Society of St. Vincent de Paul

1 Comment
No Likes

Contemplation – Those Irritating Questions

Contemplation – Those Irritating Questions https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Contemplations-Image-1.jpg 940 788 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png February 25, 2022 February 25, 2022

The introduction to the original Rule in 1835 reminded members, following the model of St. Vincent, to “banish political discussions forever from our meetings” avoiding “those irritating questions which divide mankind” so that we can remain united in the ministry of charity. The Society, it declared, “is all charity; politics are wholly foreign to it.” [Rule, Intro, 20-22]

It is a reassuring reminder that however we may feel politics divides people today, it has always been so, but the example of our forebears in the Vincentian family shows us the way to be uniters, not only within our Conferences, but in our society at large.

In Frédéric and Rosalie’s time, “divisiveness” in politics meant a great deal more than memes, podcasts, and insults. Often, politics meant taking up arms, manning the barricades, and overthrowing the government. In the midst of revolution, it was perhaps easier for them to see how picking a side could only shut them off from caring for people in great need.

Bl. Rosalie made this clear, declaring, on threat of arrest for aiding the wrong side of the revolution, “I am a Daughter of Charity. I do not have a flag. I go to the aid of the unfortunate wherever I encounter them … I promise you, if ever you, yourself, are being pursued and you ask me for help, it would not be refused you.” [Sr. Rosalie, Sullivan, 168]

To be sure, both our church and our Rule encourage us as individuals to be involved in politics, and to “bring Christian values to political matters.” Indeed, Frédéric himself served in the National Guard and once ran for a seat in the legislature. But the Society itself does not identify with any political party, nor discriminate among those in need based on political opinions. [Rule, Part I, 7.8 & 2.4]

As a “voice for the voiceless,” we advocate not for a party, but for justice; as Vincentians, we seek “to make charity accomplish what justice alone cannot do.” [Letter 136, to Lallier, 1836]

Our commitment to an apolitical approach to works of charity requires both courage and humility; the acceptance that no matter how strong our personal feelings may be, we are called first to render unto God what belongs to God.

Contemplate

Are there “irritating questions” I need to let go in my Vincentian relationships and works?

News Roundup 2-19 to 2-25

News Roundup 2-19 to 2-25 https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/svdp-news.jpg 1200 1200 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png February 25, 2022 February 25, 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

EUGENE, OR: Egan warming centers open with cooler temperatures expected this week
FORT MYERS, FL: The Working Homeless Part 10: From Homeless to Housed
LANE COUNTY, OR: Better model needed for feeding the unsheltered
PHOENIX, AZ: Angels on Call helped Denise get back on her feet
RICHMOND, VA: St. Vincent de Paul ministry rises to new level
SANTA ROSA, CA: Freezing temperatures highlight need for warming centers, shelter beds for Sonoma County’s homeless residents
WILMINGTON, DE: Forum panelists to discuss homelessness March 10

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.

No Comments
No Likes

Daily Prayers Week of February 21

Daily Prayers Week of February 21 https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SVdP-Daily-Prayer.png 940 788 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png February 25, 2022 February 25, 2022

Monday, February 21:

Father, receive me,

Broken and small

Hear the words of my prayer

Father, forgive me

Make me whole

Bring me to new life in You

Amen

Tuesday, February 22:

St. Peter, pray for us

That our faith may be a rock

Upon which we stand

Our works bearing witness

To Christ’s church in the world

And the love of the Father for all

Amen

Wednesday, February 23:

Help me, Father, to hear the cries

Of the lonely and deprived

Give me strength and give me time

To serve them as You have served me

Send me, if it is Your will

Amen

Thursday, February 24:

Lord, awaken me

With Your whispered words,

Open my eyes

To Your gentle light.

Refresh me, renew me,

Give me Your strength.

Bring me from night

Into day.

Amen

Friday, February 25:

Lord hear our prayer

For Your children in Ukraine

At war or in the shadow of war.

Protect them from harm,

Especially the unarmed,

The weak, the small, the helpless.

Protect your children from fear

With the light of Your eternal hope.

