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Superior General announces details of the Year of Vincentian Collaboration

Toma — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 12:22:08 +0000

In this Circular Letter to members of the Vincentian Family worldwide Fr. Gregory Gay, C.M., Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, gives details and some resources to be used in preparing celebration of the Year of Vincentian Collaboration 2015-2016 announced in the Letter of January 30, 2016.

(Unfortunately, there are some versions in circulation with errors. To the best of our knowledge, this version is correction and the links are correct both below and in the PDF version. CLICK HERE for corrected versions in other languages.)

Rome, March 16, 2015, Feast of St. Louise de Marillac

Dear Members of the International Vincentian Family

The following letter repeats many segments of my last correspondence regarding the “Year Collaboration” sent on January 30th but with more details as to how to implement the annual plan.

Our theme is “Together in Christ we Vincentians make a Difference.”

We all know how collaboration is rooted in our charism as a Vincentian Family, especially in the example of the lives of our Founders. We also know that we will most effectively serve those who live in poverty only as we collaborate with them and one another in this ministry.

The Year of Collaboration will begin on the Feast of Pentecost, May 24, 2015, and end on the Feast of Pentecost, May 15, 2016.

During the course of this year, we ask that the local, regional, and international levels of the Vincentian Family explore ways in which they may celebrate, connect and learn, and serve with one another. Our efforts will be coordinated by the Vincentian Family Collaboration Commission (VFCC). This letter contains recommendations from the VFCC for the coming year.

There are three components to the events for this year:

Celebrate
Connect and Learn
Serve

What follows below are resources to help the Vincentian Family commemorate the Year of Collaboration.

I. CELEBRATE

We would like to highlight three special days to celebrate during the year: May 24, 2015 (Pentecost); September 27, 2015; and May15, 2016 (Pentecost). Here are suggestions for each of these days of celebration.

Thanksgiving: May 24, 2015: Gather with members of the Vincentian Family to give thanks to God and to celebrate together. Below are three readings from St. Vincent that you may include with your prayer service or Mass of Thanksgiving. You may want to include time for testimony or a celebration of what has been done by the local Vincentian Family.

St. Vincent reading options:

A. 204.- TO JEAN DE FONTENEIL August 29, 1635; (CCD:I, 291) I am also overwhelmed by the charity you have extended and keep on extending to my poor brother.’ Because you have done all this for the love of God, and because gratitude for so many kindnesses is beyond our power, I beg Our Lord, Monsieur, to be Himself both your thanks and your reward.

B. 189. – TO JEAN DE FONTENEIL December 7, 1634; (CCD:I , 268) Now, for all that, Monsieur, I thank you most humbly and beg Our Lord Himself to be your thanks and reward and to shed upon you more and more abundantly His graces and blessings. O Monsieur, how my heart is filled with consolation every time the above-mentioned M. de la Salle writes to me about your zeal for the salvation of souls, your diligence in winning them over, the blessing Our Lord is bestowing on you, and the solid virtue you possess! I assure you, Monsieur, all that gives me a joy I cannot express to you and a very special fidelity in asking God to be pleased to continue for you and to increase the same graces within you.

C. 1017. – TO ETIENNE BLATIRON February 14, 1648; (CCD:III, 274-275) The graces God is showering on your labors are the result of His pure mercy and not of our wretched prayers. We are poor people, more liable to turn aside His blessings than to draw them down. I thank His Divine Goodness for the zeal and fidelity He gives your heart and those who are with you. In fact, Monsieur, I am so touched by the use you make of these virtues and of many others that, when the opportunity arises to animate the Saint-Lazare community to its own perfection, I relate to it the examples that yours gives us of this. I tell them of your long labors, despite the weaknesses of some of your men, your patience in difficulties, your charity and support for one another, the gracious welcome, courtesy, and consideration outsiders find in each of you. So you see, Monsieur, that honey from your hive flows even into this house and serves as food for its children. O Dieu! what a source of consolation for the whole Company, but also what a motive for our little family to humble itself before God and to do ever better and better, since He is pleased to extend and multiply in this way the good it is doing even in places where it is not present!

