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02-18-2021 News Roundup
02-18-2021 News Roundup 1200 1200 SVDP USA

Through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Vincentians across the United States and around the world are finding spiritual growth by providing person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

International

IRELAND: €5m IT fund needed to support disadvantaged children with remote learning – SVP
IRELAND: Pandemic places extra strain on stretched services across Limerick
IRELAND: SvP’s vital work goes on despite impact of pandemic

National

BATON ROUGE, LA: It takes a village to keep Baton Rouge’s homeless warm
DORAVILLE, GA: Doraville Partners with St. Vincent de Paul to provide rent and mortgage assistance
HOUMA, LA: Nonprofit Spotlight: St. Vincent de Paul Society Store of Houma helps people with basic needs

Help us share the good news of the good work being done in your local Conference or Council! Email us at info@svdpusa.org with the subject line Good News.

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02-18-2021 Letter From Our Servant Leaders
02-18-2021 Letter From Our Servant Leaders 600 685 SVDP USA

Dear Vincentian Friends,

The Collect, or opening prayer, for Ash Wednesday Mass reads, “Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.”

I have come to value the Collect, which is a prayer that begins every Liturgy of the Word. It is a prayer written to position us to understand the scripture of the day. Notice that this Ash Wednesday prayer, which liturgically opens Lent, calls this season a “campaign of Christian service.”

This Lent, I am not in the mood to do much fasting. It seems I have already gone out into the desert and have given up a lot. So what value is there to even more deprivation? But this prayer invites me to consider fasting that would strengthen me for a campaign of service. Our Vincentian commitment to a vocation of service certainly has been tested this past year. So maybe this Lent is an appropriate time to rethink and recommit to that vocation. Maybe a new focus on self-restraint and fasting will help me on that journey.

Several years ago, Pope Francis suggested Lenten fasts, even in this year of isolation and deprivation, may improve our ability to serve our neighbors and be credible witnesses to the Kingdom of God. Our Holy Father asked us to:

  • Fast from hurtful words and speak kind words.
  • Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
  • Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
  • Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
  • Fast from worries and have trust in God.
  • Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.
  • Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
  • Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.
  • Fast from selfishness and be compassionate.
  • Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
  • Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.
    – Pope Francis (Ash Wednesday 2017)

Let’s all use this blessed season to renew and strengthen our belief in redemption and resurrection, so that we may be signs of hope to those we are called to serve.

Serviens in spe,
Ralph Middlecamp
National Council President

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SVdP National Council Welcomes New Chief Advancement Officer
SVdP National Council Welcomes New Chief Advancement Officer 815 823 SVDP USA

The National Council of the United States, Society of St. Vincent de Paul is excited to welcome Ryan Carney as its new Chief Advancement Officer.

Ryan will focus on increased donor engagement, formalizing the communication and fundraising process, deepening engagement with Board members and Vincentians, and increased donor and friend visits nationally.

Ryan is originally from Nashville, TN. He moved to St. Louis to attend Saint Louis University, where he graduated with his degree in Business.

Ryan’s experience with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul began in 2007 when he started working at the St. Louis Council as their first grant writer.

During his time at the St. Louis Council, Ryan held a number of positions including development, formation, training, and programs.

In 2015, Ryan joined the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) as their Director of Philanthropy. While there, he worked with major gifts and planned giving in the Southeastern United States.

In 2018, Ryan was called back to St. Louis and the Society’s St. Louis Council to lead thei

r Development Office, where he worked with St. Louis’s Executive Director, John Foppe to double their annual development revenue.

Ryan has been an involved Vincentian at both the Conference and Council level. He attended Invitation for Renewal and worked with the Vincentian Family in St. Louis. He attended two international Vincentian Family Gatherings.

“I have a passion for the SVdP mission. I believe it is one of the most important apostolates of the Church,” said Ryan. “I am humbled to play a small part in building up the Society and providing resources to Vincentians to serve our neighbors in need.”

Ryan currently lives in St. Louis with his wife, Debra, and their four children, Clara, Mary Kate, Finn, and Jack.

If you’d like to contact Ryan, he can be reached at (314) 576-3993 ext. 213 or by email at rcarney@svdpusa.org.

good morning america
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From Homelessness to Housing: Sarah’s Hope Family Shelter at St. Vincent de Paul in Baltimore
From Homelessness to Housing: Sarah’s Hope Family Shelter at St. Vincent de Paul in Baltimore 1100 621 SVDP USA

It’s a story that’s all too familiar in the ongoing pandemic: struggling to pay their bills, a family loses access to affordable housing.

Good Morning America recently profiled Alisha Carter, a Baltimore-area postal worker who lost her home during the pandemic. She and her five daughters lived together in their car for a time — until they were connected with Sarah’s Hope Family Shelter, a comprehensive 145-bed shelter in Baltimore City serving families who are experiencing homelessness.

St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore provided the family with a safe place to live, as well as the supportive services that could help them move from homelessness to housing.

Now, the family has a new home, and more importantly, they have hope.

