By Gina Martinez
St. John’s is officially a Catholic Relief Services Global Campus.
St. John’s President Condrado “Bobby” Gempesaw signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the university as a Global Campus of Catholic Relief Services Monday at the St. Thomas More Church on campus. Students, faculty and staff attended the gathering. Carolyn Y. Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Service, was also in attendance.
CRS is the official humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to assist the poor, respond to major emergencies and fight disease around the world. According to CRS, it has helped over 100 million people in more than 100 countries.
CRS and St. John’s have worked together for nearly 10 years. In 2014 a chapter of CRS Campus Ambassadors was launched. The program helps prepare undergraduates to address global poverty and injustice. In 2016, CRS collaborated with St. John’s at the university’s Poverty Conference.
St. John’s will be the 10th CRS Global Campus in the United States.
“This is a comprehensive and longstanding relationship that only happens because people work at it and are passionate about it,” Woo said. “Our work is a privilege and we take our work very seriously.”
After the signing, Woo delivered an academic lecture “Cry of the Earth and Cry of the Poor” She praised CRS’s work helping to educate refugees worldwide.
“There are 65 million refugees out there and half of them are children,” she said. “If we handle this problem well, and we welcome this generation, we will have the largest generation of peace builders.”
Juliana Lombardo, a student at St. John’s is excited about the new agreement.
“It really shows how connected we are to the world as a Catholic university,” she said “It’s a wonderful chance for St. John’s students to use the collective resources of the two institutions to spread Catholic social teaching around the world.”
Rev. Bernard M. Tracey, executive vice president for Mission and interim vice president for Advancement and University Relations, believes the new agreement will expand the school’s horizons.
“The partnership between CRS and the university will enhance both our educational and our service approach to looking at things from a global perspective,” he said “It enables us to do more in the academic and service arenas as well, creating meaningful opportunities for both faculty and students.”
Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmart
