Vincentians

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Disaster Services Volunteer Training
Disaster Services Volunteer Training 940 788 SVDP USA

The Disaster Services Corporation provides person-to-person recovery services to families impacted by man-made and natural disasters across the United States and U.S. territories.

Please join DSC CEO Elizabeth Disco-Shearer for a special volunteer training opportunity this Thursday, January 28, from 12:00 – 1:12 PM Central, on learning to protect the Personal Identifiable Information of Disaster Survivors.

Topics Include 
  •    Understanding your responsibility as a volunteer
  •     Learning about the Privacy Act
  •    Gaining knowledge on how to safely transmit data
  •     Reviewing DSC’s requirements for protecting the data of survivors.

Participants should register in advance by clicking here.

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01-22-21 News Roundup
01-22-21 News Roundup 1200 1200 SVDP USA

Click the stories below to learn more about how Vincentians are serving their neighbors in need, across the U.S. and around the world.

International
National
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01-21-21 Letter From Our Servant Leaders
01-21-21 Letter From Our Servant Leaders 150 150 SVDP USA

A spouse of many years asks, “Do you love me?” The other spouse answers, “Of course I do, I told you at the wedding!”

Laugh or shake your head if you like, but this is often the relationship we have with our local pastors and perhaps even with our Bishop.

While our Society year began in October, every January is a time to look at new goals. One that should be high on a Conference and Council list is to renew and improve the relationship we have with clergy. After all, let’s remember that the Society operates only with the invitation of our Bishop and parish pastor. We can’t take this for granted.

If ever there was a year to update each party, this is it! Our beloved clergy members at all levels continue to struggle with the Church’s sexual abuse claims and aftermath which has threatened our faith in its membership, finances and maybe most of all, basic trust. This was chased off of the media front pages only because of the even worse pandemic crisis. We still have lifelong Catholics who aren’t able out of health or fear, or allowed by the Church or secular authorities, to return to pray in their local church. They can’t share their faith or the good works resulting from it. They can’t, or for whatever reasons don’t, contribute financially to the parish. Parish fundraisers are cancelled, Mass times disappear or are changed, and we can’t even offer each other a sign of peace.

Meanwhile the Conference presses on. We meet virtually, which is nice but dampens our Essential Element, Friendship. We hold Home Visits not in the home but through phone calls, and electronically send rent and utilities payments on behalf of those we serve. We give food though contactless deliveries. Whether for better or worse, no doubt we aren’t the same Society we were a year ago.

In all of this change and often turmoil, any relationships may suffer including those in our own homes and those with our friends and neighbors. Likewise, our clergy relationships suffer from the basic reduction of contacts over time. This means we need to be more intentional in our scheduling and communications to maintain this critical mutual support. We can no longer count on a chance meeting with our priests in the hallway, at our functions, or even after Mass to update each other on our plans and activities.

During this pandemic and other challenges, the Church may need us more than ever. We sometimes focus our clergy conversations and reports on our activities in serving the poor during this time of illness and unemployment. Yet our mission is based on helping people get closer to God. Increasing the spirituality of fellow parishioners – and everyone else – should be a central part of our clergy messaging and ongoing relationships. Even in more settled, good times a priest can directly reach only so many people. We as a group of Vincentians can reach so many more! Evangelization is a central part of our charism.

Let’s not discount those services, however. It’s hard to find a parish that has enough priests, sisters and deacons to serve the poor on their own! The smarter clergy count on the Society as an extremely valuable layperson outreach and services tool for the Church to demonstrate its care and feeding of the flock. Yes, we are an independent entity. The poor, though, often see us as an extension of the parish, and that’s not a distinction we need to correct in order to help a family.

We often think that a priest knows all about us, our works and mission, our Rule, and even how we operate our finances. Many Conference Presidents are laughing as they read this, because these are often the root causes of challenging clergy relationships. A Bishop once said to me that, “it’s amazing what they don’t teach us in Seminary.” This lack of information very often includes anything at all about the Society’s purpose, works and potential value to the pastor.

