On Friday, April 15, 2016, The St. John’s University Ladies of Charity will host “An Evening of Hope” from 6:30-9:00 pm in the D’Angelo Center Ballroom on the Queens campus.  Sr. Margaret John Kelly, DC will receive the St. Louise de Marillac Spes Unica Award and deliver the keynote address. Sr. Margaret John was the founder and Executive Director of the Vincentian Center for Church and Society for 21 years, creating programs to strengthen the Catholic and Vincentian identity of St. John’s. She created the Vincentian Research Fellows Program, an interdisciplinary forum for faculty to advance the cause of social justice and poverty alleviation.  The Vincentian Center offers consulting services to Church organizations, and sponsors the Religion and Science Dialogue and provides faculty advisors to the Holy See at the United Nations.  Sr. Margaret, a prolific author, has served on U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Social Development and World Peace and board member for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. She previously worked at taught at St. Joseph College and Laboure College. Sister Margaret John earned her BA at St. Joseph College and MA and PhD at St. John’s University.

Sr. Margaret John Kelly, DC

The Spes Unica Award was established by the St. John’s University Ladies of Charity in 2014  to recognize a person who exemplifies the spirit of St. Louise de Marillac by radically improving the lives of others through service. St. Louise de Marillac was the spiritual moderator of St. Vincent de Paul’s  lay women’s society, the Ladies of Charity.  In 1633 she co-founded the religious order the Daughters of Charity with St. Vincent to address more completely the grinding poverty of 17^th century France.  The newly formed Daughters of Charity set up soup kitchens, organized community hospitals, established schools and homes for orphaned children, offered job training, taught the young to read and write, and improved prison conditions. St. Louise died in 1660 and inscribed on the cross at her grave is the Latin phrase ”spes unica,” which means “one hope” or “only hope.” These words reflect St. Louise’s belief that service to humanity through systematic planning, sustainable programming and extensive collaboration is the “one hope” to effectively alleviate the burdens of people living in poverty.   Four centuries later, that vision is reflected in the lives of people like Sr. Margaret John and previous recipients Mary Mulvihill, 2014 and Roseanne Haggerty, 2015; it is a vision  celebrated by the Ladies of Charity, St. John’s University and the whole Vincentian Family.

“An Evening of Hope” begins at 6:30 pm and participation will support the charitable works of the Ladies of Charity at St. John’s University.  Tickets cost $60.00 and  includes light refreshments and a gourmet dessert bar.  The evening will include a silent auction and raffles.  To purchase tickets and register for the event go to http://goo.gl/forms/DZnu4EPbQ7.

Contributed by: Kathleen Prager