“Let your leaves fall and return. Oh darling, the seasons are your friend.”
~ Sia
One of my favorite songs is “Death by Chocolate” by Sia. The lyrics offer reassurance that grief and despair are temporary. They also offer comfort, inviting us to imagine leaning on someone who is there to listen, provide a shoulder, and offer wisdom. “Lay your head in my hands… this is only for right now.… Let your leaves fall and return. Oh darling, the seasons are your friend.”
Sometimes when I experience feelings of being overwhelmed, or helpless, or hopeless, I often turn to the lessons of nature. We can all think of moments wherein we are lost in the enormity of nature. One of nature’s most beautiful and spectacular performances, for me, is the fall season with its bright colors of changing leaves across the blue skies. Fall reminds me that moving through something is possible, yet often not easy. Consider the brilliance in the trust leaves seem to have, bursting brightly at their best, then letting go, and falling. Only, then they return in spring, emerging stronger and greener for another season. I have found this recent fall season to be quite breathtaking and must remind myself to be present in the moment, knowing this stunning moment will soon pass. Embracing the seasons as a reminder of life’s challenges also emphasizes the value of leaning on community. When the world can feel fraught due to uncertainty or unsteadiness, I take solace in connecting within the DePaul community.
By leaning on one another, may we grow in the capacity to maintain love, respect, and acceptance and find the way to hold onto hope in the changing seasons.
Reflection Questions:
What ways do you fill your reservoir?
What ways can you build in time as we near the end of the quarter to reconnect with colleagues who are a part of your support system?
What sources of wisdom do you draw on to gain greater perspective as you move through the changing seasons of life?
Resources, News, Events and Happenings related to the integration of DePaul’s Vincentian mission into the ongoing life and work of the university community.
How can we embrace the power of silence and the humility of acknowledging what we don’t know to expand our conscience, creativity, and cooperation in our work and in our DePaul community? …read more
Join us along with Professor Christina Rivers (Political Science) and Dr. Howard Rosing (Executive Director, The Steans Center) as these long-time DePaul community members explore their unique and transformative work for social justice and their professional and personal resonance with DePaul’s Vincentian mission!
Join us for an “Open Space” experience with other DePaul managers (of pro staff) to focus on the topics and questions most important to you! Register here
“Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.”
From An Cailín Ciúin/The Quiet Girl, based on the novella Foster by Claire Keegan
My personal relationship with silence is complicated. For many years in what was otherwise a happy childhood, I dealt with an overwhelming shyness. I have many memories of desperately wanting to speak but being unable to, whether I was speaking to individuals or groups, even if those people were familiar. This affected my academics, my extracurricular activities and participation, and my relationships with others.
The person I was then could never imagine that I would go on to several careers (law, preaching, and teaching) that would all require frequent public speaking and encounters with new people. I was able to overcome a paralyzing shyness by facing those fears directly and ultimately by having a profound love for my faith, for teaching, and for people. The process of learning to speak has given me two important gifts: the ability to speak up when it is beneficial, but also the ability to choose silence. Choosing to be silent is much different than being unable or afraid to speak, or not being allowed to speak. There is a power in chosen silence.
Many of us are invested in our ability to speak because it provides us with our sense of worth. Being able to speak on demand and having the answers can make us feel special. Indeed, I consider these profound gifts. But I’ve also had to learn to be secure enough to choose silence. To admit when I don’t have the answers. A famous story about the early Muslim scholar Imam Malik b. Anas (711–795 CE) describes a man who journeyed for six months to reach Imam Malik so he could ask about a pressing matter on behalf of his people. The great Imam responded to his question (or in some narrations, to his many questions), “I don’t know.” The man asked him, “What shall I tell my people?” The response came, “Tell them that Imam Malik said, ‘I don’t know.’”[1]
When we have wisdom to share or a perspective to contribute, we should do so. That is a precious gift to our community and to our world. We should not, like my younger self, remain silent out of fear. But perhaps we should not speak out of fear either. We should not speak out of insecurity or the need to say something. Perhaps we can recognize the power of chosen silence. One of the insights of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam was that those who want good for the marginalized must sometimes take a break from lecturing and listen instead: “The knowledge of social well-being and reform is to be learned, not from books, nor from the public platform, but in climbing the stairs to the poor man’s garret, sitting by his bedside, feeling the same cold that pierces him, sharing the secret of his lonely heart and troubled mind.”[2]
The benefits that flow from chosen silence are many. There is a humility in silence, especially in the face of questions. The theologian Ruben Rosario Rodriguez recently visited DePaul and spoke about how the humility to admit what we don’t know or even cannot know can be a key entry point to gaining the trust of those who are a bit cynical about arrogant claims to have all the answers.[3] The humility of chosen silence allows us to listen. To listen to others, to colleagues, to students, to those who have experiences different from our own. To listen to the internal voice of one’s heart. To listen to the signs of creation or to the divine call of Providence.
