I have been moved over the last several years by the need for “refounding” our DePaul mission for our current and emerging context, if it is to endure for our next 125 years. [1] There has been a growing recognition of the need to deepen the integration of our Catholic and Vincentian mission into the fabric of our community and institutional practices if our mission is to be sustained in a meaningful way for the future. Since the mid-1990s, this pressing need has been identified in multiple institutional strategic plans. Every year, we move further in the direction of a need for this effort to be led and sustained primarily by laypeople. Those who work and study here at DePaul will ultimately steward this mission well into the future.
So, 126 years since our foundation in 1898, what is needed for a process of “refounding” our mission to take place?
One important step that has been well underway for many decades now is the ongoing, thoughtful study of and reflection on our history, including our original foundation and our evolving sense of purpose over time. We may trace our history as an institution to 1898. However, our roots go much deeper and trace back to the historical example and spirit of Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac in seventeenth-century France, and to the larger Vincentian Family that grew out of their life’s work. This family includes, for example, the Daughters of Charity and figures like Frédéric Ozanam, founder of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, which now includes over 800,000 laypeople throughout the world inspired by this same history and spirit. In this refounding effort, we should ask ourselves the perpetual question of how the original intuition and mission of Vincent and Louise, as contextualized by the history of their day, can be most faithfully lived out and re-contextualized for today.
We cannot go far in this reflection and the work of re-contextualizing the Vincentian mission without also refounding ourselves in a profound and relevant understanding of our Catholic identity. As the Catholic identity of Vincent and Louise inspired, guided, and shaped their lives and work, so also our Catholic roots remain integral to the very foundation, history, and unfolding identity of DePaul University. Without attention to our Catholic roots and the way in which they inform and ground the adjective “Vincentian,” we risk losing our fundamental orientation and the guardrails that keep us moving in the same spirit of Vincent and Louise, who sought to embody the love or “caritas” of God, as modeled in Jesus.
Because our mission ultimately lives in and is sustained by people, another essential aspect of any refounding of our mission comes in the engagement and ongoing formation of DePaul students, faculty, staff, and leadership. “Formation” is a concept often used in Catholic circles, essentially to mean the integral development of people, including their spiritual development. The strong and ongoing formation of people who are prepared to help integrate a sense of mission into their work is necessary to sustain the mission of the institution for the future. In our work in Mission and Ministry, we speak of the need to develop and support a distributed network of leaders for mission throughout the university community if we are to enliven our mission.
Finally, in thinking about refounding our mission, a vital energy source for this work ultimately lies in our individual and collective openness to personal renewal and transformation. Especially in a cultural epoch of rapid change, we need to commit, in an ongoing way, to deepening our own spiritual roots so that we can withstand the many challenges that such constant changes can bring and to respond effectively and faithfully to the needs and signs of the times.
Now, some questions for consideration:
· What do you believe is necessary for DePaul’s Catholic and Vincentian mission to be “refounded” in a way that positions us well to launch our next 125 years?
· What are the action steps you would suggest individuals, departments, teams, or the university take to solidify the integration of our Catholic and Vincentian mission into the life of the university?
· What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats that we need to consider as we engage in this process?
If you have any thoughts or ideas on these questions, I would appreciate hearing your comments.
Reflection by: Mark Laboe, Interim VP for Mission and Ministry
[1] The notion of the renewal or “refounding” of religious communities or institutions is based on historical evidence suggesting that those that have thrived over long periods have periodically been “re-founded” in ways that help them to adapt and remain relevant and vibrant in new historical contexts. The work of Gerald Arbuckle and Diarmuid O’Murchu suggests that the failure to evolve in new contexts leads to a rigidity and loss of dynamism that ultimately causes the demise of institutions. See: Gerald Arbuckle, Out of Chaos: Refounding Religious Congregations (1988), and Culture, Inculturation and Theologians: A Postmodern Critique (2010), and Diarmuid O’Murchu, Religious Life in the 21st Century: The Process of Refounding (2016).