It is with great pleasure that we announce that, after several missionary visits and a demanding programme of formation, the Society of St Vincent de Paul has been officially established in LIBERIA.

Last August, representatives of the Council General International (CGI), headed by the Vice President for Africa 1, Brother Patrick Ebhojie, made visits to various parishes and Dioceses where they met with ecclesiastical authorities, gave interviews to the media and invited the Catholic faithful to join the SSVP.

In December 2017, a successful training meeting was held in which 77 people participated. The programme included talks on the origins of the SSVP, our founders, the international structure and the daily work of the Conference. This formation made possible the establishment of 12 Conferences – 11 in the capital MONROVIA and 1 in the city of GBARNGA (195km from the capital). Today, SSVP has already 156 members in Liberia. One key factor which facilitated the establishment of the SSVP in LIBERIA was the strong support of the Catholic Church, whose bishops and priests were receptive to the Vincentian ideal.

LIBERIA is an African country with a population of 4 million, of whom 85% are Christian. The Catholic Church is organised in three Dioceses.

Brother Renato Lima de Oliveira, 16^th President General, gave thanks to the Holy Spirit for the establishment of the SSVP in LIBERIA and explained that “the CGI had attempted to establish the SSVP in LIBERIA in 2006, 2010 and 2013 but it was only now that the seed fell on fertile ground and we got the response for which we had long hoped”.

The CGI is very grateful to the National Councils of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Zambia for the wholehearted support they provided, which included sharing training documents and finance. The President General expressed his deep personal gratitude to the following Vincentians for their dedication to the Liberian project: Patrick Ebhojie, Veronica Nwokocha, Augustine Inoh, Rosamond Sannoh, Christopher Chanda, Abraham Focko and James Doe.

With the addition of LIBERIA, the SSVP is now established in 153 countries. The SSVP Plus Project aims to bring the SSVP to regions of the world where it does not yet exist. The CGI welcomes financial donations to support this expansion of the SSVP to new territories. We have identified 20 countries where, with Gods help, we can set up the SSVP where it is needed in the service of those who suffer materially or spiritually.

Source: http://ssvpglobal.org/