Authored by Michael Bartolomeo
The Prophet, Vol. 2 No. 1. October, 1967.
St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School was founded by the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 1966 as part of a project to construct three diocesan high schools on Long Island, New York. With the objective of providing students the opportunity for a holistic Catholic education, its mission has long been one grounded in the core Vincentian values of Truth, Love, and Respect through a spirit of “accountability, trust, and justice […] tempered with compassion and understanding” (Mission Statement 2013).
In order to record and document the contributions of the students and faculty towards fulfilling this mission, the school created The Prophet, a student newspaper in print since the school’s founding. Digitized in commemoration of the school’s 50th anniversary, this and other volumes of the newspaper provide a window into the school’s history to highlight but a small portion of the impact it had on the lives of students and to allow reflections upon major societal and institutional changes in relation to social justice from the mid-sixties to the present.
For example, in this issue we see an article titled “A, B, C’s” which announces the formation of a reading lab to assist students with reading and learning difficulties – an under and possibly misrepresented group within the student body at the time (The Prophet October 1967). Almost 50 years later, initiatives like the reading lab continue to be offered by the school, in addition to other clubs and activities that encourage a Vincentian lifestyle, such as the Peace and Justice Club and the St. John the Baptist Service Corps – all of which provide a service to the community (Student Activities 2013).
The newspaper’s connection to Vincentian ideals is perhaps even more clearly seen through the name of the school and of the newspaper itself. In naming themselves after John the Baptist, the school honors the discipleship and example of John, who embodies every Vincentian ideal. John’s father Zachariah prophesized that he would “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:49 NRSV) much in the way that Saint Vincent de Paul gave light to the poor and sick as the Apostle of Charity (Dosen 2005, 49). Indeed, the priest Jean-Jacques Olier even went so far as to depict Saint Vincent as John the Baptist in his memoirs for their dramatic similarities as both ministered to and served the poor (Maloney 2008, 8).
It seems, then, that in emulating the life of John the Baptist through its mission and encouraging a Catholic education which “aids learners in developing their God-given capabilities for the sake of devoting all that they have and are to the service of God and neighbor,” St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School should be considered a school Vincentian in spirit, if not in name (Manning 2014, 79).
References
“A, B, C’s,” The Prophet (West Islip, NY), Oct. 1967.
“Mission Statement.” St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School. Last modified September 24, 2013. http://stjohnthebaptistdhs.net/who_we_are/mission_statement.
“Student Activities.” St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School. Last modified September 24, 2013. http://stjohnthebaptistdhs.net/who_we_are/student_activities.
Coogan, Michael D., Marc Z. Brettler, and Carol A. Newsom. New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha New Revised Standard Version. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Dosen, Anthony J. “Vincentian Eduction [i.e. Education] and the Charism of St. Vincent De Paul.” Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry & Practice 9, no. 1 (2005): 49.
Maloney, Robert P. “Vincent de Paul and Jean-Jacques Olier: Unlikely Friends.” Vincentian Heritage Journal 28, no.1 (2008): 8.
Manning, Patrick R. “Forming the Whole Disciple: A Guide to Crafting a Truly Holistic Catholic Religious Education.” Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry & Practice 17, no. 2 (2014): 79.