Vincentians

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12-8-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders

12-8-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSC-Servant-Leader-copy-1-1.jpg 900 900 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png December 7, 2022 December 8, 2022

Dear Vincentians,

This time of the year, when we give thanks for all our blessings, I always reflect over my seventeen years in disaster relief work for the Society and recall so many Vincentian heroes. The work we do at Disaster Services is difficult as we witness so much destruction and heartache, but we also get to see lives healed and systemic change in action. I would like to share with you some of my very special memories of Vincentian Servant Leaders and their gifts.

I have worked or overseen relief efforts for Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, Gustav, Alex, Mathew, Florence, Harvey, Irma, Maria, Michael, Ida, and now Ian, in addition to numerous tornados in IL, KY, MO, OK, TN, and TX, and floods in the Midwest, IL, KY, NE, and WV, Wildfires in the West, to include CA, NM, OR, and WA, and other disasters like the COVID-19 Pandemic and West Texas Fertilizer Explosion. No matter the disaster, we have always had Vincentian Servant Leaders that have come forward to deploy to help other Councils or were willing to go in and help a neighboring Catholic community where we had no Conference. From these experiences, we have also indirectly helped with the extension of the Society.

During Hurricane Katrina, Dick Reimbold and his wife Irene were two such leaders and they came to Dallas to help me run a 70,000 square foot warehouse for our Katrina House in a Box™ Program. The hours were long and there were so many stories of loss and death, but they stayed for weeks and through it all kept me going, as I was so stressed out from the thousands of families that needed assistance. To this day, Dick still volunteers and is now serving as our Mideast Disaster Chair. Then there is the amazing Vincentian, Jim Butler, who has deployed to numerous disasters over the years. During Hurricane Ike, Jim went with me and a local Catholic priest to visit an area called Oak Island, TX. Oak Island was a Vietnamese community, and the survivors were camped out on the ground near their destroyed properties. They were afraid to go to shelters as they thought people would loot the very little they had left on their land. Jim said, “well if we cannot get them to shelter, why don’t we take them shelter.” We worked with the Council of Beaumont to raise money for tents, and I called the Red Cross who donated blankets and bug spray. Jim and I, along with local Vincentians carried in all these items to the disaster zone on Oak Island, so that the immigrant families could stay on their land.

When West Virginia had a series of very heavy and fatal floods in 2016, Jim Butler, Diane Clark and Tom Link all deployed with me to help set up a SVDP Recovery Center in a former Kmart building. Many of our local Vincentians could not travel the distances between the flood impacted counties and this dynamic team of three came to assist. The state of WV and WV Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (WV VOAD) had very little supplies and Diane, Jim and Tom sat on old plastic paint containers and did intake and casework for hundreds of families. When I walked in the building and saw them sitting on those old plastic containers, it brought a tear to my eye, but they never complained.

One of our superstar Vincentians over the years was Gail Bertrand, who is now guiding us from above. Gail was always willing to go the extra mile to help disaster survivors. Gail had gone through many hurricanes and had her own property heavily damaged. She understood what it was like to come home to a mold invested dwelling with all your family pictures and family bible under water. Gail had a big heart and always found a way to help disaster survivors. One special memory of Gail , of which there are many, was when we deployed to help our Vincentians in the Carolinas, after Hurricane Florence. We had set up a Disaster Relief Center and an elderly woman came to the center. The woman had lost her documents in the Hurricane and was so embarrassed that she did not know how to retrieve any of her documents. She just cried and cried. Gail held her and told her not to worry. The woman was also very hungry, and Gail fixed a plate of food for her from the food we had bought for the volunteers. After Gail got her registered with FEMA, she worked to find her temporary housing in a nearby hotel and to find a local community agency that could provide eldercare. When the woman left, I told Gail how impressed I was with her empathy, and she said “Liz I get to see the face of Christ in what we do. It is not empathy or sympathy, but my faith that drives me.” Gail modeled Vincentian Charism. For her it was a way of life.

