Author: bcicirel

What are you doing with your life?

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If you’re anything like me, this question will send you into an existential tailspin as you try to reconcile who you are right now with the image of who you want to become. The funny thing about life, though, is that no one tells you how tough things will feel when you don’t end up at a dream job or what to do when you don’t fulfill the image of who you thought you’d be. It can all feel like a maze as you try to sort out the best direction for your life. Believe it or not, this is the same labyrinth that Louise de Marillac found herself in too.

Louise is the saint of social work and her story tends to get wrapped up in a neat bow: she was a widow who found her sense of purpose by working alongside Vincent de Paul to co-found the Daughters of Charity. Her legacy lives on today and she’s admired for her persistence and commitment to serving others, but the truth of Louise’s story is that she struggled, hard, facing questions about purpose and self-doubt. In fact, when Louise was a young woman one rejection shaped the entire course of her life. Louise had her path and her plans set; she was going to finish her schooling and join a convent. It was, for all intents and purposes, her dream job. But once she got to the convent, she was turned away, and we have good reason to believe that she was discriminated against because she was born out of wedlock. This rejection set the ball rolling in the opposite direction of what Louise had hoped. Instead of becoming a nun, her only option was to get married and begin her life as a wife and mother.

So, that’s what she did. Soon enough, the challenges of motherhood and being a wife to an ailing husband began to add up, and Louise was at her breaking point. What’s really interesting, though, is that the most pivotal moment of her life was her breaking point. Just as Louise was at her wits’ end struggling to find a way to move forward with her life, she received a revelation within the hallowed walls of the Church of St. Nicolas de Champs on the feast of Pentecost. Overwhelmed with frustration, Louise prayed for a sign, any sign, that could give her a shot at a life of fulfillment, service, and purpose. She sat there and pleaded to God for guidance. Just when she thought all was lost, He answered her prayer. She envisioned a life in which she saw herself serving the poor and living in community with sisters. This flicker of hope became her “lumière”—her guiding light.

As she sat inside the church in Paris, her doubts became quieter. Louise was to stay married and await her chance to take vows of poverty. Little did she know that her lumière was foreshadowing a future as a Daughter of Charity. Louise saw an opportunity, and she was going to make it manifest if it was the last thing she did. Sometimes, all you need is permission to dream up a new life, filled with opportunities and invitations to take matters into your own hands, and this was Louise’s.

Louise’s story and her lumière moment remind me that we need to trust the timing of our lives and embrace the unexpected pivots. Louise’s lumière gave her just enough hope to keep going—to keep envisioning a new version of the woman she dreamed of becoming. She prayed and meditated on this vision and with hard work and patience, she manifested a life better than the one she had dreamed of as a young woman.

Sometimes, you just have to throw out the original plan because what awaits you is bigger than you could have possibly planned for. I think a lot about Louise’s life path and what might’ve happened had she been accepted into that convent on her first try. She probably would’ve lived a quiet, pious life cloistered in the convent. She probably would’ve found her way, but Louise was meant to stand out, and although it made her life tougher, it was the fact that she didn’t fit the mold that made her so extraordinary. In the end, what made the Daughters of Charity remarkable was that they didn’t live a cloistered life. They preached, “The streets are our chapel,” and it is that very philosophy that helped lay the groundwork for a lot of modern-day social work in American society. It’s because Louise was able to meet people where they were that she revolutionized the way that we form each other through service and community.

I can’t help but think that life is less about the plans we make and more about saying yes to the things we love and promising ourselves to find a way to persist when we’re forced to pivot. Louise did and so can we. It wasn’t easy, but at her core she knew she had this desire to serve and to contribute to something bigger than herself. So, she followed those instincts, and she kept saying yes to the opportunities that let her live out bits and pieces of her lifelong dream until finally, she was living out that dream in full swing. Louise didn’t leave that church and instantly become the servant leader, girl boss she envisioned in her lumière. But she did walk away with some hope and the belief that she’d one day get to where she wanted to be. Until then, she had to inch herself toward that goal in any way that she could. She didn’t give up in the face of rejection and what felt like a dead end in life.

