bear fruit.
Most importantly, we can rest assured in the fact that we are not alone; we have the strength of the worldwide Vincentian family to lean on because in following in Vincent's footsteps, we have become Vincentians.
As we discern our vocations, may our goal be to build a just world. We are called to form relationships, like the friendship between Vincent and Louise, so that we may love more. In doing so, we will feel that the struggles of the poor are our own. Then, we will be compelled to act.
My brothers and sisters, I urge you to respond to St. Vincent's plea: 'Come now, let us engage ourselves with a renewed love to serve the poor, and let us even seek out the poorest and most abandoned of all.' Then, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, we will see a resurrection — a resurrection of hope, of love and of justice. Thank you."
Vincentian is published bimonthly by the Midwest and Southern Provinces of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentian Priests and Brothers, to promote the apostolic works of its members and those of the larger Vincentian Family.
Congregation of the Mission, Vincentian
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