ST. LOUIS/EWORLDWIRE/Aug. 29, 2005 — The national Society of St. Vincent de Paul(SVdP) will honor Eugene Smith, SVdP’s president for the past six years, at the Society’s national meeting in Chicago, August 31 to September 3 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers. Smith will officially step down from his role as president, a volunteer position, on September 30. His six-year tenure is the maximum a president can serve in the organization.
Following the recent national election by the SVdP membership, Joseph D. Flannigan, of East Brunswick, N.J., will be installed as the Society’s new president at the Labor Day Weekend meeting. Joseph Flannigan has been an active member of the Society since April 1991. He is currently a vice-president of the National Council of the Society and Chair of the Finance and Operations Committee.
Approximately 800 Vincentians are expected to attend the Chicago meeting, which will focus on the spirituality behind volunteerism. Also featured will be keynote speakers John Carr, Director of the Department of Social Development and World Peace of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Very Rev. G. Gregory Gay, C.M., Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, and noted author and psychoanalyst Dr. Nancy Reeves, who will host several special workshops on grieving and loss.
In addition, religious iconographer Bro. Robert Lentz, O.F.M., will present several special workshops.
Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization, leads women and men to join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering in the tradition of its founder, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, and patron, St. Vincent de Paul. Last year, the Society’s 70,000 members assisted more than 13,728,500 persons throughout the United States.
“We are pleased and honored to host the 91st National Meeting,” said Mary Van Wazer, SVDP Chicago Archdiocesan President. “Chicago last hosted this event in 1940.”