It’s so easy to look at our lives or career paths that didn’t work out and think we’ve failed and that we’ll never rebound from a mistake, but Louise and I are here to tell you to keep going, keep dreaming, keep fighting for the person you hope to become one day because this is a fight that is always worth it.

1 L.519, To Sister Anne Hardemont, (1658), Spiritual Writings of Louise de Marillac, 614-615.

Written by: Gracie Covarrubios, Admission Counselor, Office of Undergraduate Admissions

For the entire Louise Week Lineup including our daily events and 6-day virtual pilgrimage visit:

Saint Louise and Motherhood

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Homily for Sunday, May 9
Feast of St. Louise de Marillac and Mother’s Day
St. Vincent de Paul Parish

This year, Mother’s Day coincides with the Feast Day of Saint Louise de Marillac. In many ways, we have Louise to thank for our parish community. Without Louise, Vincent de Paul would not have made the impact he did during his life. Louise and Vincent worked side by side to serve the needs of those who were poor in seventeenth-century France, and Louise was a driving force in transforming the systems of charity that existed at the time. She and Vincent co-founded the Daughters of Charity, which was the first non-cloistered order of religious women. She was so effective and innovative in her work that she pioneered the field of social work and became the patron saint of social workers.

This is the version of Louise’s life that you might read on the back of her prayer card. It is neat, clean-cut, and orderly. And while it is all true, it is also incomplete. When Peter encounters Cornelius in the first reading today, he says, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” Louise, like all of our other saints, was a human being—complex, messy, real.

In these unsettled, tumultuous times, Louise’s humanity—her struggles, her perseverance, her faith—speaks to us the most.

Louise’s world looked similar to ours today. She lived through an epidemic, war, and civil unrest, and she saw firsthand the effects of a massive wealth gap which kept the rich in power and oppressed those who were poor. The suffering that she saw on the streets of France shaped her into a compassionate, driven, and strategic agent of change.

Louise was also formed by her own suffering. She never knew her mother and was rejected by her father’s extended family. As a child, she knew how it felt to be other-ized and unseen. When she was unable to pursue her dream of taking vows with a cloistered order of religious sisters, Louise’s family arranged a marriage for her. She had a son whose special needs left her feeling helpless in a society that did not yet understand alternative developmental needs. She nursed her husband through a terminal illness and was widowed by the time she met Vincent.

Anxiety and grief left an imprint on Louise’s life, just as they have left imprints on our lives in the last year. What we are surviving together as a human family—a pandemic, our country’s continued, generations-long systemic racism, an environmental climate reckoning—shapes us each day. For some of us, grief has entered into our homes through the loss of a loved one and the inability to mourn in community. For some, anxiety builds with the touch of each door handle, the fear of going to work in-person, the worry of job security and putting food on the table. Louise’s own journey with mental health teaches us the importance of remaining grounded in ritual, faith, something that is bigger than ourselves. As a healer and herbalist, Louise reminds us to center holistic care in difficult times and to tend to our bodies, minds, and spirits.

Louise’s story reminds us that we are not alone.

For all of the mothers in the pews or joining us virtually today who have counted down the minutes until your kids’ bedtime only to flip the baby monitor on every 20 minutes to peek at their sleeping faces, who have stayed awake worrying about the social and physical effects the pandemic will have on your kiddos, who have felt totally touched out and just need to go to the bathroom alone, who have known boundless joy at your children’s laughter, silliness, and wonder—Louise was also a mother. She sees you even in those moments when you feel that your work, your worry, your needs are unseen. She shares your delight when tiny hands slip acorns into your coat pocket and a soft voice whispers in your ear, “love you sooooo much, mama.”

Some joining us today might feel conflicted or heavy-hearted during the Mother’s Day blessing at the end of mass. You may have a strained relationship with your mother or child. You may not feel called to motherhood. Your pregnancy may have taken you by surprise and come with fear or confusion. You may struggle with fertility or carry the lonely, silent grief of pregnancy loss. Louise knows how it feels to be angry with God and wonder why her plans for her own life were not God’s plans. She walks with you in your uncertainty, and she will continue to accompany you when the road ahead comes into clearer view.