So, as I was driving into Dallas, to be with my family over the Thanksgiving Holidays, I realized that I have been so very blessed to be in a leadership role with Disaster Services Society of St Vincent de Paul USA. The hours are long, and I am often gone from home for up to six months. However, it is has been so very spiritually fulfilling to watch the growth of our Parish Recovery Assistance Centers, where we provide one on one disaster relief services, to our Disaster Case Management Programs, where we provide a road map to recovery for the most vulnerable survivors and create systemic change in their lives, to our nationally known House in a Box ™ Program where we have helped so many families in complex and life changing situations. I want to thank each of you for your support of our mission and we could not do what we do without our Vincentian family.

Gratefully,
Elizabeth Disco-Shearer
CEO, Disaster Services Corp SVDP-USA

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Contemplation — On Our Way

Contemplation — On Our Way https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Contemplation-blog-1-4.jpg 1080 1080 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png December 5, 2022 December 5, 2022

One of the central activities of the Conferences and Councils of the Society is formation. Because we often use this word as a synonym for “training” we can begin to think of it as an isolated event, something to check off on a list when we join the Society or enter into specific positions. But formation is not a single event – it is a lifelong journey of becoming…of becoming what?

As Vincentians, we have chosen a specific way of being Catholic, and this way, this vocation, forms us. The Foundation Document on Vincentian Formation, adopted by the Society more than twenty years ago, suggests four different dimensions of formation, closely mirroring the areas outlined in Pastores dabo vobis, an apostolic exhortation on the formation of priests.

Our human formation, the basis for all formation, begins with our actions, which are shaped by our virtues. We become by doing, we build habits of virtue in order to become virtuous. For Vincentians, these include the Cardinal Virtues, the Theological Virtues, and our Vincentian Virtues.

Our spiritual formation has to do with the transcendent aspect of our nature; the aspect in which we are truly made in God’s image. Our spiritual formation reminds us that we are created to live in community. The model of the Holy Trinity reminds us that the eternal life is a shared life, and that our path to it is also shared. As Vincentians, we pray and reflect together often. Our spiritual reflections and prayers in each Conference meeting are a vital part of our ongoing formation. Our individual prayers, retreats, Mass – and prayers shared with the neighbor are all part of our spiritual formation. We journey together towards holiness. [Rule, Part I, 2.2]

Our training falls within our intellectual formation. The efforts we make to learn the practical aspects of our vocation, to learn about poverty, and about specific works and programs. But our intellectual formation also demands that we take the time to read about our heritage, the words and deeds of our saints and blessed, as well as to devote time to personal study of Holy Scripture.

Finally, ministerial formation comes from a commitment to our vocation as mission, accepting our service as a means to our growth, and remaining open to all ways to serve, including servant leadership.

Our particular way of being Catholic, our particular process of becoming, is our Vincentian vocation. We follow, in every part of our lives, our Vincentian pathway towards becoming what Christ calls us to be, “perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Contemplate

In what way was I formed today? How did I grow closer to holiness?

SVdP News Roundup November 26 – December 2

SVdP News Roundup November 26 – December 2 https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/News-Roundup-1.png 3600 3600 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png December 2, 2022 December 2, 2022

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

ALEXANDRIA, VA: St. Vincent De Paul Disaster Services Launches Kokua, a Platform for Disaster Relief Disbursements Built on the Algorand Blockchain, to Bring Game-Changing Efficiency and Transparency to Relief Funding for People Impacted by Natural Disasters
BATON ROUGE, LA: Saint Vincent de Paul host four separate Thanksgiving dinners this year
BOISE, ID: Hundreds of volunteers help with St. Vincent Thanksgiving Food Box Program
CINCINNATI, OH: The push to make pharmaceuticals free in underserved areas
EUGENE, OR: Shelter organizers say they’re seeing more homeless women than ever before
LOUISVILLE, KY: Agencies prepare to serve the needy for Christmas
LOUISVILLE, KY: St. Vincent de Paul feeds hundreds in Louisville on Thanksgiving
MARQUETTE, MI: St. Vincent De Paul holds grand re-opening in Marquette
PHOENIX, AZ: On Thanksgiving, St. Vincent de Paul giving a hot meal to those in need
RICE LAKE, WI: St. Vincent de Paul seeks support for Holiday Campaign

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A Week in Prayers November 28 – December 2

A Week in Prayers November 28 – December 2 https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/My-project-1-9.png 1080 1080 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png December 2, 2022 December 2, 2022

Monday, November 28

Come to me, Lord
Lift me up from darkness
Lift me up from sorrow
Heal me, Lord,
Ease my burdens,
Fill me with Your light
If it is Your will
Amen

Tuesday, November 29

Father in Heaven,
Giver of all things,
We gratefully offer our praise
And our thanks.