We often fill silence with noise. Perhaps we do so out of anxiety, but this only leads us to be more anxious and unsettled than ever before. I think of people in the time of Vincent writing a letter and then waiting days, weeks, or longer for a response. We may think we would go out of our minds, but perhaps such a conversation by correspondence would be all the richer for consisting of well-chosen words surrounded by much silence, by much listening and contemplation. Perhaps even when times or our roles may seem to call for (re)action, we can benefit from taking a pause to listen and to reflect, and in a little time, we can find a better way together.
Reflection Questions:
In your own role at DePaul, what are times when you can benefit from silence? What are times that you need the courage to speak?
What are the benefits of silence that you have found in your own professional or personal experience? What is the history of your own relationship with silence?
Reflection by: Abdul-Malik Ryan, Assistant Director Religious Diversity and Pastoral Care and Muslim Chaplain.
[2] Attributed to Ozanam in His Correspondence by Right Reverend Monsignor Louis Baunard. See, Raymond L. Sickinger, Antoine Frédéric Ozanam (Notre Dame Press, 2017), p. 235.
[3] His recent book is Theological Fragments: Confessing What We Know and Cannot Know About an Infinite God (Westminster John Knox Press, 2023), 262 pp.
Resources, News, Events and Happenings related to the integration of DePaul’s Vincentian mission into the ongoing life and work of the university community.
Join us for an “Open Space” experience with other DePaul managers (of pro staff) to focus on the topics and questions most important to you! Register here
Even amid feelings of despair, there is always a way toward a new reality where life can triumph and flourish.
I know that I am not alone in finding myself stuck in some confusion and despair over the troubling conflict in the Middle East. These events are a stark reminder of the pain and destruction that violence and injustice can breed. Most of us learn about the harsh realities there primarily through shocking videos and images, leading to feelings of powerlessness and anguish because we are oceans away. Yet it is important to be aware of these realities rather than to avoid them, and to center our compassion and concern on all the people impacted. It would be inhuman of us not to do so.
As a Catholic Christian, I am steeped in a narrative of resurrection and the eternal possibilities of life and light present in the face of darkness. I find hope in knowing that another world is possible other than one filled with violence and destruction. I have learned repeatedly in my life that in moments of despair and helplessness, we can always regain some sense of agency by beginning with the reality immediately before us, with the people around us, and with the vision of life that we believe we must help create, enable, and sustain. The road ahead can be long, hard, and complex. Yet if we are open to it and courageous enough to pursue it, it is always possible to work toward a justice and peace that enables all life to flourish, reflecting the creative dream and intention of our God.
I am certain that we, at DePaul, can create a kind of community that does not replicate the harm of the broader society. Because our walls are porous by design, we cannot help but be influenced in powerful ways by the injustices that surround us in our world. Yet, with careful intention, we also can work toward a different way of being together, one that accepts deep difference and conflict while being open to deeper understanding and change. We can model among us what we hope to create.
Vincent de Paul’s spirituality is what Catholic Christians speak of as “incarnational.” That is, Vincent believed that faith is ultimately made evident in concrete action. He spoke often of virtues, which are essentially the consistent embodiment of our aspirational values and ideals. In fact, this is what Vincent de Paul saw and most revered in the example of Jesus, who incarnated the presence and love of God. Vincent de Paul believed we are called to do the same. Furthermore, Vincent suggested, God supports and accompanies us in the process, helping us toward the realization of an integral human development and flourishing.