Reflection: Sept. 27, 2015: These “24 Hours of Vincentian Prayer” is a time to reflect. Please include the Vincentian Family Prayer in your time of prayer. We suggest that you set time aside personally as well as with other members (branches) of the Vincentian Family to reflect on the present reality of the local Vincentian Family, being mindful of the emerging needs of those living in poverty in your region.
Action: May 15, 2016: Ask the Holy Spirit to bless us and move us into action locally as the Vincentian Family.We request that you use this quote of St. Vincent in your celebration, “May God be pleased to strengthen you and to establish great union among you; for you will be even stronger if you are all closely united.” (VII:473) Take time to reflect on the scripture readings of the day and these quotes from the AIC publication, “To Be a Prophetic Member of the Vincentian Family” and Sister Julma Neo, DC’s article “Remembering Vincent and Louise Two Great Prophets of Charity:”

a. “In this world which is going awry, full of contradictions, the prophets are all those men and women who have dedicated their lives to proclaiming the Kingdom, proclaiming the truths of our faith, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is near and is promised to the poor, speaking out against all injustices which prevent God’s plans being fulfilled” (http://bit.ly/YVC2015-aicpdf5)

b. “… If Vincent and Louise were in our midst today, how would they read today’s situation in the light of the Christ they wanted to follow? What word would they speak to us? How would they respond to the new situations that confront us today? What choices would they make?” 350th Anniversary Monthly Reflection – Reflection #01 –by Sr. Julma C. Neo, DC (http://bit.ly/YVC2015eng-annref1)

c. “Ours is a world radically different in many ways from that of Vincent and Louise. New questions force themselves upon us. In a world that has generated new forms of poverty, new faces of the poor, what and who should be our priorities? Vincent and Louise were constantly attentive to events as “locus” for encountering the Spirit. In a world obsessed with the “instant” and the “super fast”, how do we continue to be truly attentive and discerning?…” 350th Anniversary Monthly Reflection – Reflection #01 –by Sr. Julma C. Neo, DC (http://bit.ly/YVC2015eng-annref1)

d. Forging Ahead… Together: We are heirs of a great legacy… sons and daughters of two great prophets of charity. In this common heritage, we take pride. Our bonds are strengthened. With a vast membership in all the continents, we as Vincentian Family have a great potential for making a difference in our time as Vincent and Louise did in theirs… We have the “genes” of Vincent and Louise. We have their heart and their spirit. Fidelity to their legacy urges us to forge ahead together… to be prophets of charity in today’s world… to be prophetic and to generate hope…” (http://bit.ly/YVC2015eng-aicpdf1)

Please post photos and/or videos of your celebrations to the Vincentian Collaboration Facebook page and send them to famvin.org to http://bit.ly/YVC2015-send-file.

There will be no international gatherings, apart from the meeting of the international leaders of the Vincentian Family in Rome (January 2016). These celebrations will take place on the local and regional levels.

II. CONNECT AND LEARN

It is very inspiring to discover more about our Vincentian Family, especially those branches that are not well known internationally. Learning more about each other will create a better environment for collaboration.

Follow the Vincentian Family on the Vincentian Collaboration Facebook page and on famvin.org (as cited above).

During each of the 52 weeks of the Year of Collaboration, we will highlight a branch of the Vincentian Family and thus get to learn more about each other.

Once a month, we will publish stories of collaboration, highlighting how the Vincentian Family is working together. Through the same Facebook community and famvin.org, you are also invited to post your own experience of efficient collaboration in the service of the impoverished, within or beyond the Vincentian Family.

There is so much happening and we could do so much more together!

III. SERVE

The previously mentioned VFCC oversaw the development of a formation experience on collaboration. The Vincentian Family Collaborative Action Program (or VFCAP) was held in Paris in 2013 and 2014 (cf. http://tinyurl.com/VFCAP). Over 70 members of the Vincentian Family participated. We are asking them to post three-minute videos about what they learned during their time in Paris and how it has helped with their own efforts to promote collaboration in their respective regions or countries. We are also inviting participants from the 2015 and 2016 regional VFCAP experiences to do the same.

These videos will appear on the Vincentian Collaboration Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Vincentian.Collaboration) and on famvin.org over the coming months.

Please visit and comment on what is there. We have a lot to learn from each other.

As you can see, we have a wealth of activities planned to mark this special year for the Vincentian Family. Thank you, in advance, for all you do in collaboration with the Vincentian Family as well as with and for those living in poverty. And thank you, most especially, for the ways in which you model this virtue, which gives our charism its special nature and impact.

Your brother in St. Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, C.M. Superior General

The letter to Vincentian Family on celebrating New Evangelization

Toma — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:42:11 +0000

As we are closing to the feast of St. Vincent the Paul Superior General, Fr. Gregory Gay, C.M. addresses Worldwide Vincentian Family in special Circular Letter,”I write to inform you that we have decided to dedicate this coming year to the ‘New Evangelization’ (…) focusing on three key areas of fidelity in following Jesus Christ, evangelizer and servant of the poor”.

ROME, 18 July 2014

Dear Members of the Vincentian family

As we celebrate the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, on behalf of the Vincentian Family and the leaders of our various branches, I write to inform you that we have decided to dedicate this coming year to the “New Evangelization.” We will do so as a Vincentian Family by focusing on three key areas of fidelity in following Jesus Christ, evangelizer and servant of the poor:

a need for personal and communal conversion;
a need to go beyond ourselves by listening to the cry of the poor, especially those who live on the periphery of our cities, and on the margins of society today;
a need to evangelize and provide new ways of pastoral care for the family.

From October 5-19, 2014, Pope Francis will convene a Synod of Bishops to discuss “pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.” This is a significant theme advanced by Our Holy Father for the good of the Church, as this Synod will demonstrate.

Early in his pontificate, Pope St. John Paul II initiated the call for a ‘new evangelization’ to encourage a fresh fervor and innovative ways to encounter Jesus, to deepen our relationship with Christ, and grow in living our Christian faith. This call of John Paul II came at a time of general malaise among Christians, particularly in countries in the developed world. John Paul II believed Christians were becoming less fervent in their practice of the faith, so he called for conversion and a new evangelization. These dynamics for renewal have been articulated and encouraged by both of his successors, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

A key aspect of this new initiative is to rediscover and re-encounter Jesus with love in our hearts, deepening our relationship with him to grow in discipleship. It is a personal deepening of our faith in the God of Jesus Christ, a fruit of the Holy Spirit. This love guides us on the path of devotion to God and to others, especially the poor. As truly committed Christians and disciples of Jesus, we share the Good News of God’s love, found in the Holy Scriptures and sacraments. The role of every baptized Catholic who lives faithfully is to make Jesus known to all people.

To do so, the Church calls us to conversion, a new way to encounter and believe in God and share the Good News with others. To live this experience of conversion and follow a new way to encounter God, we must leave our comfort zones and listen as the Lord speaks to us in the depths of our hearts. As Vincentians and members of the Vincentian Family, how can we respond to this call to conversion and new evangelization? The charism that St. Vincent de Paul shared with St. Louise de Marillac and that was carried on by Blessed Frederic Ozanam, along with many others in the Vincentian tradition, was to care for the poor and needy. However, this also included the “care of souls” as an essential part of the mission.

In the Vincentian vocation, mission and charity are inseparable. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy and service are always united. These words of instruction to Daughters of Charity in their service of the poor speak to us: a “primary concern to make God known to them, to proclaim the Gospel, and to make the Kingdom present”. (DC Constitutions, 10a) Blessed Frederic Ozanam stressed that material aid was not the only aspect of the Society’s service to the poor. Rather, he reminded them that their spirituality and loving Christian witness to the love of God helped many Christians return to the faith, and served to evangelize many non-Christians. This is a key virtue of our Vincentian spirituality: to develop and deepen our relationship with Jesus, and help others to encounter Christ. This is faith in action.

