Updates, resources, and events highlighting the integration of DePaul’s Vincentian mission into the daily life and work of the university community.
It is in the in-between where we are formed to live our lives with meaning and purpose.
Please RSVP HERE.
Written by: Rev. Diane Dardón, ELCA, D. Min., Director, Pastoral Care and Religious Diversity
A few weeks ago, I found myself in the Student Center elevator with several students who were talking about the number of guests joining them for their graduation ceremonies. The animated conversation moved into a communal reflection on how quickly their time at DePaul had flown. They agreed that it seemed like only yesterday when they came to campus for freshman orientation—and now they are preparing to leave behind their college adventure. Now they are preparing for new beginnings.
T. S. Eliot once wrote, “What we call the beginning is often the end … The end is where we start from.” [1] This quote and the elevator conversation I was privy to beautifully illustrate the cyclical nature of beginnings and endings. At DePaul, students begin their journeys by stepping into a community committed to helping them find their purpose as they prepare for careers, engage in service, and learn to reflect and act. And at the end of their DePaul journey graduates step out into the world hopefully with a heart transformed and committed to continuing the Vincentian mission of service, kindness, and goodness as new adventures unfold.
Our tapestries of beginnings and endings are woven over and over again: graduations, new jobs, farewells, and first hellos mark the turning points of our journeys. But as we pause to celebrate or grieve these milestones, we often overlook the most transformative part of the journey—the in-between. It is in this space—in the middle of the journey at DePaul—that we create a beloved community, where we find opportunities to grow and serve, where we stand in solidarity with one another, where we are formed and transformed to live our lives with meaning and purpose. Our Vincentian values—service, community, human dignity, and commitment to the marginalized—form a foundation that every member of the DePaul community is invited and encouraged to embrace. At DePaul, it is in the sacred in-between that students, faculty, and staff are invited to allow themselves to be transformed by our Vincentian legacy.
Transformation may not be quick, and it rarely takes root at the beginning or end of the journey. Instead, it happens over time, and is the result of intentionally making changes, seeking knowledge, relying upon the wisdom of others, building relationships, and allowing for reflection. Living in the middle and allowing for transformation of heart and mind is life-giving, and it is complicated. Brené Brown, a Texan professor, researcher, and storyteller describes the in-between as “messy, but it’s also where the magic happens.” [2] At DePaul the messy middle is where we find ourselves changed, it is where we meet grace, and it becomes a space for learning about and deeply engaging with our Vincentian values. The middle is where we are often challenged by the messiness but also transformed to be our very best. Each act of kindness, each honest conversation, each difficult decision taken with integrity, is part of the sacred in-between that shapes who we are becoming.
As graduates have been shaped over the years and now end this chapter of their lives, our hope is that they boldly carry their Vincentian values forward as they embark upon new beginnings and enter new communities, careers, and vocations. Our hope is that they have been formed and transformed into people of purpose who are committed to changing the world.
Poet Mary Oliver asks, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” [3] Our hope is that DePaul grads carry with them the very things they’ve encountered in the sacred in-between: a Vincentian heart shaped by service, community, reflection, and action—and live their one wild and precious life with intention, compassion, and purpose.
Congratulations to the Class of 2025! May you be deeply enriched as you embark upon beginnings, endings, and all the in-betweens to come!
Reflection Questions
1. As you’ve lived in the in-between at DePaul, how have you been transformed by our Vincentian legacy?
2. As you’ve served in the in-between at DePaul, how have you shared our Vincentian legacy and encouraged the transformation of others?
Reflection by: Rev. Diane Dardón, ELCA, D. Min., Director, Pastoral Care and Religious Diversity
[1] T. S. Eliot, “Little Gidding,” Four Quartets (Harcourt, Brace, 1943), 21.
[2] See Brené Brown, Rising Strong (Spiegel & Grau, 2015).
[3] Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day,” House of Light (Beacon Press, 1990). Available online at: https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/all-poems/item/poetry-180-133/the-summer-day/.
Updates, resources, and events highlighting the integration of DePaul’s Vincentian mission into the daily life and work of the university community.
Vincentian Service Day brings our DePaul community together to connect with our mission.
