Dear Brothers and Sisters:

The National Council of the Nicaraguan Vincentian Family greets you in the name of God and the Blessed Virgin, faithful to the spirituality of St. Vincent and to the legacy of organization received from blessed Frederic Ozanam.

For several years now, with the help of God and the support of Fr. Flavio Pereira, then rector of the shrine of our Mother, the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal in Leon, Nicaragua, we undertook — as part of the pastoral plan of the sanctuary — the celebration of two meetings of  the seven Vincentian branches of the Family together. as a true family in St. Vincent de Paul.

The reality at that time was that things were, in several of the seven branches, quite devoid of motivation; branches had a significant reduction of members, differences that became destructive of the good walk of a branch, a Vincentian spirit individualized by branch and did not identify  as “us” nor commit to collaborative work. Without a doubt, in one word, we faced very difficult times.

The community of faithful, together with the new rector, proceeded to try to reorganize, reorient and strengthen the work that each branch carried out, from a continuous following of Family activities and a permanent formation of all its members.

Once the pastoral plan was defined, together we proceeded to execute it; the goals were totally clear:

• to integrate and identify ourselves as a true Vincentian Family;
• to strengthen the faith of individuals and increase the number of members who make up the branches.
• the creation of Regional Councils, with the intention of providing a meeting and sharing space for the existing branches in each region.
• establishment of the celebration of two national meetings per year.

PARTICIPATING BRANCHES:

• Daughters of Charity.
  
• Brothers of Charity.
  
• Congregation of the Mission.
  
• International Association of Charities.
  
• Association of the Miraculous Medal.
  
• Vincentian Marian Youth.
• Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
  

REGIONAL COUNCILS FORMED:

• Regional Council of Boaco Camuapa.
• Regional Council of Managua Tipitapa.
• Regional Council of the West.
• Regional Council of the North.
• Regional Council of Granada Nindiri.

Little by little God, in his infinite mercy, has allowed us to see the fruit of all this work undertaken and, although we can not say that everything has gone well, the fruit obtained has been great. An example of this is that today there is an excellent link between the branches in the activities of the sanctuary or those of their parish according to their region, as well as the increase of “siblings” with interests of integrating themselves into the work of a branch.