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The foundation of Saint John – a social commitment?

In his book "L'ouvre sociale du chanoine Dehon" [The social action of Canon Dehon] Robert Prelot treats the foundation of the St. John's College (and the emergence of the new Congregation) with only a few words: "It ís not our task to treat here the considerable activity of Dehon concerning these two new foundations." (Prélot, p. 64) These words reveal a certain problem in the dehonian historiography: By the term ‘social’ many authors of our century understand something quite different from what Dehon himself would have intended.

This is exactly what Yves Poncelet in a lecture about Fr. Dehon refers to when he says: "The adjective social is used so generously and appears in so many contexts in Dehon’s writings that it becomes very difficult to give a precise sense to the expression of the social commitment of Fr.Dehon. Very soon it appears that the crucial aspect cannot be limited to what many authors would like to see: an improvement of the living conditions of the weaker classes. ForDehon crucial interest is a global project of society. The solution of the worker question according to Dehon’s thinking legitimately might be regarded as a potential consequence of his project of society." (In: Yves Ledure, Rerum Novarum en France, p. 62)

In Dehon’s own perspective, according to his own thinking, the foundation of St.John’s College is to be integrated in his project of society and by this a social commitment: "... it was his [Dehon’s] opinion that a college offered the fundamental solution to all the social problems, so fundamental in fact that it would reach the very cause of the evil conditions. From the beginning, his college endeavored to provide the future leaders in social action, the intellectuals and businessmen, with an education calculated to induce them to apply spontaneously in their daily lives the principles of Christian justice and charity." (Dorresteijn, Leo John Dehon, p. 80)