poverty

Our Unwavering Commitment

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Updates, resources, and events highlighting the integration of DePaul’s Vincentian mission into the daily life and work of the university community.

 

MISSION MONDAY

Our Unwavering Commitment

The more things change, the more they remain the same

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Your Cells Could Save a Life

Join us on May 28 for an on-campus NMDP registry recruitment event in support of blood cancer patients like DePaul faculty member Doug Long. Stop by the Student Center Atrium between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to learn how you might be someone’s cure!

 

Baccalaureate Lunch and Mass

Join us for a special lunch prior to DePaul’s Baccalaureate Mass (which we hope you will also join us in attending). 

Friday, June 13th, 2025
1:00-3:00pm
Lincoln Park Student Center 325

This gathering offers a meaningful opportunity for faculty and staff to come together in community before the university-wide celebration of Baccalaureate Mass.

Enjoy light refreshments, connect with colleagues, and reflect on the end of the academic year as we honor our graduates and the shared work that brought them to this moment.

Please RSVP HERE to let us know if you will be attending the lunch.

Faculty and staff are then invited to attend Baccalaureate Mass wearing academic regalia. Separate seating will be reserved at the front of the church and we ask that you be seated in the designated pews by 3:45 p.m. To RSVP to attend Mass, please go here.

If you have questions about the Baccalaureate Lunch, please contact Siobhan O’Donoghue, Faculty and Staff Engagement. 

Our Unwavering Commitment

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Written By: Siobhan O’Donoghue, M. Div., Director of Faculty and Staff Engagement, Mission & Ministry

“When the roots are deep, there is no reason to fear the wind.” Drawing on the wisdom of such a profound African proverb, Julianne Stratton, Lieutenant Governor of Illinois and DePaul alum, thus began a recent reflection at DePaul. Along with Valerie Johnson, associate provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Dania Matos, vice president for diversity, inclusion, and belonging, Stratton was serving on a panel to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing higher education today. As part of the President’s Dialogue series, all three panelists emphasized the importance of community and leaning into our mission at an uncertain time. This is even more important when some of our core values may feel under attack. “So, for now, do what you’ve been doing, maintain your mission, understand why it’s important. We’ll get through this together.” [1]

During his lifetime, Vincent de Paul also often encountered attacks on some of the core values and beliefs upon which his life and ministry were grounded. This was especially true during the War of Great Confinement, [2] which was a time when more than five thousand poverty-stricken individuals were institutionalized for the crime of being poor.

Specifically, in the words of a decree established by the State:

We expressly prohibit and forbid all persons of either sex, of any locality and of any age, of whatever breeding and birth, and in whatever conditions they may be, able-bodied or invalid, sick or convalescent, curable or incurable, to beg in the city and suburbs of Paris, neither in the churches, nor at the doors of such, nor at the doors of houses nor in the streets, nor anywhere else in public, nor in secret, by day or night … under pain of being whipped for the first offense, and for the second condemned to the galleys if men and boys, banished if women or girls. [3]

Almsgiving was also prohibited at this time. Indeed, those who were poor without anywhere to hide or escape were considered enemies of the state. Accordingly, they were hunted down by the Parisian militia, commonly known as the “archers of the poor,” [4] and forced into mandatory institutions of the General Hospital of Paris.

Yet amid such turmoil, the call of Vincent and Louise remained clear and their response undaunted: to “defend, honor and lovingly serve the most abandoned of the poor.” Thus, they, along with the confraternities and institutions that they had founded, continued to administer charity to the most abandoned, despite the challenges they faced during this tumultuous time.

Centuries later, in Chicago in 1898, while the context was very different, a similar impetus would prompt the Vincentians to establish Saint Vincent’s College. Since education was seen as a way to help families out of poverty, the Vincentian purpose was clear. To educate “the sons of Chicago’s burgeoning Catholic immigrant population.” [5] This establishment would lead to the diverse and vibrant university we know as DePaul today.

