Photos and News

 Recent Events

  • September 29, 2012 - 11th Annual University Service Day
  • May 16, 2012 - VMC Heritage Trip to Germantown, PA
  • April 18, 2012 - Lunch & Learn: The Vincentian Legacy Continues - Blessed Rosalie Rendu, D.C. & Blessed Frederic Ozanam. Presentation by Fr. Robert Maloney, C.M.
  • March 13, 2012 - Vincentian Center for Church & Society, Lunch & Learn Series: St. Louise & the Human Rights Tradition.
  • December 14, 2012 - Lunch & Learn: Understanding Poverty from the Inside Out. Presentation by Dale Williams. 
  • December 2011 - Community Service: St. John's Bread & Life Soup Kitchen's Sponsor A Family.
  • November 1, 2011 - VMC Heritage Trip to Germantown, PA
  • September 30, 2011 - Special Blessing of the VMC and Lunch & Learn: Living the Vincentian Mission. Presentation by Fr. Robert Maloney, C.M.
  • September 24, 2011 - 10th Annual University Service Day
  • September 16, 2011 - Opening Session and Welcome Dinner for VMC Cohort 5
  • August 24, 2011 - VMC Paris Reunion Dinner
  • July - August 2010 - VMC Heritage Trip to Paris, France 

 

 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013:  VMC Alumni Adriana Dino (VMC 5), Pat Minton (VMC 5), Linda Miller (VMC 1), Althea Brown (VMC 4), Roberto Alas (VMC 5), Sunita Makhijani (VMC 5), Lucrezia Gavin (VMC 5), and Rino Grzinic (VMC 3) prepared and served a home cooked Mexican dinner at the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park, NY, a “home away from home” for families of children receiving care at the Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center.  

 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013:  VMC Alumni Adriana Dino (VMC 5), Pat Minton (VMC 5) and Jo-An Morris prepared and served a home cooked Mexican dinner (with ham and baked ziti, too!) at the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park, NY, a “home away from home” for families of children receiving care at the Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center.  

 

Monday, April 8, 2013: The St. John’s VMC website was updated to include the section “VMC Donation Fund” to keep members informed of donations made towards VMC community service projects and programs, and how those funds are spent. This information can be found by clicking on this link: http://www.stjohns.edu/faith/vmcp/vmc_donation.stj

 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013:  VMC Alumni members Janet Carl (VMC 3), Adriana Dino (VMC 5), Fran Guastello (VMC 4), Ruth Lovelace (VMC 2), Pat Minton (VMC 5) and Nick Saturno (VMC 5) shared lunch and stories with Rev. Hugh O’Donnell, St. John’s Vincentian Chair of Social Justice, in preparation for their upcoming VMC Vincentian Heritage Tour to France (Summer 2013). In addition to Fr. O’Donnell’s continued global missionary work for the Vincenitian family, he served as Director of the International Center of Formation for the Congregation of the Mission in Paris for several years, offering personal insight into the experience that the group will have to literally follow in the footsteps of Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, Frederic Ozanam and other major figures in the Vincentian family.

 

Thursday, March 28, 2013: Reconnecting with St. John’s Catholic heritage and Vincentian commitment to social justice, alumni members of the VMC program and their guests participated in morning prayer service and a three-mile VMC Reunion Walk around the Queens Campus on Holy Thursday. Immediately following the walk, Dale Williams (Midnight Run Executive Director) joined the group for a simple lunch and shared, from a personal perspective, the importance of serving the homeless and those in need with dignity and respect. Read more here:  Link to file

 Friday, January 18, 2013:  This month twenty-six employees became the fifth cohort to earn their Vincentian Mission Certificate (VMC), since the program began in January 2007.  The cohort represented the Staten Island Campus with 5 graduates and the Queens campus with 21 graduates, all of whom came from 10 different departments of the University.   The employees received their certificates in the D'Angelo Center Ball Room.  To view a video presentation on the 5th VMC cohort's 16 month journey   please click this link. 