From time to time, I engage in a spiritual practice wherein I read a traditional sacred text with the perspective of God as a woman, as a mother. On this day when we remember Louise, who re-shaped what it means to be a woman in our church, and celebrate all women who share motherly love with the world, I would like to share this spiritual practice with each of you.

From the Gospel according to John:
As the Mother loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you honor my wishes, you will remain in my love,
just as I have honored my Mother’s wishes
and remain in her love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and your joy might be complete.
This is my wish: love one another as I love you.

Written by: Emily LaHood-Olsen, Ministry Coordinator, Division of Mission and Ministry

For the entire Louise Week Lineup including our daily events and 6-day virtual pilgrimage visit:

Louise de Marillac

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Here’s the thing. If you just “read” this about this powerful God-filled woman, Louise de Marillac of the seventeenth century, you’ll come away with a few tidbits of—what to call it— “interesting information.” Good enough. BUT… if you approach the life of Louise in a prayerful way, your interaction with her spirit just might inspire and enliven you to new ways of living your own life. Maybe not right away, but what you learn about her might sit like a pulsing little seed in your imagination, the part of you that’s always picturing how you want to live and who you hope to become.

That’s the thing about us as humans made in the image of God: we’re always capable of becoming more than we are. Another thing about us is that we are deeply relational beings. We’re wired to connect. For instance, I feel a special connection to the pansies I planted and to the birds that come to my feeder.

So much for flowers and birds… what about connecting with a saint like Louise de Marillac?

Here’s the big “Louise Spark” that enlivened me as I read about her in preparation to write this article. It was a real “Geez Louise” realization! A favorite expression I’ve had since I was a kid, I now feel happy to apply it to a real Louise in my life.

As I read about this great lady with her steadfast-trusting-God pioneering spirit, training and guiding the Daughters, I had what Louise called a “Lumière.” I realized that if she hadn’t actively collaborated with Vincent to birth a new form of religious life, one which combined prayer and service of others, I wouldn’t be a Sister of St. Joseph today. The Daughters of Charity burst into history in 1610, and right on their heels, my congregation came into being in 1650. Which—praise Jesus—set about teaching young women, eventually sending them across the Atlantic, and over the course of 300 years, to St. Joseph Academy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana… and, blessedly, to me.

Prior to the Daughters, being a nun meant a cloistered life, and I would have died on the vine being confined inside convent walls like that. I would have had a nervous breakdown and no doubt driven everybody else crazy too. I wanted to be a nun because I wanted to TEACH (really wanted to teach, couldn’t wait to teach). This was because the nuns in my high school were super teachers, alive with faith and humanness and infectious humor, who challenged me to think critically, to stand up and speak in a public setting, and to be curious as all-get-out about the world and people and how God moves throughout it all. My nuns lured me in. Attraction is the way the Holy Spirit works, never the prod of “do your duty” or, worse, “you better do this or you’re going to feel sooo guilty.” So, yes, I was lured, and at age 18 I threw in my lot with the Saint Joes and haven’t looked back.

Thank you, Louise and Vincent. You did the hard work of plowing the furrow, which prepared the soil for other apostolic orders to spring up.

I’m still teaching, sometimes in classrooms, like when I come to DePaul, but also to audiences around the world about human rights. This is what has led me to entrust my archives to you here at DePaul, and to visit with you for a week of sharing each year. It is the Christ-like spirit of the Vincentians that brought me to you and keeps me coming. I love the pictures and quotes of Louise and Vincent that are all over campus. Their spirit permeates every nook and cranny and, hopefully, these few words as well.

Geez Louise! Thank you.

A postscript from Sr. Helen

Check out my collection at: Sr. Helen Prejean Papers or visit Special Collections on the third floor of the library, open again in August 2021. Two wonderful women stand ready to assist you: Jamie Nelson and Morgen MacIntosh Hodgetts. Phone: 773-325-2167.

Reflection by: Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J.

This is Louise Week at DePaul! Learn more about the many activities of the week focused on sustaining the legacy of Louise de Marillac in our lives and work at DePaul and beyond!

 

Are “Thoughts and Prayers” Enough?