There are many challenges for us in everyday life. But now is a favorable time to announce the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. Although we live in the midst of an environment often indifferent to religion, people still have a true thirst for higher values. There is a hunger for God among God’s people, especially as they aspire to a new way of life, one different from the prevailing societal norms. We could give in to the way people today live this environment of religious indifference, and acclimate ourselves to accept how little importance people show toward the essential questions of faith and the meaning of life in this world.

But are we aware of the reality of what happens when people forget God? Many times, this is indicative of true spiritual and material poverty. St. Vincent was deeply affected by the situation of people in his day: those who lived in misery and ignorance, and who did not know anything of God, nor of God’s love. It was for this reason that Vincent said with strength and conviction, “It is true then, that I am sent not only to love God, but to make him loved. It is not enough for me to love if my neighbor doesn’t love him.” (SV, XII, Conf. May 30, 1659)

If we had only a little of this love, would we look away with our arms crossed? Never! Charity cannot be idle. Charity moves us to look for the comfort and salvation of those who suffer. Our vocation as Vincentians is to inflame the hearts of others: to do what the Son of God himself did. He came to bring fire to the world, to inflame it with his love. What should we hope for ourselves, except to burn for Christ and to be consumed by that love.

As members of the Vincentian Family, we are called to be agents of evangelization by providing loving service. Charity is the principal value of life and the challenge for the Christian community to make active in today’s world. Never should we separate nor oppose the intrinsic relationship between faith and charity. We are Jesus’ disciples when we extend God’s love, and commit ourselves to fully participate in the life and mission of the Church. We have been conquered by Christ’s love! Accordingly, under the power of that love, we are profoundly open to loving our neighbor in concrete ways. Here, we can recall the motto of the Daughters of Charity, words taken from Scripture: “The love of Christ crucified impels us” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14) Faith enables us to recognize the gifts that our good and generous God has entrusted to us. Charity makes them fruitful. Through faith, we enter into friendship with the Lord. In the virtue of charity, this friendship is cultivated and lived out. The relationship between faith and charity is magnified in this intimate link. This is what it means to make the Gospel effective in people’s lives. The encyclical Lumen Fidei speaks of the repercussions of faith in the world, telling us that, “The light of faith is concretely placed at the service of justice, law, and peace.” (LF, 2013, 51) The apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium speaks about the service of charity as a constitutive element of the Church’s mission, reflecting the essence of who we are as a Church.

As the Church is missionary by its nature, it is also indelibly linked to the virtue of charity, particularly in providing effective charity for our neighbor. When we accept the challenge of mission imbued with the charity of Christ, we can identify with and serve those living in poverty. Thus, our Vincentian hearts accept with joy the call of Evangelii Gaudium, to be instruments of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, to enable them to attain integral promotion into society. (EG, 2013, 182) Thus, we should be docile and attentive, listening to the cries of the poor and willing to run to their aid. We do that by leaving our own comfort zones, going to be periphery and the margins to meet those living in poverty.

We go out of ourselves and to the poor with haste with a burning love of God. In the fourth chapter of Evangelii Gaudium, we find a number of ideas that are consonant with our charism. The words in this chapter seem to describe the lives and actions of Saints Vincent and Louise, along with our other saints and beati. Here is a sample of what Chapter 4 tells us: the poor are those preferred by God; the poor occupy a privileged place in the Church; and the poor are our evangelizers. If those ideas from Evangelii Gaudium sound familiar to you, they should!

The New Evangelization is an initiative to help us recognize the salvific force those living in poverty have in Christ, and to put them at the center of the Church. We discover Christ in the poor; we give voice to their causes; we are their servants; we listen to them; and they call us to ponder the mysterious wisdom of God, often revealed to us by their very lives.

