Florida Catholic | 175 Years Of ‘Seeking The Face Of Christ In The Poor’

175 years of ‘seeking the face of Christ in the poor’

Local St. Vincent de Paul Society members celebrate the world-wide organization’s 175 years of service.

LAURA DODSON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 03.28.08

ORLANDO | It was a day of rest and celebration. Those who work for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul — the Vincentians — gathered for Mass and a retreat March 15 to honor the 175th anniversary of the founding of the society.

“The people we deal with are always tense from the immediate pressures of their needs,” explained Bill Fay, first vice president of the diocesan council of Orlando for the society, “and that can make us tense. It was a nice relaxed day for Vincentians.”

The day was certainly well-deserved. Last year alone, 28 parish-level conferences in the diocese assisted 205,000 people, providing $3.1 million in financial help and in-kind donations.

Bishop Thomas Wenski began the day presiding at the celebration of Mass at Holy Family Parish in Orlando, and in his homily he recalled his time as a parish priest in Miami and the tremendous assistance the society provided the community he served. Bishop Wenski then proclaimed the apostolic blessing invoked by Pope Benedict XVI in honor of the anniversary, and each of the conferences was provided with a copy.

“I was so excited to have Bishop Wenski preside at our 175th anniversary celebration,” said Bruce Stumbras, St. Vincent de Paul diocesan council president. “His words were very inspiring for our members to go out and do the work of seeking the face of Christ in the poor.”

After Mass, the 175 participants relocated to the Orlando Utilities Commission Camp Down Park in Windermere. The usual charge for the use of the park’s lavish facilities is $2,000, but the fee was waived by the OUC because five conferences in Orlando alone had paid $47,000 in electrical bills for clients in the past year.

Father Edward J. McCarthy, rector of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando, facilitated the spiritual reflection for the remainder of the retreat, focusing on what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane. He explained that just as the apostles fell asleep with sorrow there, people in need are tired, drained with the stress of the crisis with which they are dealing. It is the task of the Vincentians to reveal God’s presence in themselves to the people to whom they are ministering, Father McCarthy said.

The day culminated with a dinner, social event and the presentation of the first national “Top Hat” awards for “going above and beyond the call of duty in serving the poor” to Dan Costello of the St. Joseph and St. Matthew conference in Winter Haven, and Tony La Calamita of the Holy Family conference in Orlando.

For more information, to volunteer or donate to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, visit the Web site at www.svdporlando.org.

A little history of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

In March 1833, an anti-Catholic student at a rally gave a challenge to Frederic Ozanam, a student at the Sorbonne in Paris and a defender of the Catholic faith. “Never mind what the church does for the poor — show us what you do for them,” the student said.

Ozanam realized that the work he and a few other students were doing helping the Daughters of Charity, an order founded by St. Vincent de Paul, wasn’t adequately organized and was relatively unknown. The following month, April 23, 1883, the process of organization was formally begun and within two years the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was named.

From that small group of six students there are now more than 700,000 men and women caring for the needy and poor in 142 countries. In the United States alone, there are 115,000-plus members in 3,800 conferences helping more than 20,700,000 individuals.

Ozanam once said: “No work of charity is foreign to the society. Many people have too much, and still want more. Others do not have enough, or do not have anything at all, and they want to take by force what has not been given to them. A war is threatening between these two groups. On one side, the power of wealth, on the other the force of desperation. We must get in between these two groups.”

Ozanam died Sept. 8, 1853, at the age of 40 and he was beatified by Pope John Paul II Aug. 22, 1997.

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175 years of ‘seeking the face of Christ in the poor’

A little history of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

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