Saturday, September 29, 2012: Over 1,400 volunteers served those in need throughout all five boroughs of New York City, and abroad in Rome, Paris and Seville. The 11th annual University Service Day marked the culmination of Founder's Week 2012.  In honor of St. Vincent de Paul and his commitment to the poor, students, faculty, staff and alumni performed service at over one hundred sites. The St. John's volunteers served meals in soup kitchens, visited the elderly in nursing homes, tutored children, cleaned parks, refurbished and painted community centers.  Read the full story.  View the picture gallery.

 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012: Past and current members of the Vincentian Mission Certificate (VMC) Program recently participated in a day long heritage trip to Germantown, PA. The trip included visits to four local organizations that serve the poor, disenfranchised and marginalized in Germantown (Face to Face, Inn Dwelling, My Place Germantown and DePaul House). Representatives from each of the local outreach programs shared insights into their programs and their connection to the Vincentian Mission. Additionally, the group toured historic Vincentian heritage sites in Germantown, including the Miraculous Medal Shrine, a Catholic landmark and place of pilgrimage visited by thousands of people every year, and St. Vincent's Church. Before returning to New York, the VMC participants had the unique opportunity to have dinner at The Mate's Inn in Trenton, NJ. The facility is a culinary arts vocational program for incarcerated indivduals, run by the Education Department of the Garden State Correctional Facility, and the inmates enrolled in the program prepared a delicious meal that was enjoyed by the participants of the VMC Heritage Trip.  

 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012: Members of the present cohort of the Vincentian Mission Certificate (VMC) Program and VMC alumni attended a Lunch and Learn lecture by Fr. Robert Maloney, C.M., St. John's University's Vincentian Chair of Social Justice. Fr. Maloney examined the roles of Blessed Rosalie Rendu, D.C. and Blessed Frederic Ozanam, and their connection to service and scholarship at St. John's University today. The attendees were able to gain a deeper understanding of the expansion of the Vincentian family through the work of these two remarkable individuals, as Fr. Maloney identified the various areas through which the legacies of Rosalie Rendu and Frederick Ozanam serve as an inspiration for us today. 

 

Friday, April 13 and 20, 2012: A number of VMC participants, both present and alumni, participated in the seventh annual Relay for Life walkathons at both the Queens and Staten Island campuses. This is the first year that the Staten Island campus hosted the Relay at the Staten Island Campus Center Gym. Current and former VMC members participated along with hundreds of students, faculty and staff members and University administrators in the all-night walkathon in an effort at raising money to fight cancer.  Read the full story. 

 

Tuesday, March 13, 2012: Past and current members of the VMC program attended the Lunch & Learn Series: St. Louise & the Human Rights Tradition, which was hosted by the Vincentian Center for Church & Society. Sr. Margaret John Kelly, D.C. discussed the significant contributions of St. Louise de Marillac in the area of human rights, particularly her efforts to uphold the rights of the abandoned infants, galley slaves, and the poor in 16th century France. View the photo gallery. 

 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011: Current and former members of the VMC program attended the Lunch & Learn Series: Understanding Homelessness, A Personal Journey,   hosted by the Office of the University Mission. The audience also included students and administrators from a variety of departments on campus. Dale Williams, the Executive Director for Midnight Run Inc., talked about his experiences as a formerly homeless individual in New York City from 1987 till 1990. Mr. Williams went on to manage Midnight Run in 1991, and has been serving the organization since then. His presentation was followed by a Q&A session with the audience asking questions about homelessness and opportunities to assist with the organization's efforts. For more information about Midnight Runs, visit their website.  To learn more view these basic facts about homelessness in New York City.

  

December 2011 Sponsor a Family Program:Several current and alumni VMC members participated in the Sponsor a Family Program at the St. John’s Bread and Life Soup Kitchen in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Volunteers serve over 2,000 families and bring warm winter gear to over 1,000 individuals through this annual program. View photos and video clip. 