Bring peace to their hearts,

And if it is Your will,

Bring peace in Ukraine.

Amen

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

9 Comments
1 Like

02-24-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders

02-24-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Barringer_Dave_lo-res.jpg 1363 1363 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png February 24, 2022 February 24, 2022

It’s been too long since I have seen a cockroach.

Lying on a resort beach chair while on a mini-vacation a few days ago, I thought about how much my life has changed since growing up fairly poor. Some people will tell you that they were poor as children but didn’t know it. I remember it vividly!

In a divorced home as the oldest of four children, I watched my mother scramble for rent, school clothes, and even food. We lived in a meager apartment, a roof over our heads, but not much more. Roaches are common in apartments, though they were not, and are not, value judgements. You could have an immaculate home but whenever a neighbor moved out, their pests lost a food supply, so they migrated to you until you beat them back. I remember being mortified when on a rare occasion I would invite a friend to our place and a cockroach appeared. By necessity I learned the art of misdirection! Living with roaches was a constant battle that the roaches always inevitably seemed to win.

In my 60s now, education, the values Mom and others taught me, and income have taken me far away from those meager times. It would be fairly easy now not to see poverty in others — one could spend your way out, right?

Not really. Poverty, like roaches, is all around us whether or not we choose to see it. It’s in the cashier we paid to buy our coffee, who is working her second, or third, job to make ends meet. Its in the apartments just behind the shopping center that house the workers in the shops and office who can’t otherwise afford to live where they work. Its the frail, elderly grandmother we see in the grocery store, buying food for her extended family because her adult child is ill or in prison. You would likely be surprised to know how many children in your local elementary school are on a free breakfast and lunch program. It will break your Vincentian heart.

Those of us who grew up poor rarely thank God directly for the experience. Instead we thank Him for helping us to have the persistence, providential breaks, and the loving hearts of others who helped us escape poverty and “graduate” to the middle class or above. We also thank God for Saints Vincent and Louise, Blesseds Frédéric and Rosalie, and others who both set examples of serving the less fortunate and who educated others not to judge people’s character by their surroundings, misfortune, and current circumstances. As Vincentians today, we carry on these examples and works. We choose not to be blind to the poverty surrounding us, and then to do something positive about it, even if it helps just one person.

Everything created by God has a purpose. Maybe God created the humble cockroach not as a symbol of those who are poor, but to remind us of poverty itself. No matter how hard we fight it, poverty will still be with us. Perhaps we can’t totally eradicate it, but neither should we approve of living with it, either. What can we do ourselves, and how can we enlist others to see what we see and then to act?

Your in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO

No Comments
No Likes

SVdP National Council Welcomes New Director of Philanthropy

SVdP National Council Welcomes New Director of Philanthropy https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CW-pic-e1645713288397.jpg 238 240 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png February 24, 2022 February 24, 2022

The National Council of the United States Society of St. Vincent de Paul is excited to welcome Donald Dowdell as its new Director of Philanthropy. Don will work alongside Dennis Kempf to increase the Society’s visibility and fundraising success on a national level

Don will work alongside Dennis Kempf to increase the Society’s visibility and fundraising success on a national level.

Don has served in a variety of roles throughout over two decades working in Development. He has worked for the following prestigious consulting firms Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners; Changing Our World, Inc.; Cornerstone Fundraising, and Trinity Consulting.

His knowledge and experience includes years of development leadership in overseeing major campaigns and development strategies for hospitals, churches, schools, retirement institutions, nursing facilities, performing arts centers, museums, and social service organizations throughout the United States.

More than half of Don’s clients have been in the Catholic Community, from parish campaigns to diocesan efforts and religious orders. Fundraising efforts have been for capital campaigns, general operations, endowments, catholic schools, stewardship programs, increased offertory, ministry needs, support of religious vocations, retirement, and health care needs of the clergy, and support of laity initiatives and their growing role in the Catholic community.

In his personal life Don was active with music and youth ministries, taught religious education at his parish for elementary and middle-school students, a cantor at his parish, and was a founding member of Creative Ministries, a group that used music and theater to reach out to the community in a different way to relay the Good News.

