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Presidents Address Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Toronto Central Council AGM

September 29, 2012

Dear Vincentians,

One of the small changes that I made in my office at 240 Church Street is that I put a small stand on my desk. It holds a Canadian and a Vatican flag. Although I believe in patriotism and I am a citizen of this country my loyalty is first and foremost to the successor of St. Peter our Holy Father in Rome.

It is great responsibility to stand here today as your new central council president. Toronto central council has a long history in this city. My predecessors have achieved many great works in the past as they strived to meet the needs of our fellow human beings who struggle day to day with the scourge of poverty. Nothing that I will ever do will be able to compare to their achievements. I can only add to them in some small but measureable way. Their great works were not done for the praise of men or for personal gain. Their work was done in an effort live up to the spirit of service and humility that Our Savior had taught us two millennia ago.

Toronto was a very different city back then. A city that looked at the new immigrants coming from places like Ireland, that emerald isle, with contempt and hostility. The institutions, city government and the ruling establishment were very different in those days. Our society endured and worked to better lives, bury the dead, and educate boys who had left school to help their parents and to teach children the value of saving their pennies. How many of you have forgotten or do not even know that we had helped to start the Catholic Children’s Aid Society? I think that is it very fitting that our AGM is here at St. Augustine’s of Canterbury. Outside the doors of this church is a community full of immigrants and people struggling day after day to build new and better lives. The future growth and renewal of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul will happen in parishes and communities like this one.

You may be thinking that a comedy of errors has been happening down at central council since I became president. The meeting venue has changed three times! Well, I like to think that this is where our meeting is supposed to be. This parish has a beautiful church. It also has a chapel of perpetual adoration. This family Centre was built by the parish community. You may find some of the rooms a little small but they are the safe havens for young people. A place they can go afterschool and do homework until their parents get home. The Pastor here Fr. Daniel and his two secretaries Gezela and Stefanie have done their best to accommodate us on short notice. Thanks to all of them.

The next five years, God willing, will be a time of growth and renewal for us. Several conferences have already approached me or contacted Anar about renewing their conferences and recruitment drives.  I feel an energy and new enthusiasm growing in our ranks. Those of you who are new presidents or have been elected in the past couple of years should already have someone in mind that you could persuade into running for president when your term is up. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that someone else will not possibly be able to run your conference. My own conference was dumbfounded when they found out that I was running for central council and if elected I would have to resign. How could they possibly replace me? Well, one of our conference members, I think the meekest and humblest one of all, rose to the occasion and became president.

My own life experience has taught me that not wanting to take on a task is the path that we sometimes must follow. The path that we will excel at is not our own choosing but the direction that we are being guided towards. Let it be done according to His will.

My father, a veteran of the Second World War always taught me to never volunteer for anything. In the army volunteering was not always healthy for life or limb. I had been very successful at not volunteering my whole adolescent and adult life! That is until I joined the society. We recruit new members by asking for volunteers. Are we just volunteers? No, too be a Vincentian is to live a vocation. We are laypeople living out our calling according to the Gospel message to seek and find the forgotten.

If we are only there to deliver vouchers or drop off a box of food that can simply be accomplished by a fine service organization like the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Women’s League or the Theresians. Or even simpler would be to have people come to the church and the secretary could give them a food voucher! You do not need a conference or Vincentians if that is all that we are about.

What distinguishes us from other organizations out there is the hallmark of the society which is the home visit. Home visitation can be difficult, time consuming and sometimes frustrating. Even Fredric Ozanam ran away after knocking on his first door! The fruit of what we do is that we have touched the lives of people, that we are there looking into their faces and seeing the face of Christ Jesus. If we choose of the easy path and take the shortcuts will our Lord and Master think of us as “good and faithful servants”?

Our benefactors support us because they hear about the works that we do. Our efforts don’t go unnoticed. Parishioners take note of those men or women that are always in the background, never taking credit for anything that they are doing. They do have an idea of what we are doing out there. My first memory of the society is the poor box that my mother dropped coins into at St. Joan of Arc parish in west end Toronto. After my confirmation I never went back to church, that is, until I met my wife Tina and she brought me back! What was the first thing I saw when leaving Mass? A man holding a St. Vincent de Paul poor box just like I had seen so many years before! Reaching into my pocket for some coins was instinctive. I could never pass that box without giving something. Now I am giving myself to the service of each and every one of you and most importantly to our neighbors in need.

By the way, our benefactors really do take notice of our good works. Recently several people have left sizable bequests to us. Many benefactors are now remembering us in their wills and estate planning.

Several months ago my pastor asked all the parish organizations to read and comment on the apostolic letter “MOTU PROPRIO DATA” PORTA FIDEI (FOR THE INDICITION OF THE YEAR OF FAITH). If you have ever read anything from a pope you know that it can be intense and difficult reading. However there are two paragraphs which speak directly to what we are doing and struck me like lightening. I will read several lines from what our Holy Father wrote:

“14. ‘The Year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the witness of charity. As Saint Paul reminds us: “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). With even stronger words – which have always placed Christians under obligation – Saint James said: “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (Jas 2:14-18).’

