HOBART – As Vincentians, members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul continue their ministry of “following Christ’s call to serve the poor, the suffering, and the deprived.” They often review core principles to ensure they are effectively delivering support.
On Oct. 21, Vincentians from diocesan conferences gathered at St. Bridget parish in Hobart for a council-level seminar called “Going Beyond Charity As We See the Face of Jesus in Our Neighbors.” Presenters heavily criticized "transactional" encounters where individuals are simply given funds and then sent on their way, instead advocating personal "relational" encounters through their ministry.
At the SVDP Voice of the Poor seminar that followed Mass, Pam Matambanadzo, national vice president of Vincentian Friendship and Community, demonstrated ways for members to become more powerful voices for those in need.
“The more we know about them, the more we’re able to advocate for them,” said Matambanadzo, who has worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago for 22 years. “We present ourselves as a vessel.”
She added that “the Holy Spirit then works” through people “as they are seeking Christ.”
Promoting faith in action is a pillar of the organization that counts 90,000 members in the U.S. and nearly one million worldwide. SVDP was founded in 1833 by university students in Paris.
Presenters at the Hobart seminar emphasized that even the army of Vincentians combined with the greater Church “can’t solve everyone’s problems.” They detailed the growing poverty rate in the U.S. and other pressures such as inflation that have forced those unaccustomed to economic insecurity to reach out to charities for assistance.
Of the materially poor, Matambanadzo said the hope is to “stabilize people,” yet among those regularly served “only 10-15% get out of the cycle of poverty.”
Seeing people through the eyes of faith, Matambanadzo said, allows concerned individuals to realize that material poverty is not the only kind of hardship.
“There are different types of poverty; (some people) may just need human contact,” explained Matambanadzo.
Seminar-goers offered anecdotes about encounters they’ve had while assisting individuals. They offered suggestions about building up charitable resources including for Vincentians to engage with neighbors, business owners and with those in politics “to address the policies, systems and structures.”
Matambanadzo is a native of Zimbabwe and was educated by Dominican religious sisters, who she credits for instilling in her a sense of accountability to others.
In the St. Bridget gymnasium, things got personal for some among the more than 40 who participated in the seminar as volunteers were called upon to act out home visit scenarios.
Vincentians Pat Deering of St. Ann in Gary, Kim Stahura of Nativity of Our Savior in Portage and Jean Zajac of St. James the Less in Highland portrayed scenarios based on actual residential visits. Each SVDP member is a trained volunteer who assesses the urgent needs of residents and was looking to pass off the lessons to any newbies in the audience.
“I need help! I’m just overwhelmed,” announced Zajac, whose character was a 77-year-old grandmother and great grandmother, who was suddenly faced with the responsibility of seven youngsters.
Deering and Stahura empathetically asked questions to determine what expenses she was responsible for, such as a past-due NIPSCO bill. They discovered she relied on a small pension and had applied for limited assistance through her township trustee.
They prompted her to area resources and guided her to a realistic plan to promote some sense of security.
“There’s the advocacy – because you are taking it a step further,” said Matambanadzo.
The home encounter dramatizations demonstrated effective verbal and non-verbal communication strategies. In the spirit of uncovering obstacles, SVDP leaders also spoke about generalizations that some may hold that could prevent someone from discovering unique personal qualities that are more than skin deep.
“We tell these stories because it kind of shows the things that we have to deal with and the baggage that some of us carry,” said Michael Sylvester, north central region director for Voices of the Poor and a Diocese of Joliet, Ill. member.
Catholic social teaching was the common thread woven through the day’s presentations and activities. The Vincentians spoke of life and the dignity of the human person, call to family, community and participation, rights and responsibilities, the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable (prioritizing the needs of the marginalized), the dignity of work and the rights of workers, solidarity and care for God’s creation.
The topics were espoused in the context of “building a more just society” according to the truths learned from and promulgated by Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the magisterium. Tricia Massa, SVDP Gary Council Voice of the Poor committee chairperson said those values “have underpinned the work of the Society for over 150 years.”
“For example, at the beatification of our principal founder, Frederic Ozanam, Pope John Paul II said that Frederic was ‘a precursor of the social doctrine of the Church which Pope Leo XIII would develop some years later in the Encyclical Rerum Novarum,’” Massa said.
Raymond Kozlowski, conference president at St. Casimir in Hammond, reflected on the message delivered during the seminar by Father Benjamin Ross. The St. Bridget pastor spoke about Catholic social doctrine and reaching out to others.
“Something that Father (Ross) brought up that really hit home for me is that love for the poor is based on the mission of the Church,” Kozlowski said. “That is our mission for each and every human being.
He added, “Think about it: you receive Jesus in the Eucharist. And when you go and take care of that person in need, we’re meeting Jesus.”
Caption: Pam Matambanadzo, national vice president of Friendship and Community for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, delivers remarks about making charity personal at the diocesan SVDP conference Voice of the Poor seminar on Oct. 21 in the gymnasium at St. Bridget school in Hobart. Presentations, including interactive role-playing of charitable delivery scenarios, were part of the event’s theme of ‘Going Beyond Charity As We See the Face of Jesus in Our Neighbors.’ (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)