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“Pray as you can, not as you can’t,” said my professor as we students felt torn between different methods, none of which seemed to fit.

“I’ll pray for you and your girls,” I told my friend last week after she was hospitalized with four aneurisms.

“Thoughts and prayers are not enough!” say countless people after preventable tragedies happen and those tweeted words just seem so hollow.

Is prayer not enough? Is there a right way to do it?

I don’t think there is a best way to pray, but in an article on the subject Fr. Robert Maloney, C.M., writes in a clear and practical way about Vincent de Paul’s wisdom on prayer.1 It is very much worth a read, and two things particularly struck me when recently reviewing it.

The first is Maloney’s reminder that “Few things were as important as prayer in St. Vincent’s mind.” Vincent’s Common Rule called for an hour of mental prayer each day, and he spent considerable time giving practical guidance to his contemporaries about praying, much of which is still very timely.

The second point speaks both to those who call themselves Vincentian but don’t have a prayer practice or theistic framework, and to those who pray to connect to God. Four centuries ago, Vincent asserted that (in my interpretation) thoughts and prayers are essential, but indeed are not enough. Maloney relates, “He [Vincent] warns over and over again about regarding prayer as a speculative study. He cautions about its becoming an occasion for vanity or for ‘beautiful thoughts’ that lead nowhere.”

In an article on Vincent and prayer, Vinicius Teixeira Ribeiro, C.M., relates how Vincent cautioned his confreres: “it doesn’t suffice to have good affections, we must go further and be motivated to take resolutions to work seriously in the future.…”2 Ribeiro writes how prayer must be grounded in reality to create “prayerful, thinking and active people.” For Vincent, action was modeled on Jesus as known through the scriptures—serving the poor, leading with humility, working for God’s justice, and acting within a community of others.

I believe that in many ways, as Søren Kierkegaard said, “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” Yes, I pray for others. I pray for my friend in the hospital and for those suffering from Covid in India. I do think prayer matters and that prayers are “effective” in some real way, though I don’t know exactly how. But these days, I’ve been reflecting on prayer as a channel to change me: to strengthen me to do the things I need to do for justice, pay attention to the world as it really is, and to pause for inner wisdom to ensure that the actions I take are the right ones to the best of my understanding.

“Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” For those who feel called to do so—pray!

And, as we approach the National Day of Prayer on May 6th, know that millions of others across many religious and spiritual traditions are praying with you, and dare I hope, preparing themselves through prayer and thoughtful reflection to also take the right action.

1 Robert P. Maloney, C.M., “Mental Prayer: Yesterday and Today – Some Reflections on the Vincentian Tradition,” Vincentiana 39:2 (1995), available online at: Mental Prayer: Yesterday and Today.

2 Vinicius Teixeira Ribeiro, C.M., “Prayer According to Saint Vincent de Paul – Part III,” 19 April 2020, Famvin.org, at: Prayer According to Saint Vincent.

 

Reflection by: Katie Brick, Executive Assistant, Division of Mission and Ministry

International Symposium: Religious Orders, Public Health and Disease

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In the current Covid-19 pandemic context, the symposium will consider how religious orders have played a key role in societies that had to deal with diseases that disrupted their lives or were part of their almost everyday life. Many paths will be explored to promote religious orders’ dynamic historiography by emphasizing a comparative and transnational approach to their history. The scope of the symposium will range from the Black Death to the present day. The symposium will take place through video-conference. 

This symposium is co-sponsored by the Vincentian Studies Institute and is organized by the Department of Catholic Studies, Emanuele Colombo, and the Dennis Holtschneider Chair, Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée.

Click here to register for this event.

Registration ends May 18th.