DePaul faculty and staff, you are invited to Lunch with Vincent where our distinguished presenters will be Professor Ken Butigan, from the Peace, Justice, and Conflict Resolution Program and Fr Stan Chu IIo from the Catholic Studies Department. Together they will share stories of peace and justice from around the world inspired by their faith and enriched by our Vincentian spirit. Please join us for meaningful conversation, warm community and a tasty meal!
DePaul faculty and staff, please help make Vincentian personalism real by hosting international students for a meal in your home through Global Engagement’s Spring MEAL with DePaul program! You don’t have to be a top chef or have a large home to be a host, you simply need to have the spirit of hospitality and community modeled for us by Sts Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac! We hope you will join us!
To learn more click here: https://shorturl.at/
This year Vincentian Service Day is Saturday, May 3rd and registration is available on the VSD website. We have over 25 community partners ready to welcome you!
You can register as an individual or as a group for a service site. If you would like to participate in VSD as a group, please check out the Group Registration FAQs on the website for more information about the this registration process. You can also view this video, which provides a step-by-step guide to group registration. You must log in with your DePaul credentials to view the video.
We are excited about the many opportunities to engage in service and hope you will participate! If you have any questions, please email serviceday@depaul.edu and a member of the VSD Team will get back to you. We hope you will participate in this longstanding DePaul tradition!
Written By: Katie Sullivan, Assistant Director, Vincentian Service and Formation Office, Division of Mission and Ministry
One of DePaul’s longest-standing traditions is Vincentian Service Day (VSD), which started as part of DePaul’s Centennial celebration during the 1998–1999 school year. This event, held yearly on the first Saturday of May, is a day when students, staff, faculty, and alumni go out into the community, connecting with community partners and doing service.
I have been at DePaul since 2012 and participated in VSD during my first five years by helping with the morning program, the post-service barbecue, and doing service. In the 2017–2018 academic year, my role at DePaul changed, and overseeing all aspects of Vincentian Service Day became one of my primary job responsibilities.
I learned quickly that putting together a big event like VSD is like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. First, I work on the edges—cultivating relationships with colleagues around the university to ensure that the event aspect of the day is prepared, interviewing and selecting students for the Service Day team, connecting with community partners to ensure we have sites for participants, etc. Then I work on the inside of the puzzle and figure out where each piece goes and how to fit them in with the other pieces of the puzzle: there’s outreach to student organizations and departments, follow-up with community partners, ordering flyers, and more. These things are gratifying, maddening, and challenging all at once. That final, most satisfying piece of the puzzle gets put into place at the end of the event, when everyone has returned from their service sites and is enjoying lunch on the Quad.
So many times, tasks and duties in our lives can feel daunting. I always find it important to remember that I am not alone when things feel like they’re piling up. Many people in my life are willing to listen and help me when I need to vent. If I didn’t have these people to help me, I am sure my frustrations would sometimes get the best of me. Yet, they provide a much needed lift and it’s usually right when I need it, which Saint Louise de Marillac would call “Divine Providence.”
What are some of the tools you use for yourself when you’re managing challenging projects? How do you manage when things are feeling out of control or frustrating? Whom do you turn to for support to ensure you can keep going when you are facing a challenge?
This year Vincentian Service Day is Saturday, May 3. The students on the team jumped right in to help put the puzzle together. Some of the students have helped with previous VSDs, and some are brand new to the role, learning about the many, many tasks involved in creating a successful event like on-the-job training. Our hope is that we create a day for our DePaul community to come together and connect with our mission by doing service with more than 25 community partners all over Chicago. For me, service has always been a great way to get out of my head and stop thinking about the never-ending list of things I should be doing. Maybe VSD can be that for you—a way to do something different and give yourself a break from the many things on your to-do list.
Many service sites this year are community gardens in locations around the city where fresh food is not readily available, and the gardens fill in this gap for people. As one community partner noted to students a few years ago: “This is not hobby gardening; this garden feeds the community.” [1]
I hope you will consider participating in this DePaul tradition. Our Vincentian mission calls us to see beyond ourselves, and Vincentian Service Day is one of those opportunities where we, alongside our DePaul and Chicago community members, can go out and serve the needs of others. VSD is a day of connection. As Saint Louise de Marillac said, “Encourage one another and may your mutual good example speak louder than any words can.” [2]
Registration for Vincentian Service Day 2025 closes on Monday, April 28, at 11:59 PM. For more information about participating in VSD, visit the VSD website; or email: serviceday@depaul.edu. If you don’t register by then and still want to participate, you can join us on Saturday, May 3, at 8:30 AM at Sullivan Athletic Center, and we will place you where we most need help that morning.
