Every February 14th, no matter where I am, my mind travels back to my childhood and the Saint Valentine’s Day celebrations we had in grade school. The ritual was always the same. At the end of the school day, on cue, my classmates and I would excitedly remove our workbooks from our desktops and replace […]
“What a blessing to be a member of a Community because each individual shares in the good that is done by all!” — Vincent de Paul[1] When we pause to consider all that the world needs as we begin the year 2022, many would agree that, among other things, we certainly could use more people […]
Mission and Ministry’s Abdul-Malik Ryan published an op-ed in Visible Magazine talking about his work as a Muslim Chaplin here at DePaul. Below is an excerpt from the article: The world needs spaces where people who are different can live together and form deep relationships. They need to be with not just with people who […]
“What a blessing to be a member of a Community because each individual shares in the good that is done by all!”[i] When considering the continued vibrancy and sustainability of DePaul’s mission—especially in the context of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday— I like to think of the image of a potluck dinner in which each member […]
The great genius and the challenge of the Vincentian way lies in simultaneously bringing together a keen attention and care for the dignity and uniqueness of each person, particularly those who are marginalized, with a zeal to do good well: that is, to improve systems that are ineffective and to innovate thoughtfully and creatively to […]
The Catholic tradition names Saint Vincent de Paul the patron saint of charity. While today the term “charity” is sometimes caricatured as a Band-Aid approach to addressing social problems, the effective charity demonstrated by Vincent and Louise in seventeenth-century France, and the effective charity of the Vincentian family today, calls for a radically different understanding. The […]
In a fast-moving world saturated with information, visual stimuli, and an abundance of options for every decision, whether important or mundane, living and acting with wisdom can be a daunting task. Growing wise requires courage, grace, and a community of trusted others from whom we learn. Since approximately 1954, the official motto of DePaul University […]
This year Muslims at DePaul and around the world celebrated our most important holiday of the year, Eid-ul-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, on July 20.(1) This holiday comes at the end of the Hajj Pilgrimage season. It commemorates the sacrifices made by the Prophet Abraham and his family, especially his son Ishmael and […]
“(P)lease be steadfast in walking in the vocation to which you are called.”1 Spring Break may give us a little space to pause and reflect. So, let me ask: how much of your life’s journey has been due to your choice, and how much of it has been something not of your own making? In […]
On Seeds in the Vincentian Tradition – On the 361st anniversary of Louise de Marillac’s death, 15 March 1660 – God, who created “every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it… saw that it was good.”(1) Our Creator also sowed […]