Inspired by our Vincentian mission, we always strive toward larger goals, such as the sustainability of our planet, an end to violence, and the alleviation of poverty and injustice. We act for systemic change that can make the flourishing of life possible for all, with particular attention to those who have been marginalized or abandoned. We work to bridge the gap between what is and what we dream of.
The way to that desired end may best be achieved by seeking to create locally the human community that we feel called to bring into being globally. If it is ever to come about, the larger change we seek must be accompanied by change within and among us.
Reflection questions:
What is the human community and the world you believe we are called to help bring into being here at DePaul? How can your actions reflect the end that we seek?
Reflection by: Mark Laboe, Associate VP for Mission and Ministry
Resources, News, Events and Happenings related to the integration of DePaul’s Vincentian mission into the ongoing life and work of the university community.
This event (on Tuesday, October 24 · 3:30 – 6:30pm CDT in the LPC Student Center Room 314AB) will focus on learning sustainable practices, social justice measures, community engagement, and Halloween fun! There will be a display of eco art, dozens of tables, (sign up to table here) hors d’oeuvres, and an ethical Halloween costume swap.
Sustainability Art Needed
Just DePaul is asking for DePaul members (students, facility, staff, alumni, etc) to submit their eco and social justice art for display at the upcoming Sustainability celebration!
Join us and author, documentarian and DePaul faculty member Kelly Richmond Pope for a lively conversation about the stories, scams and secrets of the trillion dollar fraud industry as well as the lessons in vulnerability, protection and empathy she learned while writing her book “Fool Me Once.” We hope you will join us! Please gather for a tasty meal and a timely conversation to learn and share how our mission will lead us forward. RSVP here
If you have responded to the current migrant crisis in Chicago (through direct service, in the classroom, through research, advocacy, etc.), please help DePaul by responding to Just DePaul’s brief survey so we can compile an inventory of actions by DePaul community members and consider institutional coordination for efforts in addition to the work consistently being done by areas like DePaul’s Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic and the DePaul Migration Collaborative as well as within courses throughout the university.
Did you know that among higher education, October is Sustainability Month? Join Just DePaul as we help facilitate and host many various events throughout the month of October.
(See our full calendar of events below and visit our Linktree)
Over its 400-year history, the Vincentian Family has been no stranger to uncertain times. When Saint Vincent’s confrères—scattered, hiding, and hunted in Revolutionary France—faced the loss of their fellow priests, ministries, and motherhouse of Saint-Lazare, they leaned into uncertain and dangerous times, trusting in one another and in the Spirit. Today, we at DePaul University face uncertain times. The summer brought record heat, drought, wildfires, and rains across the globe. In the United States, as in many other parts of the world, economic disparities have left billions of people locked within dehumanizing poverty. The emergence of Artificial Intelligence portends seismic changes in higher education, numerous industries, and most aspects of our personal lives. What must be done?
Pope Francis addressing Congress September 2015. He called for an end to the death penalty and the arms trade, for compassion for immigrants and the poor and a global response to climate change. Photo credit: Susan Melkisethian
As we move forward with Designing DePaul, we have an opportunity to help shape the future during uncertain times by responding to Pope Francis’ call in Laudate Deum “… to accompany this pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world.”[1]
Our Vincentian Family is called to respond to these and other challenges with vision and a commitment to equity, sustainability, and nonviolence. And we at DePaul University are uniquely situated to respond. We are rooted in the global city of Chicago. Our faculty, students, and staff represent countries and cultures from across the globe. Our alumni and community partners, situated in places near and far, are engaged in perhaps every conceivable industry. We are a global community, gathered for the sake of the mission, alive in this moment of history to respond to the signs of the times.
As you move through today’s uncertainty, consider how your experiences and gifts can help to shape a more hopeful future. What personal commitments can you implement in your daily life? What institutional changes will you advocate for alongside colleagues? What societal shifts can DePaul University contribute to in solidarity with our global community?
Reflection by: Rubén Álvarez Silva, M.Ed. (He, Him, His), Director for Just DePaul, Division of Mission and Ministry
Resources, News, Events and Happenings related to the integration of DePaul’s Vincentian mission into the ongoing life and work of the university community.
