DOVE and the Corporal Works of Mercy

Seton Hall graduates are expected to translate their education into creating a better world; they must be offered opportunities to discover and experience that potential while they are at Seton Hall. The University community is responsible for creating the appropriate environment for meaningful service and personal commitment.

In harmony with the mission of the Catholic Church, the Division of Volunteer Efforts uses the corporal works of mercy as its basis for social action.

Through conversation and discernment, the Director and the Assistant Director of DOVE are available to assist students in choosing volunteer programs that best suit their desire

Elderly

Currently, there are 35 million people in this country who are 65 or older. There are 1.5 million residents populating 17,000 nursing homes in this country. That number will likely double to 3 million by 2035. These forgotten, frail elderly often suffer from terminal loneliness and are all too often victims of abuse and neglect.

Students are asked to be present to the elderly. For some, a Seton Hall student is the only visitor they have had or will have. They may be their only glimpse to the outside world. While many elderly are living happily and yearn to tell their stories, some are waiting and wanting to die.

We ask our students, in the words of Blessed Mother Teresa to, “Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well.”

How students can help:


Poverty

Almost 1.5 billion people live on less than $1 per day. 2/3 of the world lives below the poverty line. Every three seconds a child dies of malnutrition. The number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year. The poverty increase was more dramatic for children. More than a quarter of WORKING families—nearly 39 million people—have trouble meeting their basic needs.

We ask our student to serve the destitute and homeless through hands on interaction. Seton Hall students watch as lines form just blocks away from our campus because our neighbors have no food to eat. They learn about the cycle of poverty when they hold a crying, hungry baby. They understand the plight of the poor when they stand outdoors to serve a meal in the below freezing temperature.
Like Archbishop Oscar Romero, we hope that our students might understand their small role in God’s magnificent plan:
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
How students can help:

People with Disabilities

Close to 2 million children and adults in the United States of America have mental retardation to various degrees. Some children in the Northern New Jersey area need a lot of extra assistance; others simply need friendship and attention.

Seton Hall students participate in programs that bring joy to people with various disabilities, and most times, they receive joy in return. They understand the God-given dignity of every human being when they slap five with a first-place winner of a swim race or dance with a guest at our annual Carnival.

Service to the population of people with disabilities allows students to realize the words of St. Francis de Sales, “Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly."

How students can help:

Literacy

Forty four percent of the world’s inhabitants are illiterate. As a response, Seton Hall students devote time to teaching literacy to both children and adults. They learn to love the poor, the immigrant, and the uneducated.

As written by St. Augustine, “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”

How students can help:

Tutoring/Mentoring

Each day in the United States, at least 4 children die as a result of child abuse in the home. Child abuse is reported, on average, every 10 seconds. Children in poor, urban schools often lack the resources that are necessary for their academic success and intellectual development.
Seton Hall students are a positive presence in local children’s lives. They bring smiles and a LOT of energy to the programs where they volunteer. They know that their words and actions certainly make an impact on the children who yearn to feel loved.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton offers the following explanation, “Disorder in the society is the result of disorder in the family.” She tell us too, though, that “Cheerfulness prepares a glorious mind for all the noblest acts,” which is precisely what we ask of our student volunteers.

How students can help:

International Service Program

Releasing the DOVEs: Created in 2004, this annual international service trip seeks to increase students’ understanding of God’s global society and universal message. Participants are selected through an application and interview process. They meet each week to prayerfully prepare through cultural, historical, and lingual training.

“All must consider it their sacred duty to count social obligation among their chief duties today and observe them as such. For the more closely the world comes together, the more widely do people’s obligations transcend particular groups and extend to the whole world.”

Pope Paul VI/Encyclical Letter Gaudium et Spes