St. John's Vincentian Center for Church and Society to Host Conference: "In Solidarity with Persons with Disabilities"

The Vincentian Center for Church and Society, along with Vincentian Chair of Social Justice at St. John’s University, will host a conference that will focus on enhancing individual’s capacity to stand in solidarity with the disabled.  Titled: In Solidarity with Persons with Disabilities, the conference will take place on March 29 in Bent Hall, Room 277 A on the University’s Queens campus.

Experts in the fields of physical and mental health, law, education, Christian ethics and moral theology, as well as persons with disabilities, will be on hand to serve as guest lecturers and moderators for several panel discussions throughout the day, designed to explore society’s understanding of vulnerability and interdependence through the perspective of those with disabilities. 

Dr. Kenneth J. Doka, Professor of Gerontology at the Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle and Senior Consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America, will talk about “The Social and Cultural Construction of Disability” during a discussion moderated by St. John’s University Professor Basilio G. Monteiro, Ph.D. 

During the final discussion of the afternoon, Joseph Egan, Member of L’Arche (Toronto), an international community founded by Jean Vanier where people with disabilities and assistants choose to live and work together, will speak about “The Spiritual Dimensions of Disability.”

In keeping with St. John’s University’s Vincentian tradition of concern for the poor and marginalized in society, the Vincentian Center for Church and Society and the Chair of Social Justice seek to emulate St. Vincent de Paul, the founder of the Congregation of the Mission and patron of charitable endeavors within the Church, in his unwavering commitment to the dignity of the human person and his insistence on the personal and societal obligation to assist the poor and vulnerable. 

The cost for this event is $20 and includes lunch. For more information, or to RSVP (by March 23) please contact the Vincentian Center for Church and Society at (718) 990-1612, or by e-mail to vccs@stjohns.edu. 

For media inquires, please contact Elizabeth Reilly, Assistant Director of Media Relations at St. John’s, by calling (718) 990-5789, or e-mail inquires to reillye@stjohns.edu.