John Freund, CM
Author
![Friendship as a Key to Systemic Change](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2016/08/Friendship-e1470191321967.png?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Friendship as a Key to Systemic Change
Have you ever thought of friendship as a key to systemic change in our approach to poverty? If you lost everything, how long would it take you to get something to eat, find a place to stay, and a get some work? Tough situation? Yes! But nothing compared to the...
![Pay attention to your experiences!](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2016/04/vincent-life-lessons-series-facebook.png?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Pay attention to your experiences!
In my years as a bishop, I have learned one thing. Nothing is more beautiful than seeing the enthusiasm, dedication, zeal and energy with which so many young people live their lives
![Difficult words about mercy](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2016/07/Gielow.png?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Difficult words about mercy
As religious communities struggle to make sense of violence and killings at home and abroad, clergy members deliver difficult words about mercy and ‘the holiness of all.’ Many famvin visitors, especially among the Ladies of Charity USA, recognize Fr. Richard Gielow,...
Daughters of Charity – Witnesses to Slaying of Priest
The BBC website has an interview with one of the Daughters of Charity who was a witness to the slaying of a priest. The men arrived during morning mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class town near Rouen, northwest of Paris, where the 85-year-old parish...
![Pay attention to your experiences!](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2016/04/vincent-life-lessons-series-facebook.png?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Vincent, Frederic, the Dreams of Youth and WYD
A question for us is what can we do to nourish those dreams in our Vincentian Youth and help them channel their energy.
![Participating in WYD via a modern miracle](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2018/07/famvin-default-social-cell.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Participating in WYD via a modern miracle
It has been referred to as a "Catholic Woodstock" and a 21st-century version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Whatever the description, the expectation is that more than one million youth will make a pilgrimage to Krakow, Poland June 26-31 for World Youth Day. The...
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GO To Where The Need Is
Do I actively seek and welcome all to the table?
![Something we can all agree on about elections](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2014/06/sc-federation-featured-facebook.png?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Something we can all agree on about elections
Tuesdays as a day of prayer and fasting for elections USA
![Ozanam on systemic change – little known insights](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2016/07/ozanam-koder-facebook.png?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Ozanam on systemic change – little known insights
His insights on what we would call today “systemic change” reveal a profoundly deep thinker and critic of a piecemeal approach to serving the poor.
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Vincent – balancing basics
After 50 years of priesthood I still struggle with the issues of balancing basics. Having been ordained in 1965 I was quickly exposed to a spirit of activism. I remember being very caught up with the concept of “leaving God for God.” After all, Vincent expressed that...