This is the last in a series of three Servant Leader columns before next week’s Midyear Meeting that address VisionSVdP. Today I’d like to explain a little more about how the process will work over the next year, and talk a bit about how you can get involved.
We will formally ‘kick off’ VisionSVdP at the Midyear Meeting in St. Louis with five Listening Sessions. All Midyear attendees will be randomly assigned to one of five groups and will meet for approximately 1 ½ hours. This will occur following a session by me on the process, and after a Keynote Address by the National Council President of Australia, who will speak about the process there, and a Spiritual Retreat by Archbishop Andrew Bellisario, CM, our National Episcopal Advisor.
At the Listening Sessions, Midyear attendees will have a free-flowing discussion about the Society. They will all begin with the same question: What does the Rule, Part 1, 1.6: “Adaptation to a Changing World” mean to you?
From there, they will discuss anything and everything that they want to. Someone at each table will capture everyone’s comments — because every voice matters. Two moderators per room (typically Regional VPs) will then attempt to capture the essence of the discussions; when the entire group reconvenes, we’ll have a conversation about the process. The goal is not to highlight any comments as more important than any other, but to debrief how people felt. Were their voices heard? Did they learn anything? Did anything ‘click’ from the conversation?
This process will repeat itself at the Regional meetings.
So, you ask: What about me? I’m not going to Midyear or the Regional Meeting. How do I get involved??
GOOD QUESTION! You get involved because we want every Conference and every Council and every Special Work to do this as well. AND WE WILL HELP YOU!
Now, let’s be very open and very, very honest here. We will face many naysayers and people who just want to keep on doing things the way we always have, either because it’s easier, or because they fear change. Then we’ll have the inevitable organizational inertia that will never find the time to schedule the sessions — we’re too busy, we’re too important doing other “real Vincentian work,” etc, etc. They will all resist doing these sessions. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN.
Engage with the VisionSVdP process at your Conference and in your Council and Region. Become a Champion for the effort! Contact your Regional VP, contact your Council President, contact me. Make sure the process gets to you and is carried out. Because your voice matters.
After all these sessions are held in 2024 (including at the National Assembly in Phoenix), we will start a National Conversation process in 2025 about what we have heard and what it means for how we adapt and change.
Peace and God’s blessings,
John
John Berry
National President
John …for those that don’t want to change but are doing something for the Poor….We should say THANK YOU….As volunteers, we need everyone’s talent and time……If they only want to hold a door open or say AMEN…..I accept their gift…..Listening is a Talent….Action can be the result….. I had stepped away from the Society after 35+ years…… We need a new Diocese council direction…… Don’t know how we fell of the tracks ,but pray we can refocus on our Neighbors in Need……