FAMVIN: The International Vincentian Family

The fifteenth in the Seeds of Change series: 20 strategies for systemic change described by members of the Vincentian Family’s Commission for Promoting Systemic Change. Gene Smith writes:
Systemic Change Strategy 15: Promote engagement in the political process, through civic education of individuals and communities.
Start with these facts: four hundred people banished because of leprosy build [...]

The fourteenth in the Seeds of Change series: 20 strategies for systemic change described by members of the Vincentian Family’s Commission for Promoting Systemic Change. Fr Robert P. Maloney, CM writes:
The fourth people-oriented strategy formulated by the members of the Commission for Promoting Systemic Change states:
Promote learning processes in which the members of [...]

The fourteenth in the Seeds of Change series: 20 strategies for systemic change described by members of the Vincentian Family’s Commission for Promoting Systemic Change. Fr Joseph P. Foley, C.M. writes:
Systemic Change Strategy 13: Construct structural and institutional models where communities can identify their resources and needs, make informed decisions, and exchange information and effective [...]

Mother Elizabeth Seton’s story is a highlight of a National Catholic Reporter survey of “saintly Americans” who walked the streets of New York. Sister of Charity Regina Bechtle, an expert on Mother Seton’s life and co-editor of her Collected Writings, is quoted in the piece. Go to the article.

St. John’s Bread and Life soup kitchen in Brooklyn, NY, founded 26 years ago by Daughter of Charity Bernadette Szymczak (d. 1998) and still served by the Daughters and a Sister of Charity, is featured in today’s New York Times. Technology has an important role in services they provide. Read the article.

The thirteenth in the Seeds of Change series: 20 strategies for systemic change described by members of the Vincentian Family’s Commission for Promoting Systemic Change. Sister Ellen Flynn, D.C. writes:
Systemic Change Strategy 12: Educate, train and offer spiritual formation to all participants in the project.
One of the clearest examples of spiritual formation [...]

The twelfth in the Seeds of Change series: 20 strategies for systemic change described by members of the Vincentian Family’s Commission for Promoting Systemic Change. Gene Smith writes:
Systemic Change Strategy 12: Be transparent by inviting participation in budget preparation, by seeking comments on financial reports and by maintaining careful controls over money management.
Several [...]

By thorough integration of values and mission, Daughters of Charity organized a successful, multi-disciplinary response to change the future of a young woman with a rare and devastating syndrome.

…and you never leave empty-handed and you know you are loved. A blogger describes finding such a place, a place where I think a vulnerable teenager might have rescued her own self esteem. It’s a Society of Saint Vincent de Paul thrift store. Read a fabulous, gritty, hopeful blog entry: st. vincent de paul, savior [...]

A policy paper entitled Which Way Home? A New Approach to Homelessness has been published by the Australian government. The paper’s purpose is to educate, to encourage public discussion, and to offer proposals, with particular focus on changing underlying causes of homelessness. Summary and full report.

“Sanctity simply means love,” writes Daughter of Charity Jozefa Watroba in an essay for Poland’s Sunday Catholic Weekly about Blessed Marta Wiecka. The article includes much biographical information and places Blessed Marta’s life in a specific historical context. Read the essay. “S.M.” is the Polish translation of “D.C.”

Last week a blogger at a technology blog prodded the tech community to use “our social media super-powers to make a real difference in the world.” Some examples: use a blog to fundraise for disaster relief; promote charities on YouTube (famvin has made a start at this); use a mobile phone to spread news. Read [...]

The national youth representative for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in Australia is one of a dozen young people invited to have lunch with the Pope during his World Youth Day visit to Australia. Teresa Wilson, a 14 year volunteer with the Society, is also Vice-President of the Victoria Conference. Read the article.

Daughter of Charity Marta Wiecka was beatified yesterday, 24 May 2008, in Lviv, Ukraine. Visit the Sister Marta Wiecka Web site or see the brief article at the Vincentian Encyclopedia.

Jim Kehoe, Snohomish County, Washington USA executive director of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, also serves on the Society’s national disaster relief committee. For the county’s newspaper he described what the Society is doing to help in Myanmar. Read the article; visit the US Society’s online donation site.