And all that we are given,
Is meant to be shared,
For the love of the Father,
With all of our neighbors in need.

So, with hearts full of love,
We give back to heaven
All that we have received.
Amen.

Wednesday, November 30

Father in Heaven,
Your child is at Your feet
With no expectations;
Fully trusting,
Fully loving,
And fully content
In Your presence
Amen

Thursday, December 1

Father in heaven,
In my prayer I seek You,
In my silence I listen,
My life is not my own.
Lord, as You will,
So shall I do.
Help me to know Your will.
Amen

Friday, December 2

Lord Jesus, You are light in the darkness.
Lord Jesus, You are sight for my blindness.
Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the World.
Lord Jesus, open my eyes.
Amen

Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director.

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Legislative Action: Get Ready to act on the Child Tax Credit

Legislative Action: Get Ready to act on the Child Tax Credit https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Poverty-Programs-Blog-Pic-1-1.jpg 900 900 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png December 1, 2022 December 1, 2022

With the mid-term election over, Congress is back in Washington beginning to wrap-up their 2022 legislative session. Congress is expected to take up a corporate tax bill. While reducing taxes for corporations is very popular and usually passes, it will take 60 votes to pass in the U.S. Senate. We need your senators to agree that the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion should be part of that broader tax package.

Before we send an action alert, we wanted to share some facts and show why this issue is critical to our mission.

Here are some facts about the Child Tax Credit:

The American Rescue Plan Act expanded the 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) to almost 90% of children in the U.S.
The CTC cut child poverty by 46 percent last year.
The CTC monthly payments helped parents afford necessities such as rent, food, gas, utilities, childcare, and clothes for their kids.
The CTC monthly payments lifted more than 3 million children from poverty each month they went out.
The CTC expansion in the American Rescue plan has expired.
Without the expansion of the CTC, child poverty is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels

Are Vincentians in this alone?

No, we and other faith and anti-poverty organizations are in this fight together. That said, advocacy is a team sport. We are more effective when everyone plays a role. Nobody should sit on the sidelines.

What can you do now?

Sign up to be an advocate! Go to our Advocacy website and go to the top right part of the page where it says Sign up for alerts and add your email address and zip code. You will be notified when we send out the action alert for you to send to your U.S. Senators in the coming weeks.

Also, add this website to your favorites. We will need your help to contact your legislators during key issues!

If you are interested in learning more about the Child Tax Credit and it’s effect on Childhood Poverty, tune in to an informational webinar on Thursday, December 15 at 2:00 PM CENTRAL. Register here.

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12-1-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leader

12-1-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leader https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Disaster-Servant-Leader-1.jpg 900 900 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png November 30, 2022 November 30, 2022

Many of us have tried out a store or restaurant because of great and appealing advertising, only to have an unsatisfactory user experience once we arrived. Maybe it’s a price we didn’t expect, unfriendly or even rude personnel, or simply a feeling that the reality just didn’t live up to the expectation. Perhaps it is even worse when we walk into a favorite establishment to find it isn’t what we remember, but now only some shadow of its former glory and our former fondness.

As we think about inviting a friend or fellow parishioner to join the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, are we unknowingly guilty of the same bait-and-switch between how we sell the Society to others and what they experience when they come to our meetings or otherwise encounter us? In marketing terms, we often think of promotion first to attract new members, when perhaps we need first to review and change the product. We may need to change who and what we are – not the Rule but our behaviors – before we can promote ourselves.

Do we only meet during the day, making it nearly impossible for working people to join our meetings and become an Active member? Could we meet once a month during the day, and another time at night or on the weekend to allow for more people to join based on their comfort and other commitments?

