The University Crest of the second largest Catholic University in the United States bears this inscription. As its 15,000 plus student body will attest, the school exemplifies the phrase’s translation: A Christian education perfects the soul.
What is the second largest Catholic University? No, it is not the one in Indiana, or the one in Washington, D.C. In this regard, the Holy Cross Fathers and the Jesuits step aside for the Vincentian Fathers who founded St. John’s University in 1870 in Brooklyn, New York. Their mission was to provide the youth of the city with a Catholic intellectual and moral education.
As its website explains (www.stjohns.edu) , the school grew and – following the charism of St. Vincent de Paul – educated its students with a focus on social justice, charity and service. In 1954 it relocated to its current site in Queens, New York.The university now comprises five undergraduate and six graduate schools offering more than 100 bachelor, masters and doctoral degrees, as well as professional certificates. Recently, the student body represented 46 states and 119 countries, and it can boast of international campuses in Paris and Rome (fittingly, the City of Light and the Eternal City).
Much is written today about the moral vacuity – or even the nihilism – which typifies our university campuses. It is reassuring to note that even after 150 years St. John’s University still intentionally incorporates in its curricula Catholic and Vincentian values. Faith continues to be an integral part of education, an education rooted in the principles of social justice and concern for the dignity of all individuals. As its website states, the University is: “dedicated to enduring our Catholic identity after the manner of St. Vincent de Paul, who based his ministry on preparing faithful leaders and helping those in need. To guide students throughout their careers, St. John’s prepares its faculty, staff, and administrators for this crucial work”.
Particularly impressive is the University’s focus on theology. It is establishing a program titled “The Faith & Life Forum Seasonal Seminar Series”, the purpose of which is to provide adults in the broader community with deeper theological formation and spiritual growth. St. John’s recognizes among its students and, significantly, among the dioceses of Brooklyn, New York and Rockland a thirst for faith-related intellectual engagement. In response to this need it plans to offer a series of seminars over a three-year period which will cover Scripture, Church history, theology, liturgy, and Catholic social teaching.
It is a testament to its Vincentian heritage that St. John’s University includes in it educational mandate traditional and non-traditional ways of advancing the Kingdom. No doubt the nation’s first largest Catholic university does the same, that other Vincentian seat of learning – De Paul University.
Leave a comment