January 29, 2008
St. John’s University alumnus, medical doctor and Maryknoll
Missioner, Rev. Peter Le Jacq, M.M., M.D, ‘76C, encouraged the St.
John’s University community to continue the work of St. Vincent de
Paul at lectures on the Queens and Staten Island campuses during
the University’s Founder’s
Week Celebration.
Photo Gallery
Mary Ann Dantuano, Associate Director of the Vincentian Center
for Church and Society at St. John’s University, introduced Rev. Le
Jacq to the crowd of students, faculty, administrators and friends
in the Little Theatre on the Queens campus as a “dreamer and a
visionary” who chose the “path of systemic change.”
Rev. Le Jacq’s lecture, titled: “Building a Civilization Without
Borders”, focused on not just crossing borders, but completely
erasing them, by using examples of modern day acts that emulate the
experiences of St. Vincent over 400 years ago.
“The call to heal the sick as a sign of gods love in the world,
regardless of location, or borders, was given to Christians by
Jesus Christ throughout the gospels,” said Rev. Le Jacq. “For
the church today…it’s HIV and AIDS, that’s where St. Vincent would
be today and that’s where the Vincentians are. The St. John’s
University Community has continued to adapt the gospel call to
heal, not just physically – emotionally, spiritually,
psychologically – during your four years here and for the rest of
your life.”
Rev. Le Jacq used the Bugando University College of Health
Sciences (BUCHS) as his primary example of “people and institutions
that are faith based, working in collaboration across borders.” He
also showed how Christian organizations, who are abiding by
Christ’s orders to care for the poor and sick, have succeeded in
the world’s most challenging areas by joining forces with groups of
all faiths, as well as non-secular groups working to help in the
same manner as Catholics.
In his example, Rev. Le Jacq described the amazing efforts
involved from the opening of the hospital, to its current state
(the first class will graduate this year) and the collaboration of
people over three decades and across several unusual borders.
Originally opened by the Tanzanian government, Bugando Hospital
is an 850 bed teaching hospital which services 10 million people in
Tanzania. The first collaboration for the project was between
the unlikely trio of a newly independent government of Tanzania,
the German Catholic Bishops and a private Israeli construction
company. Ten years later, the Catholic Bishops of Tanzania
took over and reached out to the Maryknoll Missioners in the United
States for help. Another decade later, the incredible
collaboration across borders continued, as a private secular
medical school, the Weill Cornell Medical College, joined the
socialist/democratic government and the Catholic Bishops in East
Africa to start what would be the fourth medical school in Tanzania
and the first Catholic medical school in Africa.
Rev. Le Jacq urged the audience to recall the parable of the
Good Samaritan, in which Christ reminds us to put the sick before
ourselves, explaining that “for Christians, that parable can be of
great help to us, when we would otherwise weaken and love
less.”
“If you leave here today, if I leave here today without having
taken a tiny step towards crossing the borders, building a
civilization of love, from our particular faith backgrounds, or
from our simple human love background…I have failed you, and
myself,” Rev. Le Jacq said in his closing. “Everyday we get
our invitation, everyday we get to say yes or no.”
For a full list of Founder’s Week events, please visit www.stjohns.edu/foundersweek.