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INTRODUCTION to the 1995 publication of the Vincentian Center for Church and Society The Chair was formally inaugurated during Founder's Week, January, 1995, by Very Reverend Robert P. Maloney, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission. His inaugural address, the opening essay of this first publication of the Vincentian Chair, describes the distinctive Vincentian vision, reviews the Chair's purpose, interprets the current situation of the poor, and offers specific challenges to St. John's University. Fr. Maloney presents St. Vincent dePaul's global vision and organizational ability as qualities that are very needed in today's world. He also urges that as a very large metropolitan University with multiple programs and academic resources, St. John's has the privilege and the obligation to work toward that justice which is the foundation of all peace and solidarity. His five specific recommendations challenge the entire University community to reanimate the Vincentian spirit and transform society as Vincent dePaul did over three centuries ago. The other three essays by Professors David Gregory, Paul Surlis, and William DiFazio were generated by presentations and a research colloquium sponsored by the Chair during the Spring semester of 1995. In February and March, because of the pending reinstatement of the death penalty in New York State, Professor Gregory of the Law School and Father Surlis from the Department of Theology offered reflections on church teaching and the legal aspects of capital punishment in a series of presentations on both campuses. In the Spring, Professor DiFazio stimulated discussion among a group of University faculty and community leaders on his recent publication, Jobless Futures, University of Minnesota, 1994. His research focuses on the negative effects of market-globalization, robotics, and computer-mediated technology on U.S. employment trends and suggests the demise of an economic model based on land, labor, and capital. He submits proposals for the "de-commodification" of essential human goods and the replacement of work as the chief organizing principle of U.S. society. The Vincentian Center invites your reactions to this publication and encourages your suggestions for and participation in its programs, particularly those of the Vincentian Chair of Social Justice.
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The
Vincentian Chair of Social Justice was established in 1994 as part of
the Vincentian Center for Church and Society through matching endowments
by the Congregation of the Mission and St. John's University. Its creation
was a direct response to the challenge Pope John Paul II presented to
the worldwide Vincentian community to not only serve the poor but to search
out the causes of poverty and investigate short- and long-term solutions
to contemporary 