Vincentians

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SVdP News Roundup June 3 – June 9
SVdP News Roundup June 3 – June 9 1080 1080 SVDP USA

With 100,000 Vincentians across the United States and nearly 800,000 around the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

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Contemplation – Sacred Images
Contemplation – Sacred Images 1080 1080 SVDP USA

In expanding upon the principle that “no work of charity is foreign to the Society,” the Rule goes on to say that these works include “any form of help that alleviates suffering or deprivation and promotes human dignity…” [Rule, Part I, 1.3] Human dignity is at the heart of what we do, as it should be. After all, the first of the four permanent principles of Catholic Social Doctrine is “the dignity of the human person.” [CSDC, 160]

What do we mean by dignity, though? What does dignity call us to do, exactly? In all of her writing, St. Louise used the word dignity most often in speaking of the Blessed Mother, whose “dignity … unites her to her Son.” [SWLM, 785] Yet she also speaks of the “dignity of suffering” [SWLM, 775] and the dignity of the Eucharist, which, she says, “should make us realize our powerlessness to prepare adequately to receive Him.” [SWLM, 822] In each case, dignity represents a worthiness, or a nobility.

How often are the poor expected to demonstrate their “worthiness?” How often are they called to shuffle into an assistance office, fill out a form, take a number, or many other indignities. As Vincentians, our respect for the dignity of all persons demands of us that we “never adopt the attitude that the money is [ours], or that the recipients have to prove that they deserve it.” [Manual, 23]

The greatest commandment reminds us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and not just the victim on the side of the road, not just the homeless, not just the single mother, not just the most sympathetic, but rather “everyone must consider his every neighbor without exception as another self… a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbor of every person without exception and of actively helping him when he comes across our path.” [Gaudium et Spes, 27]

In an essay on Christian charity, Frédéric Ozanam compared the ancient paganism to Christianity. They had, he conceded, better understood how to enjoy themselves, and had constructed vast stadiums to do so. We, on the other hand, “understand what constitutes human dignity, what lasts as long as life endures.” [Baunard, 322]

Each person is created fully in God’s image, the imago Dei, unique and unrepeatable, the “sacred images of that God whom we do not see”.[Letter 137, to Janmot, 1837] They are already worthy, and already deserving. As with the Body of Christ, received in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, as Louise teaches, it is we who must prepare to receive them, to serve them, and to honor them.

Contemplate

Do I sometimes feel the neighbor must “prove himself” to me??

Recommended Reading

Faces of Holiness

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06-08-2023 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
06-08-2023 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 900 900 SVDP USA

Sitting in the warm sunshine, I recently attended a college graduation and was struck by the behaviors of the students’ friends and family members all around me. Many were yelling loudly at their favorite graduate’s name, taking many photos, and otherwise celebrating like this event was a major milestone. Which, for some, it definitely was because they were watching the first from their family ever to graduate from college. For others, like parents, it meant the end of college tuition payments! For many, however, they know or will soon understand that college is just one step in a lifetime of learning.

Ironically, this particular graduation was on Ascension weekend. Families celebrated with great fervor the going forth of their young ones to greater adventures, perhaps to return one day. Yet the ascension up to Heaven of Christ, with His promises to finish works on our behalf and then someday to return to us, does not get the fanfare it deserves. Perhaps the annual celebration of this event for hundreds of years has dulled us to its critical importance within our faith and our future.

As Vincentians, we know that college is important, but that our devotion and learning of our faith is a lifelong pathway. Every answer we receive begs new and deeper questions. Yet we continue our faith journey in the hope of attaining the Sainthood promised to us.

Imagine that each of those newly-minted graduates had been formed in our faith and Vincentian charism. Now they prepare to serve, some in our neighborhoods and many others in distant communities, with the zeal of youth and at least a basic understanding of what it means to be a serving Vincentian. Wouldn’t that be a graduation worth celebrating!

In founder Frédéric Ozanam’s day, members of the original Conference first split their growing membership into multiple Paris Conferences, and then members naturally drifted away to other communities. They brought our charism with them to form new Conferences with new members, and thus the Society very quickly grew nationally and even internationally. For example, the Society reached the United States in 1845, only 12 years since the first Conference meeting in Paris, and in a time of far less publicity, transportation and certainly the viral, social media than we have today. A powerful idea, combined with positive word of mouth is, in this case, evangelical. Imagine what it could be like today if current grads likewise went off to the rest of their lives away from their college communities to join, or start, Society Conferences wherever they landed.