And now, every month, the Division of Mission and Ministry helps orient an array of new staff to the university. An integral part of this orientation is to reflect together on some of the milestones along our Vincentian path of 430+ years. As a regular facilitator of these orientations, I am always amazed at how, while the terminology we use to describe DePaul’s core values has evolved, the values themselves have not changed. Our commitment remains steadfast. In our essence, DePaul remains a Catholic, Vincentian institution that strives to genuinely welcome and serve diverse faculty, staff, and students, inviting each person to become part of a values-based learning community that is inclusive and accepting. [6] This creates a true sense of belonging for all, grounded in a deep respect for human dignity. Such a commitment is part of a living legacy, of which we are all part. Indeed, as Vincent and Louise might have attested, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose,” or, in more familiar terms, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”

Reflection Questions

  1. What do you value most about working at DePaul?
  2. In what ways do you identify with these values of Sts. Vincent and Louise?

Reflection by: Siobhan O’Donoghue, M. Div., Director of Faculty and Staff Engagement, Mission & Ministry

[1] Russell Dorn, “DePaul Hosts Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton for Dialogue on Building Belonging,” March 3, 2025, DePaul University Newsline, at: https://‌‌resources.depaul.edu/newsline/sections/campus-and-community/Pages/building-belonging-25.aspx.

[2] See Edward R. Udovic, C.M., “‘Caritas Christi Urget Nos’: The Urgent Challenges of Charity in Seventeenth-Century France,” Vincentian Heritage 12:2 (1991): 86. Available online at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj/vol12/iss2/1/.

[3] Ibid., 85–86.

[4] Ibid., 101.

[5] Dennis P. McCann, “The Foundling University: Reflections on the Early History of DePaul,” in DePaul University Centennial Essays and Images, ed. John L. Rury and Charles S. Suchar (Chicago: DePaul University, 1998), 52. Available online at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentian_ebooks/20.

[6] Edward R. Udovic, C.M., “Vincentian Pilgrimage Hospitality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives,” Vincentian Heritage 33:1 (2016). Available online at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj/vol33/iss1/4.

How Vincent and Louise Challenged State-sanctioned Bias

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Today, both in public and private forums, bias is an unfortunate reality with which most of us are all too familiar. It may be the biases of others, who seem so easily to marginalize and discriminate, or our own prejudices that lead us to make easy judgments. Whether conscious or not, bias has often plagued humankind.

This was no different in seventeenth-century France. In fact, the era of Saint Vincent and Saint Louise was cruelly stained by explicit, state-sanctioned bias against those who were socio-economically poor. This was epitomized by the “War of the Great Confinement” which began in 1656 with a royal prohibition against all manner of public begging by the destitute poor.1 All forms of private almsgiving were also outlawed. Indeed, over the course of several years, more than five thousand poverty-stricken people were deprived of their freedom and forcibly contained in a series of institutions known as the General Hospital of Paris. Such actions were an explicit manifestation of sociocultural bias, enshrined in state policy and enforced by police and the judiciary.

Amidst such persecutory and punitive acts towards the poor, Vincent and Louise committed themselves to those whom French society had most abandoned and disenfranchised. Their ministry stood as humble testimony that another world was possible, a world in which the poor were honored and respected, not criminalized. In coming to know and love those whom society had shunned, Vincent and Louise were invited to stand in solidarity with those on the farthest margins. Their praxis testified to the inherent God-given dignity of all, but most especially to those who were poor. In seventeenth-century France, for some, this was a radical belief.

We may sometimes think that the lives of those who have gone before us are encased in history, with little to say about our current reality. However, I choose to believe this is not so. If you are reading this, may I invite you to pause for a moment and consider the following?

Are there still strong societal biases today that marginalize or alienate some individuals or groups of people? How might your values and beliefs compel you to act to expose and work against these biases in order to affirm the dignity of all? Are there ways in which, like Vincent and Louise before, you are being called today to make real with your hands what your heart longs to see?

