Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Vincentian Family,

As we enter into a season of rebirth and renewal in the Church, the Vincentian Family Office would like to update you on its service to our family.  Since my appointment as Executive Director of the Vincentian Family Office, I have been privileged to engage in a listening process filled with moments of insight, encouragement, and inspiration. Voices from across our worldwide Family have shared with me their reflections, dreams, and intuitions for the mission we carry together. As a result, I have carried within me the insight that “The Vincentian Family is the reservoir of the charism.” This profound truth has guided my reflections and illuminated the path ahead.

Many other insights, experiences, and heartfelt reflections have been entrusted to us during this time. We have gathered them carefully into the beginning of a strategic plan, to help us discern and act together as we respond to the need of today’s world. Yet beyond strategy, we, in the Vincentian Family Office, have reflected together about all we have heard. What has emerged most clearly is the Spirit’s call to deepen our communion, to strengthen our shared mission, and to nurture the prophetic vitality of our Family.

We have since created three reflections that will be shared with you in rhythm with the liturgical calendar: two during Lent (Feb, 23 and March 23) and one during Easter (April 20). Our hope is that this timing will provide an opportunity for each of us, individually and as a Family, to reflect on our identity and mission in the light of the Gospel, deepening our communion and discerning together how we are called to live the charism in our daily service and witness. By connecting these reflections with our common celebration of faith, we invite all members of the Vincentian Family to enter more fully into a season of prayerful listening, shared discernment, and renewed commitment to our mission.

They are offered as an invitation to enter into dialogue and to allow the Spirit to guide our steps. This is the fruit of our shared wisdom — the Spirit’s own guidance in our midst — showing us new horizons, illuminating the paths of communion, and inspiring our mission for the service of the poor and the transformation of the world.

I am also pleased to share that we are initiating, for the first time, a gathering of Vincentian Family leadership from Africa and Madagascar, Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. Our goal is to create new continental structures to support accompaniment, formation, communication, collaboration and capacity-building at the local level following the model of FAVILA -the Vincentian family in Latin America and the Caribbean-. This decentralization of the Vincentian Family’s animation acknowledges the richness of diverse cultures while fostering a deeper understanding of our shared identity and mission. It is also a way to encourage each continental reality within our Family to discover its own voice, express its originality, and contribute more fully to our common identity-mission.

We ask for your continued prayers, especially during this season of prayer and conversion, and we thank you abundantly for all the support that we have received from our global Vincentian Family.

Blessings of joy,

Sister Ellen Marie Hagar, DC
Vincentian Family Office