We don’t need to imagine it. We can make it happen.

This requires two caring, thoughtful Society communities of action. The first forms and nurtures college campus, Neumann Center, or nearby parish young adult Conferences. The process at this end builds in a high turnover of students and Conference leadership terms, and requires frequent Ozanam Orientations and other basic formation and service opportunities. The second community, which is all of us, receives graduates into their existing parish Conferences and actively assists young adults to form new Conferences. Yes, this process can be messy and requires both patience and resources, not the least of which is community connections to get started.

Just as Christ sent out His disciples to faraway lands to spread the Word, we have an opportunity to nurture young adults as they travel from childhood homes and places of learning into their new career and family communities. The habits learned at a young age, not the least of which are faith and service, need our nurturing and mentorship or they risk being replaced by whatever is available – and not always good – habits.

At graduations nationwide, the grandparents especially understand that the day is a milestone worth celebrating but just one step in a lifetime of learning. What can we do, for both our kids and others’ children, to help them continue on their path of faith formation and service? What would Frederic do? What would Christ do?

Yours in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO

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SVdP News Roundup May 27 – June 2
SVdP News Roundup May 27 – June 2 1080 1080 SVDP USA

With 100,000 Vincentians across the United States and nearly 800,000 around the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

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Contemplation — A Seamless Garment
Contemplation — A Seamless Garment 1080 1080 SVDP USA

In Blessed Rosalie’s time, every working-class family with three or more children was registered with the Bureau of Public Assistance; it was simply assumed that in the conditions of the times, they would not be able to support themselves. Work was often disrupted by revolutions which shut businesses down, or by epidemics that both shuttered businesses and ended lives. A man’s death could leave his widow and children in complete destitution.

In the midst of this, Rosalie and the Daughters of Charity worked both tirelessly and cheerfully to bring food, medical care, and more to the homes of the poor. Rosalie, it was said, would not leave those homes without having also helped with some housework.

Mentored in our earliest days by Rosalie and the Daughters, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul carries on this tradition, meeting and befriending our neighbors in their homes and seeking ways to provide for their needs. Also, like Rosalie, this can lead us beyond the Home Visit.

After all, if her husband had died, leaving her penniless, the widowed mother of Rosalie’s time would have to go outside the home and find work to support herself and her children, but then who would care for the children? The Daughters could have simply kept bringing more bread, but instead, Rosalie founded the Saint-Marcel Day Nursery to care for newborns while their mothers worked. She saw that this would do more than provide food, it would remove a barrier to their own self-sufficiency – a barrier over which the widows themselves had no control. The women even paid 15 of the 55 centimes that the childcare cost per day.

By respecting the dignity of the widows and the duty of people to work, and continuing to walk in friendship with the neighbor, Rosalie modeled for us both our Catholic Social Doctrine and our Vincentian vocation.

It is no wonder that the young men who founded the Society would follow this example, as well, creating an apprenticeship program for young men in Paris shortly after the very first Conference was founded. It was in the course of their Home Visits they saw a way to break the cycle of poverty among young men who had no fathers to guide them into a trade.

It turns out that “systemic change” is only a new phrase, not a new idea. After all, who would sew a new patch to an old cloak? All of our works grow naturally from the knowledge we gain by climbing the stairs to the poor man’s garret. Systemic change may be beyond, but it is inseparable from the Home Visit, part of a seamless garment, rooted deeply in both our tradition and our Home Visit.

Contemplate

What barriers can I help to remove from the neighbor’s path?