Schedule:

Thursday, May 20, 2021
8:45-11:45 am, US Central Standard Time (CST)

  • Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée (DePaul University),
    “We can only be saved together” (Pope Francis): What can we learn from Pandemics?
  • Karen Scott (DePaul University),
    “Se la mortalità v’è”: Catherine of Siena’s Advice to Dominican Preachers in Times of Plague
  • Emma Wall (Durham University),
    Disease Management in an International Context: The Venerable English College and the 1656– 57 Plague Epidemic in Rome
  • Mateusz Zimny (Pontifical University John Paul II, Krakow),
    The Order of the Holy Spirit de Saxia and its Hospital in Krakow
  • Emanuele Colombo (DePaul University),
    Mission at the Time of Cholera: Jesuits in Nineteenth-Century Italy

Friday, May 21, 2021
8:45-11:45 am, US Central Standard Time (CST)

  • Kristien Suenens (KADOC-KU Leuven),
    Sisters and the ‘Blue Death’: Female Religious and Cholera-Epidemics in Nineteenth-Century Belgium
  • Anne Jusseaume (Université d’Artois),
    Female Congregations and Nineteenth-Century Cholera in Paris
  • Thomas Rzeznik (Seton Hall University),
    The History of Community Medicine at St. Vincent’s Hospital (NYC)
  • Francis Davis (University of Oxford),
    Witches, Wise or Diseased: Aspects of Being ‘Vulnerable’ in Rwanda and Singapore

 

Louise Week 2021

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In honor of Saint Louise de Marillac’s Feast Day on May 9th, the Division of Mission and Ministry invites DePaul students, faculty and staff to celebrate Louise Week 2021. Louise de Marillac lived in a time of great upheaval and crisis. Her life, grief, and loss have the power to speak to us during our own difficult times. In this current moment of loss, fatigue, burn-out, and isolation, Louise exemplifies holistic wellness. She calls us to spirituality, connection, and community care. Louise Week will tap into Louise’s legacy as a leader, healer, and activist to ignite and empower faith-in-action.

Join us May 9-14 to pause, connect, play, and sharpen your social justice tool kit. Read along with daily blog reflections, complete a virtual six-day pilgrimage, and attend many other events created to help our community connect and refresh. 

Follow along on social media for daily reflection and invitations to virtual activities and events:  Facebook  or Instagram @mmatmdepaul

Daily Blog Reflections

Connect with Louise’s wisdom as we move through a series of daily reflections grounding us in a holistic approach to leadership and community care. The themes explored from Louise’s life will reveal themselves to be just as meaningful today as they were during 16th century France. In her role as a wife, mother, religious sister, and activist, Louise can teach us lessons of resilience, selfcare, systemic change, and creative organizing.

Follow along on social media for daily reflections:
Facebook  or Instagram @mmatmdepaul

-or-

Visit “The Way of Wisdom” blog for daily Louise Week 2021 reflections:
https://blogs.depaul.edu/dmm/tag/louiseweek  

Louise Virtual Pilgrimage

Learn about St. Louise de Marillac’s life through a virtual pilgrimage! For six days, we’ll take you on a journey to places that represent defining moments through an interactive map leading you to short videos curated by our pastoral, faculty and alumni team. 

The root of the word pilgrim means stranger. When it comes to making a pilgrimage of any kind, we can think of this root meaning in two ways. First, each of us can feel like a stranger when it comes to figuring out our faith life, especially during these pandemic times. Second, the saints we go to meet along the journey of our pilgrimage are strangers until we encounter them. Let us go together as pilgrims, maybe starting off as strangers and ending up as members of a faith community. Let’s take the first step and get to know Saint Louise de Marillac.” ~Fr. Christopher Robinson, CM

Grab your virtual passport and head over to our pilgrimage page every day from Sunday, May 9th to Friday, May 14th: go.depaul.edu/pilgrimage

Events

Feast Day Mass
Sunday, May 9 | 10 am, 5 pm, and 8 pm
St. Vincent de Paul Parish (in-person)
1010 W. Webster Ave.
Livestream on Instagram: @depaulccm

All are welcome to a special liturgy in honor of the Feast Day of St. Louise de Marillac. For in-person Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, please register on our Facebook events page. Questions? Contact Matt Merkt: mmerkt@depaul.edu. 