In the context of the sufferings and struggles that families endure today, the New Evangelization can meet an urgent need, as demonstrated by the preparatory document on pastoral care of the family for the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The doctrines of the Church regarding marriage must be presented in an efficient and understandable way to reach the hearts of many, and transform their lives according to the will of God made manifest in Jesus Christ. Additional Church documents speak of the pastoral needs of the family as an essential dimension of evangelization. It is a call to renew our understanding of the sacrament of marriage and the Christian vocation of married couples and to strengthen the family for Church and society. As members of the Vincentian Family, we should ask ourselves what we could do to evangelize the families we serve and those with whom we will come in contact.

Here I speak of the families we encounter in our parishes, schools, social services, and many other ministries where we collaborate as a Vincentian Family to serve those living in poverty. Without a doubt, the family is an immense field for mission. Many families whom we serve today need protection, and suffer many disturbances. They are often threatened, even to the point of death. As a Vincentian Family, we can and must move forward to establish “Lines of Action” that give an impulse to pastoral work with families, and in particular, those who live in poverty.

With all the Vincentian Family, we pray the Church will seek authentic ways to adopt the pastoral means to help families cope with their present realities in the light of faith, and with the strength that comes from the Gospel. As we celebrate the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, we must dedicate ourselves in this year to the New Evangelization. We need creative responses to meet the challenges presented by the new evangelization, and personal and communal conversion to meet the pastoral needs of the family, especially those living on the periphery of our society.

Your brother in Christ,

G. Gregory Gay, CM
Superior General

An exclusive interview with Superior General – part two

Toma — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:02:16 +0000

On occasion of his visit to Paris in May 2013 Fr. Gregory Gay CM, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission met Thomas Zielinski of Famvin.org (also a webmaster of cmnewengland.org) for a wide-ranging conversation. This two part recording is result of the meeting held in very fraternal and friendly atmosphere. This is part two.

In part two you Fr.Greg

In part two Fr. Greg shares his reflection on Pope Francis after concelebrating a Holy Mass in Vatican; recalls his recent stay in Poland; brings details of his visit to Vincentian mission in Tanzania; reflects on other foreign missions ff the Congregation of the Mission and finally addresses the Vincentian Family.

shares his reflection on Pope Francis after concelebrating a Holy Mass in Vatican;
recalls in details his recent visit to Vincentian Province of Poland;
brings details of his visit to Congregation of the Mission and Daughters of Charity mission in Tanzania;
reflects on development of other foreign mission run by the Congregation;
acknowledges involvement of Province of Poland in the new mission in Benin, Africa;
addresses the worlwide Vincentian Family with best wishes and blessings.

The interview was recorded live in the Motherhouse of the Congregation of the Mission in Paris.

An exclusive interview with Superior General – part one

Toma — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:24:10 +0000

In part one Fr.Greg speaks of

his activity during the formation session for Sisters Servants of the Daughters of Charity from around the world;
new initiative in formation of Vincentian leaders focused on developing collaboration between branches of the Vincentian Family (VFCAP);
motives and goals of so called Vincentian Endowment Challenge, a project for supporting Provinces of the Congregation which are in need and leading some branches of the Vincentian Family that currently depend on the Superior General toward their self sustainability;
a mission he conducted in his home parish Bradshaw, Baltimore, MD;
Holy Week and Easter spent together with Daughters of Charity in rural Bolivia.

The interview was recorded live in the Motherhouse of the Congregation of the Mission in Paris.

Superior General invites Vincentian Family to reflect on FAITH

Toma — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:52:50 +0000

Fr. Gregory Gay CM, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and spiritual leader of worldwide Vincentian Family addresses its member with his invitation to reflect on Faith as the motive for feast of St. Vincent de Paul celebrations this year. He says, “each year at the time of the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul we reflect on a theme that enables us to deepen our spirituality and to strengthen our commitment to the poor. This year we want to reflect on the theme of faith, the central theme of our Christian identity and a theme that has been proposed by the Church.” Read the letter below. You can download it. You can scan the link and open it on your mobile device. Feel free to share it!

Let us persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2)

Rome, June 10, 2013

To all the members of the Vincentian Family:

May the grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ fill our heart, now and always!

