SSVP CANADA NEWS - March 8, 2022

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2022

March 8 is International Women's Day. In 2022, the United Nations’ theme for this day is "Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow". This theme is integral to several principles found in Catholic Social Teaching, primarily:

Dignity of the human person
Promotion of the common good
Rights and responsibilities
Stewardship of creation
Peace, very pertinent with the current situation in Ukraine

NEWS

UKRAINE

In solidarity with the people of Ukraine who are being pressured to leave their beloved country to flee the war, and to assist with the exodus of people from Ukraine to neighboring countries or refugees who will be coming to Canada, the National Council of Canada has established a special appeal “Emergency Ukraine”; in conjunction with the International Confederation of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Commission for International Aid and Development (CIAD) , funds will be directed where aids will be required.

Donations can be made at:

MAKE A DONATION

The SSVP and the Vincentian Family Standing Up for Peace

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in Canada is twinned with two of the four SSVP conferences in Ukraine.

The Simcoe North Particular Council, Ontario, is twinned with the Blessed Marta Wiecka Conference, Kiev, Ukraine and the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Conference, Sherwood Park, Alberta, is twinned with the Luisa de Mariac Conference, Murovani, Kurilovci, Ukraine.

On February 22nd, the Vincentian Family published a Statement on the current situation which is sadly unfolding in Eastern Europe. Therein, the Vincentian Family calls on all parties to reach for global peace and stands firm in their commitment to fully support the people in Ukraine.

This statement was signed by all global Vincentian Family leaders, including our 16th President General International, brother Renato Lima de Oliveira, on behalf of the whole Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Click here to read the full statement published by the Vincentian Family.

STATEMENT PUBLISHED BY THE VINCENTIAN FAMILY

FUND DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES

Thank you to those who attended the Fund Development webinar on February 26. If you were unable to attend, the webinar and resources created by the Fund Development Committee to date can be found here:

FUND DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES

Should you have successful fundraising initiatives for your SSVP community, we would love to hear about them. We can add them to our list of resources for other SSVP communities to use to raise funds to carry out our Mission of helping people in need in all possible ways.

We are still recruiting members to our Committee. Should you be interested in joining us and you have fund development expertise or experience with fund development communication strategies, donor engagement/stewardship or identifying and approaching foundations/government programs, please contact Linda Dollard.

This is a great opportunity to identify ways to raise funds by the multiple levels of the Society to carry out our Mission!

Linda Dollard, Chair
Fund Development Committee

REFLECTION

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

In the gospel reading for the 7^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Christ gives a lesson that would have seemed strange at that time and still seems strange today. The message in Luke 6:27-38 bears repeating:

²⁷“But I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

TWINNING

TWINNING - COLOMBIA

The San Fernando Rey Conference of Amaga in Colombia is twinned with our conference of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Sidney, BC. We received their 2021 Annual Report that, along with pictures, describes what we feel is amazing work in a country facing many difficulties.

The conference consists of 12 members; the young adults having joined about two years ago. The following contains some of their inspirational report.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

SOCIAL JUSTICE NEWS

Our Housing campaign sub-committee staged a very informative webinar on February 12^th, which included presentations from St. John’s NL and Victoria BC on their housing efforts. As we now enter the second year of the campaign, I would encourage our members to read over our National Action Plan, which can be found on our website. There are several actions that any conference could undertake. Please join us in our efforts to address the many issues related to housing and homelessness.

QUESTION & ANSWER

Q: The approach in my conference is to only help persons in need get over an emergency situation, and not to offer continual ongoing support. Is this a correct approach? This is the result of not having sufficient funds to help.

A: The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul does NOT help “in emergencies only” or “only once each year.” It is the philosophy of the Society to “treat each case on its own merit.” It has nothing to do with how often a person or family requests assistance. It has everything to do with whether or not the need is real and has everything to do with compassion toward those in need and sharing God’s love with those seeking help, as reflected in Mathew 25. If a conference has any guidelines that prevent helping persons in need, please consider removing them. Instead, determine what level of financing is required to be able to support actions and programs to assist those in need in your community, and what plans need to be in place to be able to meet these needs.

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IN CONCLUSION

We are always looking for Vincentian testimonials and conference/council activity stories. Send your stories to share with Vincentians across Canada to editor@ssvp.ca.

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