Women’s Power: Waking Up to Justice
Panel with Sr. Helen Prejean & DePaul Student Advocates
Monday, May 10 | 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Register on DeHub: http://cglink.me/2cC/r13644

DePaul Community: Join us for a transformative conversation with anti-death penalty advocate and activist Sr. Helen Prejean as she shares how she discovered a path that centers human rights as an integral part of faith-in-action and responds to the question “What Must Be Done?” The conversation will be led by student leaders bringing unique perspectives on what it means to wake up to justice in response to our lives today. 

Get to Know a Daughter of Charity
Tuesday, May 11 | 10 am
Facebook Watch Party: @DPUStudentInvolvement

Students: You’re invited to a special interview with a Daughter of Charity, Sr. Angele Hinkley. She will share about the healing role of art in her work in prisons. This event is in partnership with the Mission and Ministry and the Office of Student Involvement. 

DePaul Women’s Network | High Tea with Louise
Tuesday, May 11th |  3:00 – 4:00 pm
Register on Eventbrite: bit.ly/LouiseHighTea

Faculty and Staff: Join the DePaul Women’s Network during our High Tea event for rejuvenating conversations, laughter and meditation. Take a break during your busy day and make space for self-care and connection with women across the university while sipping on some tea and learning about some of Louise’s favorite self-care routines, community reflections and more!

Lunch with Louise
Wednesday, May 12th | 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Register here: http://bit.ly/LunchwithLouise

Faculty and Staff:  You’re invited to a virtual “Lunch with Louise,” an adaption of our regular “Lunch with Vincent” bi-quarterly series in honor of Saint Louise de Marillac’s Feast Week! Our presenters will be Coya Paz Brownrigg from The Theatre School and Jackie Kelly-McHale from the School of Music. Themes will explore the intersection of the Arts, Diversity-Equity-Inclusion, and the Mission presented in a creative, conversational way. 

Wellness Wednesday with DePaul Health Promotion & Wellness
Wednesday, May 12 | 4:00 –  4:30 pm
Register on DeHub: http://cglink.me/2cC/r13044

Students: Join HPW and Meet Me at the Mission for a conversation sharing wisdom about Louise de Marillac’s relationship with herself and others related to the mind, body and spirit.  

Jeopardy Game Night
Wednesday, May 12 | 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Register on DeHub: http://cglink.me/2cC/r13795

Students: Join Louise Week partners for a night of trivia about fun categories like Louise, Disney movies, random animal facts, and more! 

Cafecito con Tepeyac with Community Peacemakers (CPM)
Thursday, May 13 | 3 – 4pm
Register on DeHub: http://cglink.me/2cC/r13032 

Students: Join Cafecito con Tepeyac and the Community Peacemakers for a restorative justice peace circle to honor Louise’s Lumiere experience and reflect on what grounds us in hope. Participants who attend will receive a Bright Endeavor’s candle with a quote by Louise provided by Meet Me at the Mission.

Virtual Dinner with the Daughters
Thursday, May 13 | 5 pm 
Join us on Zoom: bit.ly/vinfamchatsSQ

Students: Join Meet Me at the Mission, Vincentians in Action, Res Ed and Daughters of Charity from around the country for a virtual dinner and conversation about St. Louise de Marillac’s living legacy of community and systemic change. Participants who attend will receive Louise goodies in the mail provided by Meet Me at the Mission.

 

Channeling Grief into Love and Service

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Photo courtesy of Maura Sullivan

“Love one another, bear with one another, support one another, and be united in the Spirit of God.”1     Vincent de Paul

April is a weird month for me and has been for a long time. On a sunny spring day twenty-two years ago, gun violence overturned my life, my family’s lives, and the lives of everyone in my community. I was a student at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999. While I cannot articulate fully the impact of that day on my life, I would like to share a little about how it shaped me. I write this also as our country today repeatedly reels from gun violence in all its insidious forms, from police shootings of unarmed persons of color, to mass shootings, to communities daily experiencing the traumas that come with gun violence in their neighborhoods.

I’m sharing this deeply personal and private part of myself because in so many ways it led me to DePaul and to the work I do in the Division of Mission and Ministry.