Recommended Reading

Seeds of Hope

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A Week in Prayers May 30 – June 2
A Week in Prayers May 30 – June 2 1080 1080 SVDP USA

Tuesday, May 30

O Lord, in my heart of hearts
Help me to find the strength
Of gentleness –
The kindness that overcomes,
The patience that waits,
The smile that knows only love.
Amen

Wednesday, May 31

You took my place, Lord Jesus,
When You died for me on the cross.
You took my place, Lord Jesus,
When You died so I might live.
Empty me of myself, I pray,
So it is no longer I who live.
Take my place, Lord Jesus,
Be my life.
Amen

Thursday, June 1

Speak to me, Lord, in the silence
Of the early morning,
In the softly growing light.
Quiet the noise of my worries,
The cries of my sadness,
And the groans of my pain.
Quiet my mind and heart
So that I can hear the gentle songs
Of birds that neither sow nor reap,
But still are fed by Your hand.
Speak to me, Lord, with silence,
So I can listen with only peace.
Amen

Friday, June 2

Lord Jesus,
You are light in the darkness,
Light that shows the way.
Help me also to see Your light
In the daytime,
In a sparrow,
In a smile or a tear,
And in the neighbor.
Amen

Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director.
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SVdP Stores Corner: Promoting Clothing Drives
SVdP Stores Corner: Promoting Clothing Drives 1080 1080 SVDP USA

Written by: Joe Lazarich, Council of Rockville Centre,  Northeast Region

A good opportunity to increase clothing donations and promote awareness of the Society and the mission is to collaboratively work together with our stores and Conferences to promote and execute clothing drives.

Below are some suggestions to help your drive be successful:

  • Select a date and time that is convenient for everyone, including the Pastor.
  • Work with the Vincentians to reserve a SVdP truck, if available, or provide a scheduled pick up at the location of the event upon completion.
  • Provide donation receipts, as requested.
  • Advertise in the church bulletin a few weeks prior to the event.
  • Promote on social media to include local groups such as “Moms and Dads”.
  • Inform surrounding parishes that do not have an SVdP Conference.
  • Ensure Conference members are present to assist and promote SVdP’s mission and fellowship.
  • Notify the Religious Education Department to inform their students who can earn volunteer/community service hours for participating in the clothing drive.

Click here see the attached flyer that can be edited with your store’s clothing drive information.

We’d like to encourage you to attend the National Assembly – Stores Meeting on September 6, 2023 in St. Louis, MO to hear information about our National Training Store in Phoenix, store staffing, increasing donations, productivity, Point-of-Sale (POS), and hear innovative ideas to think of new ways to serve.

For those attending the Stores Meeting in its entirety on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, they will be eligible for door prizes to include:

  • 1st Door Prize:  Complimentary two-day trip for two to Our National Training Store in Phoenix, AZ (up to $1,000 for airfare and hotel). Meals and other expenses will not be covered. Must be a SVdP Store Manager/Director to qualify. Must be present to win.
  • 2nd Door Prize: Complimentary Registration for one to the 2024 National Assembly in Phoenix, Arizona. (A special code will be emailed to the winner once the registration is opened up). Must be present to win.
  • 3rd Door Prize: $250 Amazon Gift Card. Must be present to win.

For those attending the Joint Lunch with ED’s-Store:

  • Complimentary dinner for two at Charlie Gittos’s On the Hill ($200 value). Drawing after the joint ED-Store meeting. Must be present to win.

You don’t want to miss out!!

Please encourage your store personnel to subscribe to the to the e-Gazette, by emailing mboyer@svdpusa.org. If you have a topic that you would like addressed in a future Stores Corner article, please e-mail our Jeff Beamguard, Director of Stores Support at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

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06-01-2023 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
06-01-2023 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 900 900 SVDP USA

My nine-year old neighbor thinks that my human-powered rotary lawnmower is so cool that he loves to cut my grass. My lawn is only the size of a shuffleboard court, so it doesn’t take him long, but for five bucks I get out of some work and he has fun.

When faced with a Society of St. Vincent de Paul task or obstacle, we often only see the problem before us. We wonder how much it will cost to fix the problem, how much of our time it will take, and even why it seems that God is punishing us with this situation. What we so often ignore, though, is that our problem may actually be someone else’s opportunity!

During Scouting’s 100th anniversary, I was asked to develop an arena show at a summer camp for several thousand Scouts and their families. My budget was miniscule, but the expectations, especially of the boys, were not! I had little choice but to wonder who might want to help me, and at a steep discount. Flipping the problem mindset into an opportunity mindset, I asked a “teen school of rock” if they would like to perform at a mini-Woodstock before thousands of eager young fans. They readily agreed, and even asked how much they needed to pay me for their participation!