Don shares his love of the outdoors and nature with his children and grandkids.

Welcome Don!

If you would like to contact Don, you can email him at ddowdell@svdpusa.org or call him at (314) 576-3993 ext. 227.

2 Comments
No Likes

Disaster Services Update

Disaster Services Update https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Simple-Beach-Collage-Facebook-Post.png 940 788 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png February 23, 2022 February 23, 2022

Last week, SVdP’s Disaster Services Corporation conducted a customized training on DSC’s Programs for over 25 Vincentians within the SVdP Denver Metro Council and associated Conferences. The training focused on how Councils and Conferences can leverage DSC’s grants and programs to build capacity for the local Vincentian response to the devastating wildfires that recently swept across Colorado. In addition, DSC spent a large portion of the training focusing on how Vincentians can provide Disaster Case Management services to wildfire survivors.

Vincentians from St. Michael the Archangel Parish Conference joined other northern Colorado Vincentians in directly assisting Marshall fire survivors. We partnered with Catholic Charities representatives operating out of the Disaster Assistance Center (DAC) in Lafayette last month. Officials say that over 900 homes were destroyed and at least another 300 were damaged in the Marshall fire.

Survivors needed housing, food, and clothing assistance. A few were from the St. Louis Parish, the church that was undamaged but located in Louisville where many houses were lost. We met Deacon Dan from St. Louis Parish who said that the church was saved but that he lost his home to the fire. He did not lose his sense of humor as he explained that he is working both sides of the table.

There was little or no warning for most people due to rapid spread of the fire. One couple who had their dog with them said they had no warning and just got their pet and sped off. A woman told us she was on a recurring IV treatment in the Louisville hospital when the hospital evacuation started. Her house was lost.

SVdP activities in Denver began in 1876. Fr. Terry Kissell initiated the formation of the Conference in April 2011. The Conference was aggregated in 2014 in Paris, France. St. Michael the Archangel is one of 28 Conferences that make up the Denver Metro Council. They work closely and often with the Denver Metro Council and other parish Conferences.

No Comments
No Likes

Contemplation – Better Things To Do

Contemplation – Better Things To Do https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Contemplations-Image-1.jpg 940 788 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png February 18, 2022 February 18, 2022

“I’m too busy” is a thing we sometimes say when we really mean that this activity or that person is just not important enough to us. As Vincentians, we have come to learn that this can never be the answer when we are interrupted by a call from the neighbor.

It’s a lesson many learn as parents. We might enjoy nothing more than to watch our favorite team play on TV, but if it conflicts with the ballet recital or the Little League game, well…we can check the score later.

It’s never really a matter of time; it’s a matter of priorities.

Like parenthood, our calling as Vincentians is “a vocation for every moment of our lives.” [Rule, Part I, 2.7] Our moments, and how we spend them, are driven by love, not by the schedules we’d planned. That’s easy to remember when it is your child tugging at your sleeve, but it sometimes slips our minds when it is a neighbor in need interrupting dinner.

This was the exact point St. Vincent made when replying to one of the missioners who had apologized for sharing his troubles. “Brother,” Vincent replied, “have no fear that you’re bothering me. You should realize that someone appointed by God to serve others is no more put out by the demands made on him than a father would be in regard to his children.” [CCD XII:392]

It is not that we view the neighbor as a child, but rather that we always remember we were called first by God, and that He calls us from time to time in the person of the neighbor in need. We don’t have to make time for our neighbors, because being Christ to us, the time is already theirs.

None of this is to say that we are not allowed to get tired! St. Vincent constantly reminded his followers not to allow their zeal to make them do more than they were able. [CCD II:375] More importantly, as he once told St. Louise, we must rest to regain our strength, because even if we don’t need it, the neighbor in need does. [CCD I:392]

In our memories, the joy of the ballet recital or the Little League game entirely wash away whatever else we thought was important at the time. We can clearly see that there were no better things to do; that we received a greater gift than we ever could have given.

In a similar way, we thank God for the blessings we receive from those whom we visit. In the fullness of time, in union with Christ and with each other, we will rejoice in the memory of every interruption.