'He went about doing good,â? this phrase was one of St. Vincent de Paul's favorites about Jesus from the Gospel. As such, it has been adopted as a favorite of the Congregation of the Mission and the Sisters of Charity, which are two of the 260 associations who claim St. Vincent as their founder.
Their Superior General, who has taken the place of St. Vincent de Paul for the past 12 years, has many thoughts about his predecessor and what he started back in the 1600s.
FR. GEORGE GREGORY GAY
Congregation of the Mission
'When you think about the charism, what's the special gift St. Vincent de Paul gave to the Church, or God gave to him to give to the Church? And it was a sensitivity and care for those who live on the fringe, so and we try to keep that alive.â?
Fr. George explains that his role as 'spiritual animatorâ? for the Vincentians, or FamVin for short, has allowed him to travel the world, ministering to those in the peripheries and watching the good the lay people, priests and sisters are doing for everyone, even those who are completely rejected from society.
FR. GEORGE GREGORY GAY
Congregation of the Mission
'You cannot speak about the Vincentian family without speaking about, in one way or another, a personal one-on-one, or group relationship with those who live in poverty. So our focus is on caring for the spiritual and material needs of those who are poor.â?
Their care spreads to multiple provinces, with the Congregation present in 85 countries and the Sisters of Charity in 95. The largest group of the FamVin is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul with over 800,000 members worldwide.
They continue a legacy St. Vincent de Paul would have been proud of, since he believed all baptized Christians should be involved in the mission of the Church, not only the religious. The mission calls for serving the poor with the virtues of simplicity, humility, meekness, zeal and mortification.
Their new Superior General, who will be elected for six years in July, must also undertake and continue an ever-evolving mission, one during the age of the new evangelization in the 21st century.
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