Israel’s prophets talked, but their audiences didn’t listen. Little has changed in 3,000 years. Like the prophets of the Bible, anyone who tries this nowadays is likely to be ignored or derided at best, if not silenced in a variety of ways.

by John Freund, CM | March 16, 2022 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change | 0 Comments
It occurs to me that there are two approaches to problem-solving. – “Whack-a-mole” or “Big Picture.”
by John Freund, CM | March 11, 2022 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change | 0 Comments
I often heard two seemingly contradictory thoughts about parents in “real families.”
by John Freund, CM | March 9, 2022 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change | 0 Comments
I often heard two seemingly contradictory thoughts about parents in “real families.”
by John Freund, CM | March 4, 2022 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change | 0 Comments
In the language of the internet, a troll is a person who makes inflammatory, insincere, or otherwise off-topic comments in a social setting.
by John Freund, CM | Dec 16, 2020 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
Israel’s prophets talked, but their audiences didn’t listen. Little has changed in 3,000 years. Like the prophets of the Bible, anyone who tries this nowadays is likely to be ignored or derided at best, if not silenced in a variety of ways.
by John Freund, CM | Dec 9, 2020 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
An image each Vincentian should consider! It is a simple image of people imperiled by a river flooding out of control. Read on to learn how a Franciscan uses that image to explore various approaches to saving people.
by John Freund, CM | Dec 2, 2020 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
A baby changes everything. Never was that truer than in the birth of the one we call Jesus of Nazareth. The birth of Jesus literally changed everything for everyone.
by John Freund, CM | Sep 5, 2018 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
Let’s be clear! Systemic Change goes back to Vincent’s earliest days at Chatillon when he organized the relief efforts for the sick family. What is new is our rediscovery of our Vincentian heritage.
by John Freund, CM | Aug 29, 2018 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
The miracle of seeing! What a miracle seeing is! So often it is taken for granted by those who can see. Lose your sight even just temporarily and your world changes. Technology is working miracles today, technology is helping the "blind" to see. But technology can...
by John Freund, CM | Aug 24, 2018 | Formation, Systemic change
Four hundred years later the story St. Vincent’s sermon at Chattilon is still being told. But it is a story with even wider implications. The story of that sermon at Chatillon is the foundation story for what we call today systemic change.
by John Freund, CM | Aug 22, 2018 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
Pope Francis’ Imagery and the Vincentian “Both/And”
by John Freund, CM | Aug 15, 2018 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
Generations have done the same thing in spite of the fact there was no longer any necessity for doing it that way. It was just “the way I have always done it.”
by John Freund, CM | Aug 8, 2018 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
Are we ready to leave the box of our normal thinking and to find the opportunity that lies disguised in this challenge? Show us the truth that will set us free.
by John Freund, CM | Aug 1, 2018 | Formation, Reflections, Systemic change
Are we too close to those we serve that we are near-sighted? There systemic are change issues that a clear-sighted servant/shepherd needs to be alert to.
by John Freund, CM | Jul 25, 2018 | Formation, Poverty: Analysis and Responses, Systemic change
Mission challenges us to systemic change Systemic Change is something radical. It does what it says: The prophet Jeremiah: “This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, to root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant” (Jr...
by John Freund, CM | Jul 18, 2018 | Formation, Justice and Peace, Reflections, Systemic change
Pope Francis has a knack for making startling statements that catch people’s attention.