About The Vincentian Center

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History of the Vincentian Center
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Vincentian Chair of Social Justice
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History of the Center

The Board of Trustees of St. John's University established the Vincentian Center for Church and Society in the Fall of 1993 and inaugurated it in January of 1994 as a means of strengthening the Catholic identity and Vincentian character of the University. The Center responds to the invitation of Pope John II in Ex Corde Ecclesiae (1990) for greater collaboration between the Church and the University and for University service to the community.

At the same time that the Board inaugurated the Vincentian Center, the Board and the Congregation of the Mission jointly endowed the Vincentian Chair of Social Justice within the Center. This Chair is a direct response to Pope John Paul II's challenge 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 situations which diminish the human person and militate against human community. Annually, the Vincentian Chair of Social Justice Lecture is presented at the Vincentian Convocation during the January Founder's Week Celebration. The Center, through the Institute on Poverty Studies, convenes interdisciplinary study groups composed of academics, providers and service agencies to share experience and explore ways to advance knowledge and to encourage advocacy to eliminate poverty and its consequences.

Since its foundation, the Center has responded to a range of needs identified by University personnel, the local Church and community. The Center successfully involves an interdisciplinary cadre of faculty and administrators in projects which include among many activities:

management programs for pastors, clerics, and church leaders;
film series and lectures for the local community;
programs in legislative and service advocacy;
ethics think-tanks for priests

Locally, the Center assumes coordination responsibility for the Annual Founder's Week and for the Vincentian Mission Council, an interdisciplinary committee charged with strengthening the Vincentian character of the University.

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