Pope Benedict continues, ‘Faith without charity bears no fruit, while charity without faith would be a sentiment constantly at the mercy of doubt.’[Faith and charity each require the other; in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path. Indeed, many Christians dedicate their lives with love to those who are lonely, marginalized or excluded, as to those who are the first with a claim on our attention and the most important for us to support, because it is in them that the reflection of Christ’s own face is seen. Through faith, we can recognize the face of the risen Lord in those who ask for our love. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). These words are a warning that must not be forgotten and a perennial invitation to return the love by which he takes care of us. It is faith that enables us to recognize Christ and it is his love that impels us to assist him whenever he becomes our neighbour along the journey of life. Supported by faith, let us look with hope at our commitment in the world, as we await “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13; cf. Rev 21:1).”]

Sisters and brothers, I will ask you a question that you can answer within your hearts. Do any of you doubt that you are making a difference?

As I reach the end of my speech to you this morning sisters and brothers I would like to touch on several issues. The ‘Rule and Statutes’ is there to guide your conferences. When you are ever in doubt consult the Rule.

Do not be afraid to go beyond your conference boundaries. Talk with your neigbouring conferences and PC and work with them to meet the needs of our neigbours who need help. There are many conferences in our Central Council that are now doing that and even adopting housing complexes outside their areas as their own.

As president I get copies of all your PC minutes. At particular council meetings conferences are reporting their monthly activities. It is not necessary to do so. A far simpler format is to have the host conference outline what activities they carry out during the year. The stats on home visitations, food drives, and Christmas hampers can be saved for your yearend reports.

 If any of your conferences are struggling financially please do not hesitate to ask your PC for assistance. In fact, contact the president or secretary of the PC and have it put on the next monthly agenda. Your PC is there not only for conferences to pass funds up to but also to pass funds down. Toronto Central Council is there to assist the PC if they are unable to help.

Nick Volk of Habitat for Humanity has asked us to work with them. I would like you to identify families that you are serving that could be potential candidates for their own homes. I truly believe that decent and affordable housing is one way to break the cycle of poverty.

I would like to thank Bro. Danny Bourne for his work as president for the past five years. I would also like to thank and acknowledge Sr. Cecilia as past secretary and a candidate along with Bros. Frank and Angelo and Bro. Ed who served as a vice president. There is Pat Jordan our past treasurer and Anar, Doris, Sarah, Laura, Kim, Pedro, Joe from the office and Bill from the warehouse which all deserve special thanks. I ask you give them all a special round of applause.

I would like to ask that anyone who is here from our special works and Gower Park place please stand up. Don’t be shy. They do tremendous work in the true Vincentian spirit. Please give them the recognition they deserve.

Lastly, Louise, who has faithfully served the society all these many years thank you. In closing, I received an e-mail from Sr. Mater Mundi marking the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul. Sr. Mundi runs the food bank here. She is a member of the order of Sister Servants of the Lord and Virgin of Matara. By the way, the food bank here is always short on food. They serve 100 families and are open only for one hour a week. I will quote from her e-mail, “As St. Vincent de Paul said, ‘If you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor’”.

God bless you all for your work and thank you.

Material from the Apostolic Letter is from “MOTU PROPRIO DATA” PORTA FIDEI OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI FOR THEINDICITION OF THE YEAR OF FAITH

VincenPaul Community Homes Recovery Program at Risk

 The Board of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) has voted to sell over 700 "scattered" properties in an effort to secure funding for outstanding repairs.

Since 1975, the Society has leased 11 homes from the City and these homes plus three additional properties are the entire housing stock for our recovery home program.  The city has made a promise to "re-house" the people affected by this sell off. The reality is that the houses we lease are not just homes, they constitute the foundation of a very successful model of housing where people in recovery live in community while they seek to regain their lives and seek permanent housing. These individuals cannot simply be "re-housed". 

The response from Vincentians in petitioning their local city councillors regarding the safe guarding of our VincenPaul Community Homes program has been inspiring.

We are beginning to see the results of your efforts by having councillors respond with requests for further information. If you have not written to your local councillor as of yet, please consider doing so. The attached letter provides facts regarding this program.  The message that needs to get out is that these are not simply homes where people can be re-housed, the 11 properties provide the foundation for a program that the Society has operated for 27 years.

For a personal insight into what these programs provide, please see a sample of  letters from residents please click on the link- they express best how this program has positively affected their lives and provide witness to the wonderful work of the Society.

- letter

- resident's letter 1

- resident's letter 2

- resident's letter 3

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Dear Vincentians,
 
Our Spiritual Director (St. Catherine of Siena Conference, Peel PC) and long time Vincentian, Deacon Fuad Nimer-Boutrous, who has helped many a time in serving mass at our AGMs, as well as many, many, neighbours-in-need in our conference, has had a nasty fall, and is in intensive care at the Trillium Hospital in Mississauga. Please say a special prayer for him to recover from extensive surgery and I would appreciate you send a Get-Well card to his address. His wife and Vincentian Elaine, needs prayers as well to help her during this difficult time.
 
God bless.
 
Ninian

 His address is:
 
Fuad & Elaine Nimer-Boutrous

1535 Brentano Blvd

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