Brothers and sisters, each year at the time of the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul we reflect on a theme that enables us to deepen our spirituality and to strengthen our commitment to the poor. This year we want to reflect on the theme of faith, the central theme of our Christian identity and a theme that has been proposed by the Church.

In the context of celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, the great ‘aggiornamento” of the Church in the twentieth century, Pope Benedict XVI has called us together to celebrate a Year of Faith (a year that was initiated on October 11, 2012 and will conclude on the feast of Christ the King, November 24, 2013). Pope Benedict, in his Apostolic Letter, Porta Fidei, tells us that this is a time to set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance (#2).

Throughout the history of the Church Christians have been called together to deepen their understanding of some specific theme … all of which are important and necessary for faith. This time, however, our coming together is most important because we are being called to reflect upon that which is the central theme of our relationship with God, namely, faith.

It is impossible to believe in God without faith and it is impossible to follow Jesus Christ without faith and it is also impossible to be a member of the Church without faith … all of this is obvious. What is so obvious, however, on the one hand, is not always that obvious as we live out our life. Therefore, to celebrate a year of faith implies that, as Christians, we celebrate Jesus Christ as the center and the culmination of our faith.

The starting point and the objective of faith is Jesus Christ. The letter to the Hebrews tells us: Let us persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus is the basis for our faith and is also the content of our faith … Jesus, the Son of God who reveals the Father to us. As a man Jesus is also the model believer. He is the leader because he has initiated a new manner of believing in God. He is the perfecter because he lived the fullness of faith. Jesus is truly man because he is a true believer and, as the letter to the Romans tells us, through his faith we are saved (cf., Romans 3:21-26).

Throughout the history of the Church there are many people who have walked the way with Jesus and as a result these people have become models for us. One of these important models is Mary, our Mother. The gospels highlight Mary’s faith when it is stated: Blessed are you who believed (Luke 1:45).

Vincentian spirituality is centered on Jesus. Vincentians are those men and women who ask: what would Jesus do in this situation? Therefore, with regard to this theme of faith, Vincentians should ask: how did Jesus live his faith? We see that Jesus unconditionally handed over his life to God, to the one whom he called, “Father”. Jesus’ life was one of absolute trust and abandonment to the Father’s hands. Even during times of great suffering Jesus remained confident and overcame every temptation to renounce that trust and thus rely on his own effort.

For us this means that Jesus is not only a person in whom we believe but he is also “the way”, a model of how to believe. In this, then, Jesus is a leader who goes before us, who points the way … indeed Jesus himself is the way, the leader, a man of faith. Therefore our situation as believers involves an act of profound confidence. Like Jesus, we are invited to abandon ourselves to the hands of God, even when we experience loneliness and suffering.

Throughout the history of the Vincentian Family many individuals have given this witness of faith and today some of these persons are honored as saints, blessed and/or servants of God. These same individuals have become reference points for our life. Therefore with Jesus Christ as our starting point we are invited to live our life from the perspective of God; we are invited to live in the same way as Jesus did. Vincent reminds us that faith means seeing in the way that God sees and that faith allows us to discover Christ in the poor. The poor are the beneficiaries of our spirituality and Jesus is the means to reach them … but only through faith in Jesus and through the faith of Jesus can we open the path that allows Jesus to enter. Therefore, as we seek to find Jesus we discover the poor because we cannot understand Jesus without establishing a close relationship with those who are poor. Jesus said the same thing when he told the people that he had come to be good news for the poor. Saint Louise also reminds us of this fact when she writes: The neighbor has been given to me in the place of Our Lord, by means of a love which his goodness knows and which he has revealed to my heart, although I am unable to put it into words (SWLM:821 [A.26]).