Talented leaders of Society food pantries encounter this win-win situation all the time. They are in regular contact with grocers who have excess product that they hate to see wasted. Our acceptance of all those breads, produce and almost-expired foods solves their problem, may affect their tax and cost accounting, and even makes them feel great! Our pharmacies likewise take advantage of someone else’s problem — what to do with medicine overstocks — to help families in need.

As we approach a problem, let’s ask who would benefit from our situation. Who wants us to succeed? Who would view our challenge as their opportunity to make a difference, to help their business, or to otherwise advance their goals? Is there a local government agency, and/or a business, who could benefit from our work, and may even help us to see that we are successful? Who would love to volunteer with us to meet their service hour goals, a corporate commitment to service, or some other objective?

We must admit that not everyone works strictly from the goodness of their hearts. There may be enlightened self-interest, too, even if we consider it to be God’s grace. Perhaps God has given us an opportunity to bring others into our orbit, and to learn about our works while satisfying their own needs. There is more than one pathway into understanding the challenges of poverty and its effects on our communities. Likewise, there is more than one journey to Society membership and other support. There is certainly more than one way to learn God’s plan for us through service, collaboration or exposure to others in different life circumstances. The Society can be the stimulator for all this to happen in our neighborhoods.

Others may not see these possibilities, because they don’t yet know us well enough. They may not know who we serve or how we operate our programs. We may need to take the lead for others to see the opportunities to benefit in spirit, finances or other parts of their lives through getting to know us better. Leaders don’t go and do the work; they get the work done though others. Let’s be leaders for Christ and solve some of our challenges through the opportunities of others around us.

As for my young neighbor, I wonder if he has read “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” yet? Just wait until I show him how much fun he will have painting my fence!

Yours in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO

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Contemplation — Come, Holy Spirit
Contemplation — Come, Holy Spirit 1080 1080 SVDP USA

Four hundred years ago, on the feast of Pentecost 1623, Louise de Marillac, known then as Mademoiselle LeGras, knelt in prayer at her parish church, Église Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs. Her husband was very ill, and unemployed. Her son was troubled. She blamed herself for these burdens, because she had never fulfilled her “first promise,” made when she was a teenager, to become a Capuchin nun. She felt all of her misfortunes traced back to this failure.

It didn’t matter that the decision not to become a nun had not been hers, but her spiritual director’s. Distraught, she was considering leaving her husband in order “to have greater liberty to serve God and my neighbor.” [SWLM, 1] She was wracked with doubts and uncertainty about her future, and even doubted the immortality of her soul. And so she knelt in prayer, alone with her thoughts, offering her cry of suffering to God.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, we are taught, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It was at this lowest moment that she received what she called her lumière, her light, and her “mind was instantly freed of all doubt.” [Ibid] It was the light of the Holy Spirit that assured her that day, that eased the burdens weighing her down, that brought the hope and peace of God to her.

She would go on to care for her sick husband for two more years before being widowed. In the meantime, she would endure hardship and relative poverty. It would be ten years before, along with St. Vincent, she would found the Daughters of Charity, finally fulfilling that “first promise.”

But it wasn’t the founding, nor her many later works, in which she found her peace, it was in the hope and the light of the Holy Spirit, received in the depths of her sorrows.

Our neighbors cry out to us on days much like Louise’s. Like her, it is temporal crises that have often driven them to despair and left them in isolation and doubt about their futures.

Blessed are you who are now weeping.

In their dark night of the soul, God answers. He sends us to prove His love, and to bring His hope. At each Conference meeting we pray, “Come Holy Spirit, live within our lives.” Let us add, in our hearts, “Make me the bearer of Your light. Let me be, for the neighbor, their lumière, so they will know that whatever happens tomorrow or next week, You are with them, and so am I. Help me to bear the light of hope.”

Contemplate

Do I pray for the light of the Holy Spirit, for myself and for the neighbor?

Recommended Reading

Praying with Louise de Marillac

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SVdP News Roundup May 20 – May 26
SVdP News Roundup May 20 – May 26 150 150 SVDP USA

With 100,000 Vincentians across the United States and nearly 800,000 around the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

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