Attentiveness to the Spirit within that connects us to the world around us.

St. Vincent de Paul once said "Give me a person of prayer and the person will be capable of everything." Attentiveness to the Spirit within, through reflection or prayer, connects us to the world around us and makes us aware of how we can make a difference.

At Niagara, images of St. Vincent are seen at every turn -- as you go around the circle, in front of Gallagher Center, as you enter St. Vincent Hall. These images remind us that this campus is more than bricks and mortar; it has a soul and a living history, based on the rich literary and cultural traditions of the Catholic Church and in the Vincentian mission to proclaim the good news to the poor.

During a student's four years on campus, these spiritual reminders are internalized through a variety of activities, experiential learning, and service opportunities. Intellectual life is centered on understanding and reflecting on the philosophical, moral and practical implications of respecting the God-given dignity of every person, and participation in learn and serve activities that focus on issues of poverty and oppression is required in order to graduate. Extracurricularly, a spirit of volunteerism is encouraged through the campus organizations for which community service is a requirement, and through opportunities for students to spend their holiday breaks serving the poor in one of several urban sites through our Brothers and Sisters in Christ program.

Students are also influenced by faculty, staff, and administrators who participate in service activities in the surrounding community and on an international level. These activities facilitate spiritual and apostolic growth and lead to a more active relationship with our God.

Fr. Levesque's Vision

Our students must benefit from an education that is holistic. We must pay attention to each element of education: spirituality, good health, good citizenship, intellectual curiosity and excellence in academic performance, living a moral life, and having a healthy well-integrated personality. An integrated education becomes a part of this goal as well, namely, concern for the humanistic and professional dimensions of a student’s education.

Prayer, our communion with God, must remain at the center of our life at NU. I encourage professors to find ways to bring prayer, even silent prayer, to our students in the classroom. I request that all significant meetings of administrative and staff personnel be started with a prayer; and I hope that we will always be creative in also finding ways to express our “love for God” as a university community, just as we promote and look for expressions of “love of our neighbor.” These two great commandments of the Lord are clearly our foundation and our center at Niagara University.