Highlighting St. Vincent de Paul St. Luke Conference
St. Luke parish has had an active Society of St. Vincent de Paul conference since 2011. On Friday, Sept. 27, the Church celebrated the Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul. In his honor, this is a perfect time to thank our St. Luke parishioners for their generous support of the St. Luke St. Vincent de Paul Conference, and to highlight how the St. Luke Conference serves the poor in our local community.
“Lord Jesus, make us responsive to the Christian calling to seek and find the forgotten, the suffering or the deprived, and bring them Your love.” This is part of the opening prayer that Vincentians pray at the beginning of every conference meeting. Prayer is followed by a reading from the Gospels and a discussion about how Jesus’ teachings call Vincentians to respond to the suffering of others and to love the Lord more deeply by service to neighbors.
The work of the Society provides Vincentians with opportunities to grow in compassion. Through in-person visits with individuals and families, Vincentians learn the stories and hardships of those in need, moving them to respond with assistance and encouragement to help these neighbors navigate their challenging circumstances.
In the past year, the St. Luke SVdP Vincentians made more than 75 in-person visits and assisted over 130 adults and children with various needs such as rental assistance, utilities and furniture, and referrals to other agencies. Here are just a few highlights the Vincentians would like to share with you:
· The conference helped a mother with her car registration and auto insurance payment so she would once again have transportation to work and could continue to support her two small children.
· A young mother with a disabled child and a husband undergoing cancer treatment had to temporarily stop working when she delivered her second child. The family received an eviction notice when they fell behind on their rent. Vincentians prevented them from becoming homeless by assisting with the rental payment.
· A woman who was the victim of spousal abuse left home in the middle of the night with her child with severe Autism, to stay at a shelter. The shelter helped them find an apartment. Several months ago, the mother lost her well-paying job. After exhausting her savings, she fell behind on her rent. She is now working again; and with assistance from St. Luke Conference, she is able to catch up with her rental payments.
The Vincentians helped about 240 people with food from the St. Luke Pantry in the past year. In addition to providing food to those who call the SVdP phone line for an appointment, once a month the pantry provides food to 8 formerly homeless college students now residing at Maryvale. The Vincentians also established a monthly food distribution day for some of the guests from the Temple City Coalition’s weekly Sunday Dinner.
St. Luke SVdP Conference was blessed by help from the St. Luke Special Needs Ministry during Bundle Sundays several times last year. These young people assisted by greeting the donors and offering them roses, and by carrying bags and boxes of donated items from cars to the St. Vincent de Paul truck.
The St. Luke Vincentians thank you, generous St. Luke parishioners, for your financial contributions and food donations which provide the conference with the means to assist the poor. May God continue to bless you abundantly and may He always keep your hearts open to share what you have for the good of the poor.
One last thing…St. Luke SVdP conference is seeking new members to assist in their mission of charity. If you are interested in learning more about the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, possibly becoming a Vincentian, or finding out how you might help the St. Luke Conference in other ways, please leave your name and phone number with the Pastoral Office and one of the Vincentians will contact you.
Please continue to refer families or individuals in need of assistance or food to St. Luke St. Vincent de Paul by having them call the SVdP Conference Phone Line at (626) 684-2914.
"We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God."
St. Vincent de Paul, pray for us!
~St. Luke Life, Justice and Peace Ministry
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