  

Tuesday, November 1, 2011:VMC 5 members Paolo Tagatac, Krista Walker and Charissa Townsend joined VMC alumni Kathy Meehan (VMC 1), Frank LeVeness (VMC 1) and Stephen Rzonca (VMC 2) in accompanying 26 Ozanam Scholar undergraduate students on a Vincentian Heritage Trip to Germantown, Pennsylvania.  Read the full story. 

 

Friday, September 30, 2011:  Following a week of events and programs celebrating the 18th annual St. John’s University Founder’s Week, the Vincentian Mission Certification (VMC) Lunch and Learn Series featured the program, The Spirituality of St. Vincent de Paul, on Friday, September 30, 2011. The program was presented by Rev. Robert P. Maloney, C.M., St. John’s University Vincentian Chair for Social Justice, and was attended by current VMC members and VMC Alumni. Read the full story. 

 

Saturday, September 24, 2011:   VMC 5 members and VMC alumni participated in the 10th annual University Service Day by serving those in need at a number of sites throughout New York City, including local soup kitchens, nursing homes, schools and non-profit organizations. Read the full story. 

 

Friday, September 16, 2011: The fifth cohort of the Vincentian Mission Certificate (VMC) Program commenced their sixteen-month journey with the VMC Opening Session and Welcome Dinner, on September 16, 2011.  Lucy Pesce, Executive Director for Mission, assisted Fr. Kettelberger in helping the cohort u nderstand the expectations and resources available to them as they journey together through the VMC program.  The highlight of the evening followed the orientation session, when several VMC Alumni from the previous four cohorts joined the newest members for a  celebration dinner.   Read the full story.  

 

 Friday, May 13, 2011:  This month twenty-one employees became the fourth cohort to earn their Vincentian Mission Certificate (VMC), since the program began in January 2007.  The cohort consised of 20 graduates from the Queens campus as well as one graduate from Manhattan, all of whom came from 14 different departments of the University.   The employees received their certificates in the D'Angelo Center Ball Room.  To view the VMC Cohort 4 Page click here.

 

Wednesday, May 5, 2010:   St. John’s University’s successful Vincentian Mission Certificate Program (VMC) celebrated the graduation of its third cohort during a special ceremony held May 5 at the D’Angelo Center. Hosted by Reverend Patrick Griffin, C.M., Executive Vice President of Mission and Branch Campuses, the event honored more than 30 new alumni. Read the full story.  View the picture gallery.

 

VMC Heritage Trip to Paris, France (July/August 2010):   Graduates of the Vincentian Mission Certificate Program deepened their understanding of St. John’s Vincentian heritage during a special trip to Paris. There they literally followed in the footsteps of Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, Frederic Ozanam and other major figures in the Vincentian family. It was especially significant in this 350th anniversary year of the deaths of Vincent and Louise. The tour gave VMC participants the opportunity to experience the heart of the Vincentian charism by visiting sacred sites where Vincent, Louise and others conducted their ministry and from where the Congregation of the Mission and Daughters of Charity sprang. Read the full story.  View the  picture gallery. 

 

Tuesday, May 11, 2009):    This month twenty-seven employees became the second cohort to earn their Vincentian Mission Certificates (VMC), joining the first cohort of 57 employees who graduated in 2008.  The graduates represented 19 different areas of the University.   The employees received their certificates on May 11 at a VMC Graduation Luncheon in Bent Hall on the Queens campus. A third cohort comprising 14 Staten Island and 25 Queens campus employees began the program during Founders Week in January. Read the full story.  

 

Thursday, April 24, 2008:   On April 24, 2008, the VMC Program held a graduation ceremony for their inaugural cohort in Council Hall on the Queens campus of St. John's University. The 58 graduates represented the Queens and Staten Island campuses. Father Michael Carroll, C.M., Executive Vice President for Mission and Branch Campuses, was instrumental in the creation of the VMC.  Read the full story.   View the  picture gallery  for the graduation ceremony.