Jesus Christ teaches us the way of fidelity that enables us to live our life from the perspective of God … faithfulness to God in Jesus Christ and faithfulness to Jesus Christ in the poor. Elisabeth de Robiano (the founder of the Servants of the Poor of Ghyseghem) tells us: God will not fail you if you have truly handed yourself over to God … and done this forever. Our commitment to God is not time limited but is done forever … this is the most difficult dimension of faith because ever before us we see things that are disposable and temporary. We would like our commitment to have some specific time limitation but true faith is forever. Thus fidelity involves self-sacrifice, self-renunciation, the handing over of self, etc… Fidelity, also, involves courage to endure all things for the love of God who is revealed in the poor. Ignatia Jorth (the founder of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul of Zagreb) refers to this idea when she tells us: We are at the service of the poor. The poor are children of God and we are called to serve them, which is a most noble task. If our ministry results in a lack of gratitude and insults, it is because this allows us to follow more closely in the footsteps of our Divine Teacher. It is not always easy to be faithful to God. Being focused on God results in a certain satisfaction but also involves the cross and not everyone is willing to confront the cross. Therefore the way of faith is a path that requires daily conversion.

Today, Vincentians, revitalized by faith, must make a contribution to the world. In some places people believe in no one and nothing and in other places people believe in too much … but material things do not give life but only result in death. Our creative fidelity ought to be a living witness of faith in the midst of a world that needs to be strengthened and healed in so many different ways. We are invited to live a faith that is capable of transforming the world. Blessed Frederic Ozanam stated: Our faith, always young, is able to satisfy the needs of every era and heal the wounds of all people.

Let us allow Jesus Christ to be our teacher and let us allow Jesus Christ to be the path that leads us to the Father. May we not only believe in Jesus Christ, but rather may we believe Jesus Christ, May we also follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ that enable us to be faithful to the God of life, to the God who wants to give life to those who are impoverished.

Your brother in St. Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, C.M.

Superior General

CMNewEngland.org on go!

Toma — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:47:21 +0000

More and more we are viewing various websites and using internet services not only on our desktops but on a range of mobile devices. Mobile phone is no longer a voice caller only. Making traditional calls or even texting are only some of the functionalities we can make use of when we are on go. New functions are possible because of various applications. And there is an app for almost everything. Nobody can estimate how many “apps” are ready to use. Everyday new ones come. Now, we are giving you such application which, we hope, will make your access to our webpage (cmnewengland.org) and some other sites easier and more up to date. It’s small and simple.

From now on VINCENTIANS NEW ENGLAND APP is for you! And it’s completely free!!

The App organized in four tabs brings latest news posted on the websites of the Vincentians New England Province, St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, Brooklyn, NY and two Vincentian Family news websites in English and Polish. It was tested on iPhone, Android and Windows7 mobiles. Blackberry, Symbian and other mobiles were not verified. So were iPads and other tablets. But you can try it.

There are two simple ways to get the application on your smartphone.

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One: copy the link below and type it in your phone browser and open the url. Next, follow the instructions on the screen.

http://mippin.com/app/449497

Two: you can scan the QR Code below and your smartphone will download it almost automatically. This action requires QR Code scanner (or bar code scanner) for smartphone. Watch these tips how to scan QR Code

When your app is downloaded in to your smartphone open it. There is a widget which can be placed on the home screen. In settings you can set the update frequency. Now, you can enjoy it, and be up to date to Vincentian news when on go.

Famvin.org provides another apps and feeds for Vincentians which can be downloaded in the same way as the app mentioned above. These are standard urls which you can either type in the mobile browser or scan the QR Code. See the instructions if you need.

Other screenshots of the application:

MOBILE APPS FOR VINCENTIANS
FROM VINFORMATION.FAMVIN.ORG

These apps will send a Vincentian quote of the day, daily reflections in the Vincentian tradition, feeds taken from daily famvin posts. Additionally, there is an app for the game “Hobson’s Choice” which simulates the harsh choices you face when living in poverty. Finally, for the moment, there is an app “Ultimate Change” which allows you to experience a fictional systemic change project through the eyes of one of seven characters.

We believe these new efforts will make your contact with Vincentians of New England and Vincentian Family easier and faster. Please, do not hesitate to put a comment below or by email to webmaster@cmnewengland.org on how do you find these apps. Perhaps you have suggestions for another mobile apps which you will find helpful. Any comments and suggestions warmly welcome.