Welcome to the Vincentian Service and Formation team. If you are interested in getting involved in community service and social justice at DePaul and exploring your faith and spirituality, the Vincentian Service and Formation Team is here for you.
Become part of the rich Vincentian legacy of service today and become a Vincentian in Action! We look forward to welcoming you!
Mission
Inspired by the example of St. Vincent de Paul, the Vincentian Service and Formation team seeks to empower students to promote the inherent human dignity of all people, especially marginalized communities, by educating students to cultivate relationships rooted in service, faith and justice.
Vision
The Vincentian Service and Formation team will provide students with service opportunities to communities in need, while encouraging students to develop their faith lives in light of their service involvement. Inspired by the example of St. Vincent de Paul, students will be engaged in direct service, advocacy, and consciousness raising, while working towards building a more just society. Through reflection, students will find a safe place to examine questions of social justice. The Vincentian Service and Formation team is committed to working collaboratively with all areas of the university, especially those engaged in community service, to further DePaul's Catholic-Vincentian-Urban mission.
Our Reflection Framework: Vincentians in Action (VIA)
Since 2002, DePaul's Vincentian Service and Formation (VSF) team has engaged a framework for reflection and community building called Vincentians in Action (VIA), an approach that is intentionally connected to any community service engagement with the poor and marginalized. VIA is a Vincentian framework for spiritual growth and social justice education, rooted in:
- Wisdom and values from Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, and the International Vincentian Family
- Best practices in service-learning, civic engagement, and interfaith ministry, DePaul's Learning Goals, Student Affairs' Socially Responsible Leadership Model, and Mission and Ministry's Mission
VSF student leaders echo an essential VIA insight: "Service without reflection is just work – just another task." The core leadership pillars of VIA – unpacked in VIA reflection meetings after community service experiences throughout the year – are the following:
- Way of Awareness
- Way of Dialogue
- Way of Solidarity
- Spiritual Growth
- Service & Systemic Change
- Diversity & Inclusion
- Vincentian Family & Living Legacy
VSF also engages the broader DePaul community by offering/facilitating VIA experiences of service, reflection, and education. When students involved in VSF programs and activities are asked, "What is VIA?" the common response is often: "VIA is how I reflect on my service. VIA is my community." Developed by DePaul students, staff, and faculty in 2002-2003, VIA is how VSF educates students to be spiritually grounded, ethical leaders of today and tomorrow.
Our core outreach program: Meet Me at the Mission
Meet Me at the Mission is an invitation for DePaul undergraduate students to explore what it means to be a Vincentian leader and how to use their gifts and passions to respond to the needs of the world. The program is customizable and flexible, open to any student, any major, and any year. Students explore what it means to be a Vincentian leader and connect their involvement at DePaul to the wisdom from our Vincentian legacy.
More information here.
Programs & Services
Lincoln Park
Student Center 311
2250 N. Sheffield Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60614
773.325.7902
Loop
DePaul Center 11008-11010
1 E. Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60604-2287
773.325.7902