Rome, 29 May 2005

Solemnity of Corpus Christi 

To the members of the Vincentian Family

Dear brothers and sisters,

May the grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be always with you!

         At the 11^th meeting of the heads of some of the principal branches of the International Vincentian Family, which was held from 28-30 January in Paris, we looked at the most important activities of 2004 and those planned for 2005 for each one.  It happens that all the lay branches have assemblies or international meetings this year: the AIC in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from 11-13 February; the SSVP in Salamanca, Spain, from 19-23 June; the JMV in Paris, France, from 7-12 August; the AMM in Rome from 24-28 October and MISEVI in the Berceau, France, from 26-30 December.  We also evaluated the campaigns of recent years.  We all agreed that the campaigns were an occasion to become more united as the Vincentian Family in the various countries where we are.  We would like to share with you some reflections from our dialogue on the activities of the Vincentian Family (appendix 1).

As we do every year, around this time, we are writing to encourage you to begin the preparation for the “Day of Prayer of the Vincentian Family,” which is held around 27 September.

         After a lengthy reflection on the most recent world events and the different situations of poverty and marginalization, we decided that the theme for this next year will be “Vincentian Solidarity,” with the motto:

“United as the Vincentian Family in solidarity with the most vulnerable”

         We believe that this theme is thought-provoking and we hope that, everywhere, you will identify the situations of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters and respond to these close and concrete circumstances in your countries.  Who might be the most vulnerable in our respective countries?  You have the answer.  They might be the street children, the elderly who live alone and abandoned, the indigenous peoples, the women, the victims of natural disasters, etc.  The celebrations around the feast of our founder, St. Vincent de Paul, will be held in this context.

In appendix 2, we present to you some situations of vulnerability in different contexts of the world.  Without a doubt, each of you know other situations of vulnerability closer to you.

We are certain that you know other realities of poverty among the defenseless in your respective countries.  We would like the different branches of the Vincentian Family or the National Councils of the Vincentian Family to identify these poverties and from their own real possibilities to develop projects for intervention, taking into account the three levels or phases of intervention: consciousness-raising or “political action,” educational action and concrete actions; all of this to respond to these situations of poverty.  We invite you to develop, yourselves, proposals for the prayer around the feast of St. Vincent and to involve all the Family in it.

We are experiencing a privileged moment of the Holy Spirit’s action in the Vincentian Family.  Let us live our Vincentian vocation with creative fidelity.

We conclude with these words of St. Vincent: “Let us go then, my brothers, and apply ourselves with a new love to serve the poor, and even to seek out the poorest and most abandoned; let us recognize before God that they are our lords and our masters, and that we are unworthy to render them our little services” (SV XI, 393).

May God grant us to live in unity as the Vincentian Family and to be in solidarity with the most vulnerable.

Happy Feast for the Feast of St. Vincent!

Your brothers and sisters in St. Vincent,