The National Council of the United States Society of St. Vincent de Paul will hold their 2016 National Assembly meeting, Hear the Cry of the Poor, from August 31 – September 3, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. In the August 4, 2016 edition of the SVdP Frederic’s E-Gazette, CEO David Barringer writes:

You need to be there, and you definitely won’t regret it!

We’ll have a great day before we even begin! On Wednesday, choose from a day of reflection and training with more than 150 of our spiritual advisers and formators, or a day-long Stores conference that is always educational and full of best practice discussion. Or join the leadership Culture Transformation conference in our meeting series you have heard about but perhaps could not attend in your area. Executive directors have a special media training option and half-day ED meeting in the afternoon. And this is all before we officially kick off the conference!

On Thursday we will introduce the three candidates for our next national president (the Society’s president, not that other one!). Our morning keynote address is on “Intercultural Competence: The Practice of Inclusion” that is relevant to all of us as we grow our membership. We will hold the first two rounds of workshops on poverty programs, fundraising, systemic change, recruitment, home visits and other great subjects where you can learn and share something to bring back home. We’ll end the program day with a special concert by recording artist Audrey Assad and local opening act, Any Given Sunday!

Friday, we will hold a spiritual retreat with our own National Spiritual Adviser Bishop John Quinn! After a daily Mass, representatives from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will talk about Communities of Salt and Light. The afternoon is committed to regional meetings, and then a special reception with our presidential candidates followed by a fun, off-property evening hosted by the Columbus Council.

On Saturday, we will be joined by specially-invited Daughters of Charity for a day of learning about prison ministry, returning citizen programs and related restorative justice subjects. The national business meeting for National Council Members will feature a special vote that will reduce the number of presidential candidates down to two for upcoming national elections. Alongside the business meeting for everyone else we will have more varied and informative workshops all day. We’ll all break for lunch and a general session where we will learn from director Richard Cordray and author Mehrsa Baradaran about predatory lending status and solutions. The day will feature a vigil Mass with Bishop Frederick Campbell, and a closing banquet featuring musical entertainment by Michael Mette!

Youth and Young Adult members have National Assembly programs as well, both as participants in everything above and with their own special programs that combine fun and spirituality. We want you to join us!

Join the more than 700 Vincentians we expect to celebrate, pray and learn together in Columbus.

Oh and if that’s not enough…we will have a surprise announcement about a fantastic development for next year. You can be among the first not only to hear but to participate in this directly during the meeting. Trust me, this will be big!

For more information or to register, please click here. 

For more Program Highlights of the National Assembly Meeting, please click the image below.