Society of St Vincent de Paul

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The next meeting of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) will be on Monday 10^th September at 7.30pm in the Presbytery. Old and new friends are always welcome.

Old and New friends are always welcome to SVP meetings.

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About the SVP

In the early 1830s a group of Catholic students at the Sorbonne were challenged to prove by their actions that the Church had a role to play in tackling the social problems which abounded at that time.

Frederic Ozanam took up the challenge and, with a small group of his fellow students, set out to do what he could to ease at least some of the suffering of the poorest of the poor around him.

The society they founded was put under the patronage of the great seventeenth century champion of the poor, St Vincent de Paul.

The groups, or conferences, were based on the parish and worked very closely with the people they were trying to help, very much on a one-to-one basis. Within a few years conferences had been established all over France. The first in England was set up in 1844. There are now some 900,000 members in more than 130 countries.

The work of the society has changed over the years to suit different circumstances. In Britain conferences are involved in soup runs and day-centres for the homeless and visits for the sick, the old and those in prison. Even local Councils can benefit from the Society of St Vincent De Paul's help. For example, running on a tight budget, they may be short on basic household items to give to residents - furniture, bedding, curtains and carpets etc to give to council residents. If so, the Society is able to help them.

As well as working with external organisations, conferences of the SVP also work with other conferences around the world.

If you would like to learn more about the Society of St Vincent de Paul in England and Wales, please visit its web site at www.svp.org.uk

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