Thursday, April 26 was a milestone for the Vincentian Family in Ireland. His grace Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin was invited by the newly constituted National Council of the Vincentian Family in Ireland to celebrate and bless this new development. The Council is made up of one member from each of the 9 branches of the Vincentian Family.

St. Peter’s Parish Church, Phibsborough Dublin, a Vincentian Parish in the Diocese of Dublin

The Vincentian Family comprises those organizations founded by and/or inspired by the life and work of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac. They share the belief that God is present among us, particularly in people who are marginalized or living in poverty.  In Ireland the Vincentian Family includes the International Association of Charity (AIC), Congregation of the Mission (CM), Daughters of Charity (DC), Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP), Association of the Miraculous Medal (AMM), Holy Faith Sisters (CHF), Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice (VPSJ), Vincentian Lay Missionaries (VLM), and DePaul Ireland.

In 2017, these organizations came together to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the Birth of the Vincentian Charism and focused on the theme ‘welcoming the stranger’. They took to heart the words of the 42nd successor of St. Vincent de Paul, the current Superior General, Fr. Tomaž Mavrič,

 ‘This moment in our history is a moment of “special grace” that Providence is offering us’.

Recognizing that collaboration was at the heart of all that St. Vincent de Paul did, the leaders identified this as a challenge and made a decision to form a National Council of the Vincentian Family in Ireland. The group was established on October 23, 2017.

The office for this work is based in the Vincentian parish of St. Peter’s Phibsborough Dublin and Mr. Eugene Rownan has been appointed as Administrative Officer to support the work of this group.

The first project of the group, will be to work together in preparation for the World Meeting of Families in August 2018.

We pray that the blessing conferred by His grace the Archbishop of Dublin, on the National Council for the Vincentian Family, will help the group to achieve their goal in the service of those living in poverty.