Likewise, do we conduct Home Visits only when convenient for us, but not for others who would like to help, or even for the friends in need who may not have our flexibility?

Are our meetings full of Conference business (Service), and don’t offer much if anything in the Society’s other Essential Elements of Friendship or Spirituality? Do we take the time to pray and reflect? Do we even take the time to enjoy each other’s company and make new or better friends among fellow members?

Is everyone invited to participate, or is it often the case that just 2-3 leaders or salty old vets dominate the conversations, planning and meetings? Do we follow term limits, and create leadership posts that don’t require experience, just interest and dedication?

When someone new attends, how do we treat them? Do we give them an opportunity to serve? Do we give them a Member Handbook and then review it with them? Or do we shunt them to the sidelines, don’t let them speak, and don’t follow up after the meeting to gauge their interests or ideas?

Do we quickly train and engage prospective members in our Home Visits, food pantry, or other works? Do they learn how these works are Vincentian faith in action, or are they just another service project?

How quickly do we begin Formation activities from introductions to Ozanam Orientations to Conference use of Vincentian Reflections? Is this a coordinated Conference priority, or is it left to individuals to figure out on their own?

Are young adults and people of color invited, and made to feel welcome? Or do we focus our recruiting and our meetings only on those who look like those already in our ranks? Does our membership reflect the parish demographics? The community’s?

All considered, are we who we say we are? Are we even who we think we are ourselves?

Between fall recruiting season for parish ministries and the added activities many Conferences take on during the holidays, it’s a good time to step back and assess the “product” of our local Society’s offering to prospective members. There may also be good value in asking someone from the outside to attend and tell us what they think of the Society from that experience. We might be surprised to learn how we have drifted toward certain behaviors and habits that make our Society less attractive, even less accurate, than who we say we are. Before we spend resources of time and money to advertise our product, let’s be sure it’s the product that we want to be and indeed, God calls us to be!

Yours in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO

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Contemplation — My God, I Give You My Heart

Contemplation — My God, I Give You My Heart https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Contemplation-blog-1-2.jpg 1080 1080 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png November 28, 2022 November 30, 2022

Our Rule repeatedly emphasizes the importance of prayer to our vocation. We pray often, the Rule reminds us. We live “a life of prayer and reflection, both at the individual and community level,” [Rule, Part I, 2.2] Prayer is central to our lives and to our vocation. So, as in all things, we must ask: what does St. Vincent teach us about our life of prayer?

In a general audience in November 2020, Pope Francis expressed four characteristics of prayer, given to us through Christ’s example. [General Audience, 4 Nov 2020] The first of these is the primacy of prayer; prayer is “the first desire of the day.” We listen, we encounter God from our first moment of consciousness.

Similarly, St. Vincent de Paul urged that we should “always do whatever you can so that, prayer being your first occupation, your mind may be filled with God for the rest of the day.” [CCD IX:29] Vincent himself began each day with “mental prayer,” interiorly seeking God’s guidance. The Common Rules of the Congregation of the Mission would later incorporate this practice for all the priests and brothers of the mission.

We are only human, and it is easy to seek coffee first – to try to physically jolt ourselves into the energy we need to get up and to get going. But how full are our hearts when we open them instead, first thing each day, to God? Caffeine may well make our hearts beat faster, but prayer will make them beat more insistently, more persistently, more patiently, and more purposefully.

Coffee doesn’t give us the empathy to understand the neighbor as we would a brother or sister. Coffee doesn’t help us to form relationships based on trust and friendship. [Rule, Part I, 1.9] Coffee is indeed a joyful way to help us greet the day, but coffee is only physical. It warms us from the outside in.

Prayer fills us from the inside out, from where God touches us most deeply so that His love may take root and grow to where we can share Him and His love with all those we encounter. But first, and to start each and every day, we must open our innermost hearts to Him.

On awaking, his biographer Joseph Guichard said, St. Vincent would begin each day by crossing himself and saying, “My God, I give You my heart.” May we follow his example, not only in our words, but in our devotion, our practice of prayer, and in our hearts – every day.