As a high school student struggling to process the emotions involved in experiencing significant trauma, I discovered the joy I felt in helping others as so many helped my community in the aftermath of our tragedy. That joy led me down many roads, including the one that leads to DePaul. I connected my faith to service and helping others and ended up working in ministry in higher education. I helped students passionate about service as they processed their experiences, sometimes connecting service to their faith and spiritual journeys as well. Along the way, I have learned a thing or two, discovered more just ways of connecting with communities, and been reminded that because of the color of my skin, I have had opportunities to process my trauma that people from some communities never get.

The work I currently do in the Division of Mission and Ministry involves coordinating Vincentian Service Day (VSD), what I like to think is one of DePaul’s greatest traditions. Last year, when our world was first rocked by the pandemic, I couldn’t imagine moving Vincentian Service to a remote event, yet we did so successfully. Now, it’s one year later and we are about to have our second remote VSD. Though we have remained physically distant and we may be feeling the sting of ongoing physical isolation, community is still very real and very necessary. We can “love one another, bear with one another, support one another” much like the Columbine community did for each other in 1999.

We all have our own stories, our own motivations, our own reasons for being on the paths we are on. I hope my story will lead you to consider participating in DePaul’s 23rd annual Vincentian Service Day. On Vincentian Service Day, you can channel whatever you may be feeling after more than a year of grief and anger into service, and into a way of loving and supporting one another.

Registration closes for Vincentian Service Day tonight, Monday, April 26th at 11PM. For more information about participating, visit: http://serviceday.depaul.edu; or email: serviceday@depaul.edu.

1 Letter 1930, To Several Priests of the Mission, [Around October 1655], CCD, 5:441.

Reflection by: Katie Sullivan, Ministry Coordinator, Vincentian Service & Formation, Division of Mission and Ministry

A Vincentian Call at this Moment

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At this moment in time, the Division of Mission and Ministry recommits to the principle of justice. For the families and communities of all those directly impacted by systemic oppression, police brutality and the plethora of mass shootings and gun violence that have cut short the lives of many, we continue to grieve, to be outraged, to pray, and to act. In living out the Vincentian question, What must be done, we recommit ourselves to never ceasing in our struggle for justice. Our work is the work of connecting contemplation and action – centering marginalized voices and ennobling the dignity of all. Our Mission and Ministry staff continues to be here to listen, to believe, to accompany, and to walk together.

As well at this moment, we share a powerful result of communally connecting prayer and action. In February of this year, DePaul’s Division of Mission and Ministry along with our Muslim student group UMMA and the local nonprofit organization IMAN hosted a Virtual Fast-a-Thon, in which people were invited to experience fasting as a spiritual practice connected to building solidarity and working for social change. Our special guest was Cariol Horne, a former Buffalo (N.Y.) police officer who had been fired from her job after intervening to stop abuse by another officer in 2006. As a result of her firing, Cariol also was prevented from collecting her pension. Cariol has never stopped struggling for justice, both in her case and in the wider cause of preventing police abuse. Her case, and her struggle received renewed attention in the wake of the George Floyd case and other prominent cases which raised questions about why police officers didn’t intervene to stop abuse by other officers. In late 2020, Cariol’s Law was passed in the city of Buffalo to obligate officers to intervene to stop abuse and protect them from retaliation after doing so as well as other systemic police reforms which can serve as a model for other jurisdictions.

During Fast-a-Thon after reflecting on her own experience of fasting for the day of the event, Cariol was asked how she was able to persevere in her struggle for justice for so long. She spoke about her children and her community. She shared how deeply it affected her when she heard of others who had given up on constructive change and lashed out in ways that were destructive to others or to their own selves. She said she wished that they had known of her own campaign and that people like her were struggling and she was moved by the solidarity of others and the attention her case was finally getting. Last week, as the sacred fasting month of Ramadan began, we received the good news that Cariol had prevailed in her court case, that she would receive formal reinstatement and back pay that would allow her to receive her pension. (For more information on Cariol’s case and Cariol’s law visit cariolslaw.com).

We are called by our Vincentian Mission to connect contemplation and action – to be in solidarity with those who are marginalized, oppressed and suffering. We recognize the limitations of our own individual experiences and perspectives and experience the great wisdom and inspiration that are gained in encounter and solidarity across social divides. We strive to take part in efforts that sustain struggles against injustice and work constructively toward nonviolent systemic change. We firmly believe that all people of goodwill joining together in such efforts is the way forward, a path that is steep and difficult at times, but filled with beautiful rewards.

