1. Introduction

As the Congregation of the Mission commemorates its 400 years of history at the service of the evangelization of the poorest of the poor, it is reaffirming the desire to revitalize its missionary identity in the diversity of its ministries. Recalling some of the demands of our Constitutions which have reached their 40th anniversary, for example, in some numbers we are reminded of the charitable, social and prophetic nature of our works, the basis for renewing the ministry of the Congregation in the United Nations, a world organization which this year celebrates its 80th anniversary since its inception.

Some paragraphs of our Constitutions and Statutes remind us why our service is essential to amplify the voice of the poorest in the world:

Part Two, Chapter I, C18. Following St. Vincent, who, like the Good Samaritan of the gospel parable (Lk 10:30-37), gave effective help to the abandoned, provinces and members should earnestly strive to serve those rejected by society and those who are victims of disasters and injustices of every kind. We should also assist those who suffer from forms of moral poverty which are peculiar to our own times. Working for all of these and with them, members should endeavor to implement the demands of social justice and evangelical charity.

E 9 § 1. It pertains to provinces, according to circumstances, to establish norms governing social action, and to determine concrete means for hastening the coming of social justice.

§ 2. Members should also, according to circumstances of time and place, cooperate with associations that are concerned with the defense of human rights and the promotion of justice and peace.

2. The Congregation of the Mission at the United Nations

Robert Maloney, C.M., Superior General, announced during his speech that at its 1998 General Assembly, the Congregation of the Mission had initiated an application to the United Nations to be recognized as an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), mentioning the possibility of participating in the great debates and committees of the UN in which some topics were of great interest to the Vincentians, namely: “poverty, hunger, war and peace, health, education and human rights.”

This year 2025 marks 27 years since its approval and ministry of this service of Representation of the Congregation of the Mission at the United Nations. Also, in 2017, after 20 years at the UN, in the Department of Public Information (DPI), the Congregation of the Mission applied for accreditation and was approved to be part of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is an important and influential space in the way the Congregation of the Mission can make greater social and political advocacy in the debates, summits and negotiation forums to facilitate just progress for the poorest and most abandoned of the world through the fulfillment and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals, and other social and political actions to enhance the leadership work carried out by the Congregation in this space of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the importance of its role in bringing about new mechanisms to strengthen effective advocacy in this role.

It is also 8 years since the formation of VIN-JPIC: Vincentian International Network for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, with the mission to channel the collective efforts of the members of the Congregation of the Mission in the field of our political and social advocacy.

The mission of the Working Group to End Homelessness (WGEH) has been set up by Vincentians at the UN and other NGOs and its main mission is to advocate at the United Nations for people who are vulnerable, pursuing the human right to adequate housing for all and to end homelessness. In this advocacy work, the working group partners with various member states, UN agencies, NGOs, committees and organizations. The UN has adopted the first resolution defining homelessness and calling on member states to measure it. For the first time in its 75-year history, the UN is taking homelessness into account as a fundamental policy issue, an area in which Vincentians have been significant in this public policy advocacy work. FHA’s 13 Houses Campaign has been instrumental in empowering this cause worldwide to work for the right to housing and the consequences on the poorest of the poor.

In the Final Document of our last CM General Assembly, in point 3 about the Ministry of Evangelization of the Poor, building a Prophetic and Synodal Church, we are reminded that: “To follow Christ, the Good Shepherd and … the Good Samaritan, we will listen to the voices of those who are marginalized geographically and existentially, […] we will work to defend the victims of hunger and poverty caused by COVID-19, war, human trafficking, […] and sexual abuse. We will work to protect our common home. We will evaluate our works and plan our ministries, so that, faithful to Jesus Christ, we will promote projects of evangelization with the poor and the excluded, thus, working for a more prophetic and synodal Church.”

Also Pope Francis reminds us of a challenge in his Bull of Indiction to the Ordinary Jubilee of Hope 2025. In number 15 of this Bull he tells us,

I ask with all my heart that hope be granted to the billions of the poor, who often lack the essentials of life. Before the constant tide of new forms of impoverishment, we can easily grow inured and resigned. Yet we must not close our eyes to the dramatic situations that we now encounter all around us, not only in certain parts of the world. Each day we meet people who are poor or impoverished; they may even be our next-door neighbours. Often they are homeless or lack sufficient food for the day. They suffer from exclusion and indifference on the part of many. It is scandalous that in a world possessed of immense resources, destined largely to producing weapons, the poor continue to be “the majority of the planet’s population, billions of people. These days they are mentioned in international political and economic discussions, but one often has the impression that their problems are brought up as an afterthought, a question which gets added almost out of duty or in a tangential way, if not treated merely as collateral damage. Indeed, when all is said and done, they frequently remain at the bottom of the pile”. Let us not forget: the poor are almost always the victims, not the ones to blame.

3. Challenges on the occasion of the 400th anniversary

Based on all these considerations that we have mentioned, I would like to outline some challenges for the ministry of the Congregation of the Mission at the United Nations on the occasion of the 400th anniversary:

1. To take advantage of the dynamizing impulse of the 400 years to make known the work of the Congregation of the Mission at the United Nations and its incidence to work for the unrestricted respect of Human Rights.
2. To renew the awareness that we are all co-responsible in the mission of service, human promotion and change of unjust structures that oppress the poor and advocacy in public or social policies according to social justice.
3. To strengthen the provinces, in the role of formators, facilitators and promoters so that the communities and missionaries of the CM, carry out works and services in the area of social justice, social promotion and prophetic denouncement on the unrestricted respect of the human rights of all people, especially the poorest and discarded.
4. To encourage the strengthening of the Vincentian International Network for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation and its work in the provinces that reflect the commitment with the Social Doctrine of the Church and the creation of projects in the strengthening of the abilities of the most vulnerable and neglected communities.
5. To collect information on projects and works of provinces and confreres that stand out in the process of social and political advocacy with political, social, religious, business and NGO authorities that promote a database and a shared work with the mission of the CM in the United Nations.
6. To generate spaces of formation in leadership and social justice, both in the formation of our own, the ongoing formation and the formation of the laity of the Vincentian charism, in line with the vision of the Congregation at the United Nations. Work in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and contribute to the cultural, social and political debates of today at the High Level, influencing decision makers and policy negotiators in favor of the voice of the poorest.

Álvaro Tamblay, C.M.
Province of Chile
Congregation of the Mission