Mission Monday
Photo Illustration by Jeff Carrion / DePaul University
Taking the Long View
What might the lessons of the past teach us about facing the hurdles of the present? Read More
Mission-Related Events and Happenings This Week
Are you a faculty or staff member who has a child attending DePaul as a student? This luncheon is for you, together with your student-child or just on your own. Join us to meet others who share a similar experience, and to hear words of wisdom from parent and DePaul colleague, Darryl Arrington, the event keynote speaker. Please share word of this event with others you know who are part of this unique community of DePaul colleagues!
Photo Illustration by Jeff Carrion / DePaul University
For the last several years, a group of dedicated managers has been meeting regularly to discuss how DePaul’s Vincentian mission can guide and inform our management practice. A central objective of the committee has been to consider ways in which we might invite DePaul managers to come together on a regular basis to network, share resources, build community, and support one another. Such discussions bore fruit this past May with the inaugural Vincentian Managers’ Forum that was attended by approximately seventy DePaul managers. The committee is now in the process of planning further forums when DePaul mangers will be invited to meet with their peers once again to connect with one another and reflect on the relationship between their work and our common Vincentian mission.
Having served as a manager at DePaul for twenty-five years, it has often occurred to me that a foundational pillar of Vincentian management is to help new staff reflect on what it means to be part of an unfolding Vincentian legacy and to situate themselves within the arc of DePaul’s history. This is especially important whenever we are confronted with challenging chapters in our DePaul story, such as navigating the recent budget deficit. What might the lessons of the past teach us about facing the hurdles of the present?
In contemplating this question, I consulted DePaul’s own record of our rich history, which was written to commemorate our centennial.[1] This collection of essays traces DePaul’s journey from “the tiny parish-based St. Vincent’s College on the north side of Chicago”[2] through many fits and starts, to the culmination of DePaul as the large, multifaceted institution of higher learning that we would recognize today. Through my research, I was astonished that amid the many successes and times of triumph in our history, there were also certain defining moments of adversity that threatened our very survival. However, as I read about these times and learned more about their circumstances, it became apparent that no matter how daunting the path ahead may have seemed, DePaul always managed to traverse these treacherous waters. It may have meant treading water for a while, but usually the university has not only survived but flourished.
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. When we do, echoes of old may tell us what we need to hear.
One such echo emanates from the early 1900s when DePaul was still in its infancy. During this period, “the financial panic of 1907 shrank both DePaul’s enrollment and its reputation among its creditors.”[3] As a result, by 1909, our “foundling university (now) found itself bankrupt.”[4] Clearly, this was not the end of the story though. During the next few years, DePaul managed to procure sufficient resources to continue its expansion and academic innovation. Indeed, just a decade later, the university was poised for solid growth.
Many years later, during the period of 1947–1948, another seeming insurmountable obstacle would arise when DePaul almost lost its accreditation as ruled by the North Central Association. This was due to a combination of factors such as DePaul’s “financial instability, its small number of faculty with doctoral degrees, its low per-student expenditures, and its inadequate library.”[5]
To rectify such gaps, a fundraising campaign was launched in 1952 which effectively bridged these shortfalls. Specifically, a significant number of PhD faculty were hired, and the library budget was increased. The crisis abated, and DePaul earned its accreditation.
I would hazard to guess that not many working here today would know of any of these struggles in our history. Yet such defining moments have helped shape contemporary DePaul. Indeed, the way in which DePaul weathered these crises and the innovation that brought us through these storms may have much to teach us still.
In reflecting on the peaks and valleys of our DePaul journey, it may serve us well to return to this small piece of wisdom that Vincent shared with his confreres long before the university’s naissance: “Never … be surprised at current difficulties, no more than at a passing breeze, because with a little patience we shall see them disappear. Time changes everything.”[6]
Reflection questions:
What has been a time in your personal or professional life when seeds of hope from the past have helped show you the way forward?
When was the last time you stepped back and took the long view? What pearls of wisdom did this action reveal to you?
Reflection by: Siobhan O’Donoghue, PhD, Director of Faculty and Staff Engagement, Division of Mission and Ministry
