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 

 

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.  

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