Perceiving a Need
125th Anniversary of St Vincent de Paul Society in Tasmania
Today as we celebrate with much thanksgiving the service of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Tasmania over the past one hundred and twenty-five years, it is good to recall the saint under whose name and patronage this service has been carried out. Indeed, his feast day is tomorrow, 27 September.
St Vincent de Paul was a seventeenth century priest whose life was devoted to care of the poor. His first organisation, the Ladies of Charity, established in 1617, invited rich women to be dedicated to assisting the poor. He devoted his life to developing many initiatives in addressing both the physical and spiritual poverty so pervasive in the society in which he lived.
He said, “Let us work with a new love in service of the poor, looking for the most destitute and abandoned among them. Let us recognize that before God they are our Lords and masters, and we are unworthy to render them our small services.”
It was in the light of his own experience of reaching out to the poor that this encounter actually changes us. He said, “The poor have much to teach you. You have much to learn from them.”
St Vincent was not just concerned with providing aid to those in need, but he understood the need for a very personal engagement with the poor. It was this spirit that inspired the young university student, Frederick Ozanam, to place his new society dedicated to service of the poor under the patronage and spiritual inspiration of St Vincent de Paul.
Like St Vincent de Paul, Frederick understood that there is a relationship established with the poor that actually becomes a source of grace for us. He wrote in 1848, “Support is honourable when it treats the poor person with respect, not just as an equal, but as a superior, because he suffers what perhaps we will not suffer, since he is among us as a messenger from God to test our justice and our charity, and save us through our works” – which allow Jesus himself to live and love through us”.
I am sure many Vincentians would know that their own faith and Christian life has been transformed by their engagement in the mission of the Society. The Rule of the Society asks each Vincentian to embrace a simple call, “Follow Christ by serving those in need” (Art. 1,2). It is the desire to be a faithful disciple of Christ that motivates a person to become a member of the Society. This initial inspiration, though, in turn becomes a source of our own growth in discipleship. It becomes true that in serving those in need we grow in following Christ more fully.
As his new venture began Frederick wrote, “I hope we shall succeed despite ominous prophesies, not through secrecy, but through humility, not through numbers but through love, not through patronage but by the grace of God”. Frederick understood that this new work was to be done in the spirit of the Gospel and would depend ultimately upon the grace of God.
And the Society did grow and expand across the world. God’s hand of blessing was clearly upon this work.
The St Vincent de Paul Society was established here in Tasmania in the parish of Church of the Apostles, Launceston, on 12 July 1899. Six years later, a Conference was founded in Hobart. The Society has since grown to the extent that there are now 263 members and 721 volunteers across 28 Parish Conferences in Tasmania. One very evident sign of the presence and work of the Society are the 27 well-known Vinnies shops in principal towns across Tasmania.
The Society has fostered a number of Special Works which include Bethlehem House and Marillac House, Loui’s Vans, Vincent Industries, Tas Textiles, to name some of the initiatives that the Society has developed.
Today as this significant anniversary is celebrated, we have listened to the Word of God in this Mass. The Gospel chosen for today speaks of an extraordinary miracle, the feeding of the five thousand. Clearly, this is an appropriate Gospel story which speaks of feeding the hungry.
What is worth noting is that it flows not from a request of the people for food but from an awareness of Jesus of their need. St John expresses it simply: “Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’” Jesus perceived a real physical need of the people and set about responding to it.
This is what the Society has always done, it has looked out on the society and perceived where there was a real need. For example, Bethlehem House developed because the Conference at St Mary’s Cathedral was aware of men who were homeless. They perceived a need and set about meeting it. This is the wonderful legacy of the Society here in Tasmania.
Today, in celebrating this milestone, we can return not just to the founding of the Society in Tasmania, but look back at what inspired the young university student in nineteenth century Paris, Frederick Ozanam, and then back further to the seventeen-century priest, Vincent de Paul, whose heart was moved to devote himself to the service of the poor. They provide the spiritual legacy of the Society.
Archbishop Julian Porteous
Thursday, 26 September 2024