Listening to the Voice of the Poor
Systemic Change strives to empower the needy, giving them voice in the necessary change of structures. Knowing their needs and their opinions, and having their contributions, are part of the programming of any initiative we put in place to improve their situation. We...
Being Actors in the Transformation of our World
We present a video where two people show us their experience and their efforts to improve the social reality and the situations of poverty that we suffer in the world: one, working in the neighborhood of Brooklyn; the other at the United Nations. We may sometimes...
Wonder Women – Vincentian style
A recent post in the National Catholic Reporter, "Does Christianity have a Wonder Woman”, triggered thoughts about the women in our own Vincentian tradition. In the Reporter, Jennifer Mertens wrote: As one of millions who have been introduced (or reintroduced) to...
St. Vincent’s First Foundation: The Ladies of Charity #AIC400 #famvin400
SlideShare presentation commemorating St. Vincent’s foundation of the first Confraternity of Charity– the “Ladies of Charity”– in Châtillon, France.
The Value of Effort
At this time, in many countries of the northern hemisphere the school year begins. As a reflection on the value of effort and the importance of education, we invite you to see, comment and share the following video, an animated short story that tells us how education...
What Can Collective Impact Learn from Organizing?
Two strategies. One goal. Community Organizing. Collective Impact. Older folks will remember community organizing. Confrontational -- but it got things done. For the past ten years, the "collective impact" strategy has moved to the fore. But the two can learn from...
Evangelizing:“assumptions” about Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, and social justice
Catholics often struggle to explain doctrines to their friends (Catholic by birth and/or non-Catholic). We often think "everyone knows." We have assumptions. John Kane, in his Denver Post commentary "Holy day highlights Catholic “assumptions” about Virgin Mary, mother...
Expecting and Seeing
Expecting and Seeing (Matthew 13:13) Some time ago I went to see a touring art exhibit featuring Monet’s water lilies. Laid out in three big murals that were hung together, it wrapped around the room to give the visitor a sense of being right there at the pond’s edge....
Does charity choke justice? On the Limits of Charity (part 2)
David Hilfiker, a veteran of decades of direct service with the poor, raised questions 15 years ago in a 2001 article from The Other Side magazine exploring the tension between charity and justice. This is the second of a two-part reflection on his writings. Symptoms...
Caring for Those in the Outskirts
To see Jesus is to see the merciful God who is caring towards those in the outskirts who cry out to him. Jesus is a Jew. It seems he is even portrayed as siding with those who show their contempt for the Gentiles by calling them dogs or swine. This closed and...
