SJC to Present Esse Non Videri Award to Sister Margaret Smyth

April 12, 2019 LI

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – April 12, 2019 – The Institute for the Study of Religion in Community Life and the Office of Campus Ministry at St. Joseph’s College (SJC) are pleased to announce that Sister Margaret Smyth, O.P., founder of the North Fork Spanish Apostolate, will receive the College’s Sister Elizabeth Hill Esse Non Videri Non-Violence Award on Tuesday, April 23.  

The award, named for former SJC President Sister Elizabeth Hill, will be presented to S. Margaret Smyth who has worked on the East End for more than 20 years serving the various needs of immigrants. The agency she founded provides language, citizenship and cultural education, health care education, translation services, legal protection and a range of other kinds of assistance.

“It will be an honor to recognize the amazing work of S. Margaret Smyth at this year’s Esse Non Videri luncheon,” said Thomas Petriano, Ph.D., professor and chair of religious studies at SJC. “S. Margaret has led a remarkable life and the work she continues to do is inspiring to everyone who meets her. She truly embodies the values that the Esse Non Videri Award seeks to recognize.”

S. Margaret was 17 years old when she entered the convent. She later taught in schools in Brooklyn and Queens, and later served as principal. She worked in El Salvador and Guatemala before returning to New York and settling in a convent in Cutchogue. At the North Fork Spanish Apostolate in Riverhead, S. Margaret helps countless families and aims to build integrated communities by empowering low-income people on Long Island, particularly immigrants living or working on the East End.

For more information about this event, contact Susan Belonzi at [email protected].

ABOUT ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE
St. Joseph’s College has been dedicated to providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the College provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility and service. Through SJC Brooklyn, SJC Long Island and SJC Online, the College offers degrees in 50 majors, special course offerings and certificates, affiliated and pre-professional programs.