Please don’t assume that your clergy, including your Bishop, knows what they need to understand and support you. Like all of us, they learn from their experiences. If their previous parishes did not include a Conference, or they never worked directly with us, perceptions of us may look quite different from one priest to another.

As Vincentians we seek to get closer to God, and this may take many forms. Let’s begin with a renewed, intentional, and continuing conversation with our local priest. Let’s explore how we can serve together for the Lord!

Yours in Christ,

Dave Barringer, CEO

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Midyear Meeting Update
Midyear Meeting Update 1200 1200 SVDP USA

Out of an abundance of caution for everyone’s health, our 2021 Midyear Business Meeting, March 3 – 6 will be a virtual program. Registration opening soon! This year’s agenda will include a Spiritual Retreat, Workshops, Board of Directors and Business Meetings, Disaster Services Training, as well as a special event presentation and Virtual Vendor Showcase.

The annual Midyear Meeting is a Governance and training event designed for National Council Members (the Presidents of the Diocesan Council or “top” District Council per Diocese), Executive Directors and other current or prospective Council leaders. However the Midyear, especially a virtual one, is open to all interested Vincentians! Check out the agenda when available and attend the sessions and workshops where you have interest.

Voting at the National Business Meeting, to be held virtually on Saturday March 6 from 10 AM – 12:30 PM Central is restricted to National Council Members, but again anyone may attend the Zoom call.

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01-14-21 Letter From Our Servant Leaders
01-14-21 Letter From Our Servant Leaders 500 500 SVDP USA

We do not need (or even want!) to be reminded of the unusual year we have faced in 2020: A pandemic, economic crisis, and societal turmoil from racial injustices. Yet amidst it all, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has offered a steady hand to our most vulnerable neighbors, providing food, rent assistance, utility payments, the list goes on and on. Thankfully, in the worst of time, the Society shines. With nearly 100,000 Vincentians in the United States alone, we are ready and willing to step in.

Among those we are serving, our sisters and brothers returning home from incarceration are facing many barriers and obstacles, often without family or resources to fall back on. Up to one third of our Home Visit contacts have a formerly incarcerated individual in their household. Sadly, years of systemic racism have profoundly impacted the struggles, evidenced in the disproportionate numbers of Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples bearing the brunt of inequities in the criminal justice system. Addressing this myriad of concerns through the Society calls us as Vincentians to form a “network of Reentry,” to borrow a phrase from Frédéric Ozanam: “I would like to embrace the whole world in a network of charity.”

St. Vincent de Paul has already responded with the typical creativity that we are known for. Immersion and Back2Work were designed to work in tandem to address the special needs of those returning from incarceration, “returning citizens.” Utilizing the strength of our many Conferences, our community partnerships, ability to access resources, we walk with each neighbor on their journey home. Right now, we have these programs in four different Councils across the country.

Now, in a hopefully “post-COVID-19” world, we are challenged to be even better organized and consistent in our approach. A “network of Reentry” has already been conceived in the National Reentry Task Force (NRTF). We have an opportunity to grow our Task Force to form a new vision, to provide invigorated and integrated services to returning citizens everywhere. By providing mentoring, job training, education, advocacy, restorative justice and more, we can help bring healing to our sisters and brothers and communities.

Please take a moment to prayerfully discern: Are you being called to this Reentry ministry? Consider how you can help us in this shared mission. Who in your Council or Region is already serving the formerly incarcerated? Who has a passion for restorative justice? Can you help us bring a new vision to the National Reentry Task Force?

As the Society of St. Vincent de Paul we are uniquely qualified, indeed gifted, to help meet the many challenges our returning citizens are facing. Together, we can begin to participate in the building up of the Kingdom of God within our truly Vincentian charism, embracing a “network of Reentry.”