To watch the story, click here:

To learn more about how you can support the work of St. Vincent de Paul Baltimore, visit their website.

Since its founding in Paris in 1833, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has grown to 800,000 members in over 150 countries with 1,500,000 volunteers, including nearly 100,000 Vincentian volunteers across the U.S.

Vincentians understand that service to a neighbor in need is an encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ, and are aware that poverty, suffering, and loneliness are present for millions in our communities. Our work is unique in that Vincentians offer tangible assistance to those in need on a person-to-person basis, including intervention, consultation, or direct financial or in-kind service.

To find the St. Vincent de Paul Council or Conference nearest you, and learn how you can help them serve neighbors in need in your community, visit our Assistance and Services page.

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02-11-21 News Roundup
02-11-21 News Roundup 1200 1200 SVDP USA

Through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Vincentians across the United States and around the world are finding spiritual growth by providing person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

Help us share the good news of the good work being done in your local Conference or Council! Email us at info@svdpusa.org with the subject line Good News.

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A Brief History of the St. Vincent de Paul Conference at St. Columba Catholic Church
A Brief History of the St. Vincent de Paul Conference at St. Columba Catholic Church 2560 1707 SVDP USA

Oakland, California’s St. Columba Catholic Church is home to a vibrant St. Vincent de Paul Conference rooted in African-American traditions. In honor of Black History Month, please enjoy this history of the Conference at St. Columba, written by President Jo Ann Evans.

A Brief History of the St. Vincent de Paul Conference at St. Columba Catholic Church

Long before there was a Conference at St. Columba, members used to assemble grocery bags to be given to those who came by and asked for food. According to oral history, the groceries were distributed from the rectory next door to the church. Sometimes the bags held sandwiches. Other times, they contained staples that could be added to the pantries of those who came looking for food.

Spending time discussing the genesis of St Vincent de Paul Conference at St, Columba Church was like viewing into the windows of history as the SVdP Conference was formed in late 1998, early 1999. At the prompting of Mrs. Maud Green whose husband, Bill, was one of the founding members, I called Mrs. Bea Morgan to fill in the pages of an extraordinary story of caring people. They were approached by their pastor at the time, Fr. Tony Herrera, who suggested that their gestures of kindness and generosity could become formalized to establish an organization such as St. Vincent de Paul Society, and to begin a Conference at St. Columba. With very little prodding, Al Morgan, prominently known for his generosity and enthusiasm in helping the less fortunate and for having a big heart, called on a few of his friends to begin St. Columba’s SVdP Conference.

With five members donating $100 each as their starting “kitty”, Al Morgan, Al Muldrow, Bill Green, Hilton Hill, and Robert LaSalle opened up and began serving anyone who came to them for food, a stay at a motel, furniture, and sometimes vouchers for food at McDonald’s. No one was turned away.

Home Visits were common, and some regulars even had Al’s telephone number and called him when they were in need. On many occasions Bill and Bea went out to help someone who called them for help. One such call was for furniture to furnish an entire apartment with everything from napkins and silverware to bed, sofa, kitchen table with chairs, towels, sheets, EVERYTHING. And the caller wasn’t even Catholic, but attended a church not far from her newly furnished apartment! She had heard that Catholics were generous, and indeed, we are.

Fast forward through many years of service to 2016, when our Conference supported stable hands and migrant workers at Golden Gate Fields, college students, members of communes, and our guests. Anything left over was often taken to Guerneville by one of our volunteers (a Christian Brother) who knew of the needs of a community of migrant workers and travelers (unhoused population).

Our Vincentian volunteers became proficient at sorting through produce and food given to our conference through a grocery rescue program. The display of fruits and vegetables, bread, pastries, and miscellaneous items were comparable to a grocery store’s display, neatly arranged.

March of 2020 changed that. Just as we were preparing for St Patrick’s Day with decorations and candy for our guests, the pandemic paid all of us a visit and has refused to leave. After the shock of learning what SIP (shelter in place) meant, our routine for service and operation had to be reimagined.

Now, instead of grocery bags filled with food, we collaborate with a caterer and two other organizations weekly to offer salads, entrees, desserts in take-out containers in an outdoor setting. Due to the ages of our volunteers, many are unable to help with the weekly take-out meals, but other parishioners have stepped in to make sure that our program continues.  At Thanksgiving, instead of the turkeys and all the trimmings that we customarily provide, we offered gift cards for our families to shop for themselves, and at Christmas, our benefactors helped us to bless the families with gift cards, boxes of food and Christmas presents.

From serving sandwiches from the rectory in the early days to formally becoming a St Vincent de Paul Conference to dealing with the restrictions of a pandemic, our conference continues our work and mission to help those in need and to share the blessings that we have received. By the Grace of our Creator, we will continue for many more years to serve to the best of our ability.

Learn More

To learn more about St. Columba Conference, or other St. Vincent de Paul Conferences in the Western region, please contact:

Wallita Sykes-Bush
Western Region Representative
National Multicultural Diversity Committee
African American Task Force

________________________

Does your Council or Conference have a story to share? Email us at mystory@svdpusa.org.

