“The Political Action of Saint Vincent.”

Father Bernard Koch, C.M., recently published in Cahiers Saint Vincent, Bulletin des Lazaristes de France (nº 199), an article entitled “The Political Action of Saint Vincent.” “(Vincent de Paul) realized that in order to reform the Church and the clergy, as well as to help entire regions, action on a private level would not be sufficient. He wisely saw that it was also necessary to work on the structures, on those who have in their hands the decision-making organisms. But he knew too that it was not enough to want to act on the structures; these are slow and frequently reluctant; it is necessary that the base get moving, thanks to private initiative and to benevolent action. He knew how to combine both very well.”