In Christ’s faith,

Marian Lamoureux

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01-15-21 News Roundup
01-15-21 News Roundup 1200 1200 SVDP USA

Vincentians across the country and around the world continue to serve their communities in the midst of the pandemic. Click the stories below to learn more about their work to help neighbors in need.

International

Ireland: Car draw raises €260,000 for SVP
New Zealand: Give it a Go: Helping out with the Vinnies’ goodwill efforts

National

Baton Rouge, LA: St. Vincent de Paul accepting clients as temps drop, in need of donations 
Cincinnati, OH: SVdP Cincinnati Ozanam Center for Service Learning to Host MLK Day 2021 for area High Schoolers
Medford, OR: St. Vincent volunteer receives community award
New Orleans, LA: SVdP New Orleans Hosting Systemic Change Symposium
Omaha, NE: Catholic social teaching on community: We were meant to live, grow and flourish together

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Middlecamp Appointed International Territorial Vice President
Middlecamp Appointed International Territorial Vice President 600 685 SVDP USA

SVdP National Council President Ralph Middlecamp has been appointed as the new International Vice President for Solidarity and Special Projects to the Council General International of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

In his new role, Middlecamp will oversee the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s international efforts in the following areas:

  • Twinning, a program connecting Conferences and Councils in developed countries with Conferences and Councils in areas lacking the means to conduct their works of charity.
  • CIAD (the Commission for International Aid and Development), which provides financial assistance to member national Councils who have had a disaster and are providing relief to the victims. CIAD also prioritizes and funds projects submitted by member countries for financial support via resources from member countries with the means to provide assistance.
  • Special Projects.

Says Middlecamp of the honor, “The programs that our Society operates in the United States have been recognized by our international leadership as models of effective service to people living in poverty. I will be privileged to work with our members throughout the world to bring support to their efforts to relieve suffering in their communities.”

“The Society globally shares its resources among its more than 150 national Councils to get help where it is most needed for disasters and development projects,” says USA National Council CEO Dave Barringer. “Ralph has long been a global citizen in his concern and actions on behalf of the poor. He is a great choice to oversee these cost-effective and efficiently-delivered efforts.”

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Contemplation – Behold, I Make All Things New
Contemplation – Behold, I Make All Things New 940 788 SVDP USA

Vincentians serve in hope! Not merely the hope of a paid light bill, but the hope of Christ’s promise, the hope of new life, and the hope of a church that “is ever renewing itself…” [Ozanam in Baunard, 20]

The neighbors we serve often lack hope – any kind of hope. Burdened with material needs, with worries for their children and for their future, it is difficult to offer eternal hope when, as Mahatma Ghandi once explained, “To them God can only appear as bread and butter.”

In our empathy for the neighbor, it can be all too easy for us at times to feel overwhelmed, burned out; to share the neighbor’s despair rather than the Savior’s hope. Our neighbor’s continuing struggles weigh us down, and we allow ourselves to forget the great power of love over even the greatest forms of deprivation.

Whatever resources our Conference has, however great or small, we offer freely and generously. And when we offer food to the neighbor who can only see God as bread, remember that Christ offers Himself to us as bread. All of the material assistance we give is foremost a sign of Christ’s love. In that love, we welcome the neighbor into communion with us, and with the God who sent us.

It is for love alone that we continue, through home visits, through special works, and through systemic change programs, to walk with people out of poverty. It is for love alone that we can say, “this relationship does not end when we pay the bill this week. You matter.”

There is never a need to be frustrated, or to wonder why the land will never lack for needy persons. As St. Vincent taught, it is through our humble devotion to God and our charity toward the neighbor that they might see the beauty and holiness of our faith. [CCD VIII:208] The needs we seek to alleviate may be of this earth, but the hope we bring is not.

We gather on our home visits in His name, and He, as He promised, is there. He is there in the suffering of the neighbor, and He is there also in the prayer and in the hope that we offer, wiping away all tears, saying “Behold, I make all things new.”

Contemplate

How can I better share hope?

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Turn Everything to Love

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