 

Photo: Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune

Healing the World We Call Home

bcicirel Mission Monday , ,

In a conversation with a student recently together we wondered if any good could come out of a pandemic. It took a bit of time, but eventually we were able to move past our assessment of this very difficult past year. In so doing, we found ourselves smiling over the goodness almost lost in the cacophony of pandemic chaos.

One of the bright spots we found has to do with the beauty of blossoming spring days. Because of the pandemic, our earth has been able to take a deep breath. The signs of relief are apparent in skylines no longer hidden by smog and toxins, waterways sparkling with freshness and life, and forests exhaling ever more cleansing breaths. The earth has received a moment of reprieve from the abuse that millions of its citizens heaps upon the environment daily.

Soon we will celebrate two days set aside to remind us to be kind to our environment, Earth Day and Arbor Day. These days invite us to change our habits, plant trees, stop wasting natural resources, and wake up to the fact that we can and must change our relationship with our planet. As we prepare for these special April days let us take a moment to ponder how we care for our neighbors and ourselves through caring for creation.

When we honor the gifts that the earth showers upon us, we honor our human family. When we care for, share, and serve as good stewards of those gifts, we engage in charity toward all of humanity and all of creation. Simply put, our own Vincentian vision for the world must include a commitment to caring for creation.

St. Vincent knew that the work of justice was tedious and difficult, but he offered a simple recipe for serving as change agents in the world: “ . . . one must be firm and unchanging with regard to the end but gentle and humble as to the means.”1

In caring for one another by loving the earth and the heavens, our work must include a firm and unchanging commitment that we cannot neglect once we reach the other side of this pandemic. As Vincentians we must make a commitment to be gentle and humble in our walk with creation. We must also remain firm and unchanging in our resolve to continue healing this planet we call home.

Make a plan. What will your gentle and humble walk with our planet mean for you? What kind of commitment can you make to enable the earth to continue healing? How can your Earth Day (April 22) or Arbor Day (April 30) expressions be visible witness to your commitment to caring for creation?

1 Letter 618, To Francois Dufestel, Superior, In Annecy, 20 September 1642, CCD, 2:332.

Reflection by: Rev. Dr. Diane Dardon, D.Min., Director of Religious Diversity and Pastoral Care, Division of Mission and Ministry

Virtual Service Immersions: Solidarity in Distanced Times

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Over spring break, I had the opportunity to be a part of a Vincentians in Action (VIA) virtual service immersion to El Salvador. VIA, a program within the Division of Mission and Ministry, hosted four virtual immersions for students this spring: Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and El Salvador. Through the immersion program, I met over zoom with DePaul students, a staff leader, and two wonderful staff leaders from CRISPAZ.

Our immersion was hosted by CRISPAZ, or Christians for Peace in El Salvador. This organization works towards building solidarity and striving towards social change and justice in a nonviolent manner.

Over the course of four days, I learned about the Salvadoran civil war, forced disappearances, Óscar Romero, labor and women’s rights, migration, climate change, gangs, as well as many other topics.

However, these were not the only things I learned about. I also learned about how important it is to be patient and consistent in my activism. I learned about the importance of making activism sustainable. Carmen from the organization ORMUSA, which works to educate about labor rights and women’s rights, said something that has stuck to me ever since I left the final zoom call of my immersion in both laughter and tears, “Organize the anger. Defend the joy.”

I was pleasantly surprised by how virtual immersions seemed to so perfectly capture the essence of in-person immersions. I felt such a strong sense of community, and I left my immersion with much more knowledge about El Salvador’s history and current reality. I want to move forward by sharing the stories I’ve learned about in El Salvador and by continuing to embrace the community I’ve found there and here at DePaul.

The Vincentians in Action community offers service immersions to students over winter and spring breaks. If you’d like more information about immersions or other service opportunities, contact viatrips@depaul.edu. You can also follow @DePaulVIA on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

By Sarah Dababneh, DePaul Class of 2022