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Contemplation – What Great Reason We Have to Be Cheerful
Contemplation – What Great Reason We Have to Be Cheerful 940 788 SVDP USA

There is an old expression that “you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” and I suspect most of us can confirm this from our own personal experience. Nobody wants advice from a sourpuss; many will even decline a helping hand offered from beneath a furrowed brow. As Ella Wheeler Wilcox put it in her poem Solitude:

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.

It turns out that cheerfulness is not simply a nice thing to offer but is a necessary component of our Vincentian virtue of gentleness.

It is true that some people, as St. Vincent de Paul once explained, are gifted by God with a “cordial, gentle, happy manner, by which they seem to offer you their heart and ask for yours in return,” while others, “boorish persons like [himself,] present themselves with a stern, gloomy, or forbidding expression…” [CCD XII:156]

But a virtue, our Catechism tells us, is “habitual and firm disposition to do good.” [Catechism:1833] Habits, good and bad, can be changed, and our disposition towards cheerfulness can be natural, or it can be acquired.

St. Vincent reminded his missioners of Christ’s great gentleness through His own sorrows, His own suffering. Throughout His passion “no angry word escaped Him,” and even at the moment of His betrayal He greeted Judas as “friend.” [CCD XII:159]

As in all things, we seek to follow Christ’s example, to accept our own suffering, as Vincent once said, “as a divine state,” confident that our true hope lies in doing His will. And if we truly seek to “serve in hope,” our very countenances should shine with confidence, hope, and good cheer – especially so every time we are blessed to serve Christ in the person of His poor.

As Vincent reminded Louise: “Be quite cheerful, I beg you. Oh, what great reason people of good will have to be cheerful!” [CCD I:84]

Contemplate: What is keeping me from smiling, and how can I surrender it to God?

Recommended Reading: Vincentian Meditations

Midyear Virtual Meeting
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Midyear and Business Meeting Registration Now Open!
Midyear and Business Meeting Registration Now Open! 2560 1920 SVDP USA

Registration for the National Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s 2021 Virtual Midyear and Business Meeting is now open!

This year’s agenda includes a spiritual retreat, workshops, Board of Directors meeting, business meeting, training from Disaster Services Corporation, and Stores program, as well as a special event presentation and Virtual Vendor Showcase.

The Virtual Midyear program begins March 3 and ends March 6, but we’ll have a special presentation showcasing the Vincentian Heritage Tour on Sunday, March 7 at 3:00 PM CENTRAL. We hope you’ll join us!

To register, click here.

Vendors/Suppliers

Don’t miss this opportunity to be a part of our 2021 Midyear Virtual Vendor Showcase! Promote your products & services in a pre-recorded video, and chat with Vincentians in a Q&A follow-up session. Click here to get your Vendor Prospectus Form and see all the benefits of exhibiting!

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Contemplation – Our Gifts to God
Contemplation – Our Gifts to God 940 788 SVDP USA

We often use the term “charism” when describing our Vincentian Spirituality. During this week in which we celebrated the 404th anniversary of Vincent’s homily at Folleville on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, which marked the first mission. it seems like an appropriate time to examine our shared Vincentian charism.

We sometimes simplify the meaning of charism to talents we may have, and surely our talents are gifts. But the gifts of the Holy Spirit run deeper.

The Church defines charisms as “graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church…” [Catechism: 799] Like the word grace itself, the root of the word charism comes from a Greek word referring to gifts or favors. These gifts are given to all of us freely and gratuitously.

If we think of our charisms as the seeds in the parable of the sower, we should seek to become the rich soil that yielded a hundredfold what was sown. [Mk 4:1-20] The gifts themselves are our calling – how we use them in the service of God and His Church is our answer.

Or to paraphrase the late writer and motivational speaker, Leo Buscaglia, “Your [charisms] are God’s gift to you. What you do with them is your gift back to God.”

We also recognize special charisms given to individuals or groups that inspire the founding of religious families within the church, such as the Congregation of the Mission, which dates its founding to that 1617 mission in Folleville.

At that time, and even more so as he contemplated it in his memories, St Vincent discerned the special charism that had been given to him, and that he freely shared with all who sought – and seek – to follow his way.

The Vincentian charism calls us to “love God with the strength of our arms, and the sweat of our brows;” to trust in God’s providence; and to follow Christ’s teaching to see and serve Him in the person of the poor. This is the specific way in which we, as Vincentians, seek to live the Gospel daily.

These things are not instructions, or burdens – they are gifts to us!

What we do with them, is our gift to God.

Contemplate: What personal charism do I try to return to the church “one hundredfold?”

Recommended Reading: Praying with Vincent de Paul

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02-04-21 News Roundup
02-04-21 News Roundup 1200 1200 SVDP USA

Through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Vincentians across the United States and around the world are finding spiritual growth by providing person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL

Help us share the good news of the good work being done in your local Conference or Council! Email us at info@svdpusa.org with the subject line Good News.

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