1 See Edward R. Udovic, C.M., “‘Caritas Christi Urget Nos:’ The Urgent Challenges of Charity in Seventeenth Century France,” Vincentian Heritage 12:2 (1991), 86, at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/‌vhj/‌‌‌‌vol12/‌iss2/1/

Reflection by: Siobhan O’Donoghue, Director, Faculty and Staff Engagement, Division of Mission and Ministry

Seeing with Vincentian Eyes

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You will attain this happiness if you practice faithfully humility, gentleness, and charity toward the poor…1

Vincent de Paul remembered the moment captured in the featured illustration as pivotal for him in transforming his sense of mission and vocation. The sacred dignity of this poor, dying peasant became evident to him. With Madame de Gondi’s help, Vincent came to realize there were many people like this who lacked vital spiritual and physical care, and that existing systems within both the Church and society routinely neglected their needs.

Over time, Vincent de Paul grew to be consistent in living the mission he professed. He encouraged his companions to look at reality through the perspective of those enduring poverty, those who suffered basic needs, or those who were routinely left out by the status quo of church, state, and society at the time. He would ask his community, in essence: What do these people need and how do our actions and decisions impact them? How can our resources be used to better serve them? Vincent further recognized the importance of forming leaders who shared his vision and were committed to this sense of mission. He envisioned a community of solidarity that surrounded and supported people in need, and in so doing, enabled all to flourish.

Compassion and care for those struggling with the effects of material and systemic poverty is essential to a Vincentian perspective. Their realities make a claim on us, inviting us to take action. They call us to make changes individually and collectively to address their immediate needs, as well as to confront the root causes of their suffering. This is what we are challenged to do when asking ourselves what has come to be known as the Vincentian question: “What must be done?”

The COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath have required us to make difficult decisions about what we value, as well as the vision we will pursue, both individually and collectively. Vincent’s example invites us to center the perspective of those in poverty, or of those suffering or in pain, and to care for them. Currently, this includes those facing the horrible effects of COVID-19, those who have died, those who have lost loved ones, or those struggling because of unemployment. Vincent’s vision ensures that all people experience a sense of human community and that they are given both the opportunities and resources necessary to flourish. For Vincent, safeguarding hope for those left behind or forgotten by society, especially those in dire conditions, was a necessary part of working for the good of all humanity.

How might “seeing with Vincentian eyes” shape our vision for how to respond to the current crisis? For the education we offer? For the way we go about business as a university? What does it invite you to consider in your work as a colleague, or in your role as a neighbor, citizen, or family member?

1 2787, To Sister Françoise Ménage, In Nantes, 12 February 1659, CCD, 7:471.

Reflection by:

Mark Laboe
Associate Vice President
Faculty and Staff Engagement
Division of Mission and Ministry

What about the Poor? Nineteenth-Century Paris and the Revival of Vincentian Charity

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During the Industrial Revolution, poor persons constituted up to half the population of Paris. They were considered to be criminal, and their poverty was seen as a punishment for this. The Church believed the traditional social order was divinely ordained. The rich were to be charitable and the poor were to be resigned to their status; these conditions were necessary for the salvation of both groups. In the Church’s eyes, the rich and the poor each contributed to the gap between them, and they could only be reconciled by returning to Christian values and the traditional social hierarchy. It was the Church’s responsibility to guide this reconciliation. The Congregation, the Daughters of Charity, and the Ladies of Charity, which had been dissolved during the Revolution, were refounded under Jean-Baptiste Etienne in the nineteenth century. They tried to combat poverty worldwide. As the first group of sisters to be supported by the French government after the Revolution, the Daughters of Charity served as the basis for the new Vincentian mission. The Ladies of Charity’s work, which was under the Daughters’ direction, is discussed. The article also describes Etienne’s view of the world and of the Vincentian mission in detail.

“What about the Poor? Nineteenth-Century Paris and the Revival of Vincentian Charity” is an article published in the Vincentian Heritage Journal, Volume 14, Issue 1, Article 5 (1993) and is available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj/vol14/iss1/5