Reflection by: Katie Sullivan, Assistant Director, Vincentian Service and Formation Office, Division of Mission and Ministry
[1] Cordia Pugh, Hermitage Community Garden.
[2] Letter 402, “To the Sisters of Angers,” September 1654, Spiritual Writings, 450. Available online at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/ldm/11/.
Some years ago, colleagues from Mission and Ministry and many other areas developed an initiative called Explore Your Purpose at DePaul University (EYP). This initiative is for all members of the university community to foster their sense of personal meaning and social purpose as part of the educational environment at DePaul.[1] While I wasn’t part of the initial group that created EYP, I participated in ongoing conversations on how to engage students, faculty, and staff around its four Enduring Understandings and have used its resources with students.
Each winter quarter, during a retreat with scholars in the Division of Mission and Ministry, I ask students to contemplate their DePaul experience. Using the lens of these Enduring Understandings, and depending on their class year, they might ponder living a meaningful life, discerning vocation, understanding the Vincentian heart, or sustaining the journey.[2]
This past January, I asked some DMM colleagues to join me and share a story or experience from their life in conjunction with one of the Enduring Understandings. My hope was that our sharing would help the students to feel more comfortable with the topics and lead them to deeper reflection during this part of the retreat. I spoke about understanding the Vincentian heart and shared, briefly, my experience as a student at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, when the then-worst high school shooting in U.S. history happened, and how that day shaped and formed me and led me to my path at DePaul.
I told them that as I struggled to process the complex emotions involved in experiencing significant trauma, I discovered the joy in helping others as so many had helped my community. I spoke about how, in my current role, I get to connect service-minded students to experiences that help their communities. In other words, I have the opportunity to walk with students as they work to understand their Vincentian hearts, spending time with them on their journeys and witnessing the amazing ways they look at the world and say, “I think we can do better.”
The astute reader of this blog might recall that I wrote on this very topic for a Mission Monday entry a few years ago. You might wonder why I’m bringing it up again. This event is an integral part of who I am, and it’s important not to forget this tragedy. As I write this reflection, the twenty-fifth anniversary of that tragic day is still a week away. When you read this, that day will have just gone by. I haven’t always been able to share about this part of my story, but I’ve learned there is a certain power that comes in naming that I lived through this experience and that it has shaped me—positively and negatively. I’ve also learned that it’s important for me personally to name that I am a survivor of gun violence. Sharing about this part of myself in a public setting isn’t easy for me, but when I do so, I am sharing from a specific understanding of my Vincentian heart.
My Vincentian heart is continuously being molded by all aspects of my life. Every year it is impacted by the students on the Vincentian Service Day Team in the Division of Mission and Ministry and the amazing work they do on this event. I’m not sure the students would articulate their work in this way, but they demonstrate an understanding of their Vincentian hearts every time they plan the DePaul tradition that is Vincentian Service Day (VSD). From the way they brainstorm about engaging more members of the DePaul community in VSD, to the ways they interact with community partners and DePaul partners during the planning process, to the way they interact with each other, they work with a sense of thoughtfulness and intentionality. They continually push me, and each other, to create a VSD that is representative of our Vincentian mission. In working on this tradition for the DePaul community, they create a space where everyone who participates can connect to understanding their Vincentian hearts through an experience of service.
Who or what has shaped and molded your Vincentian heart?
I invite you to join the DePaul community for Vincentian Service Day on Saturday, May 4. Registration closes on Wednesday May 1 at 11:59 AM. For more information about participating in VSD, visit: http://serviceday.depaul.edu; or email: serviceday@depaul.edu.
Reflection by: Katie Sullivan, Program Manager, Vincentian Service and Formation Office, Division of Mission and Ministry
[1] For more, see: Explore Your Purpose at DePaul.
[2] For more, see: Explore Your Purpose at DePaul University: Enduring Understandings and Learning Outcomes.