sjulogoFather Bernie Tracy, C.M., announced that Father Patrick J. Griffin, C.M., has been appointed as executive director of the Vincentian Center for Church and Society. Fr. Griffin follows Sr. Margaret John Kelly, D.C., who is leaving the University after 21 years of leadership at the center.

Joining the University in 1985, Fr. Griffin taught in the Theology Department in the College of Professional Studies (then St. Vincent’s College) until 1987. He served on the University’s Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2008, when he assumed the role of Executive Vice President for Mission and Branch Campuses. He continued in that position until the end of 2010, when he became Director General of the Daughters of Charity in Paris. Returning to the University in August 2014, he served as Special Assistant in the Office of the President.

Fr. Griffin said he looks forward to continuing Sr. Margaret’s excellent work at the Vincentian Center. “Sr. Margaret created the center,” he said, “and she has done a wonderful job ensuring its success as a resource for the University in terms of its Vincentian and Catholic identity.” The center, Fr. Griffin added, “has engaged our faculty in the vital work of ministry and service.”

Sr. Margaret led the Vincentian Center since 1994, creating programs to strengthen Catholic education at the University and beyond. In 2000, the center launched the Vincentian Research Fellows Program, an interdisciplinary forum for faculty to advance the cause of social justice. Among its many other contributions, the center houses the Vincentian Chair of Social Justice; develops the annual Founder’s Week celebration; supports the Institute for Poverty Studies; offers consulting services to Church organizations; sponsors the Religion and Science Dialogue; and provides faculty advisors to the Holy See at the United Nations.

Please join me in thanking Sr. Margaret for her outstanding service and congratulating Fr. Griffin as he begins his own leadership role at the Vincentian Center for Church and Society.