Preparations for the 2024 gathering of the global Vincentian Family in Rome highlighted the semiannual meeting of the Vincentian Family Executive Board. The meeting was held from June 26-29, 2023, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
More than a dozen religious and lay leaders, who represent the Vincentian Family’s 168 branches, participated in the four-day session. In the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, the Executive Board identified three primary focus areas: charity, formation, communication.
PREPARING FOR CATHOLIC CHURCH JUBILEE
“We are inviting all the branches and hopefully all will come,” Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, CM, President of the Vincentian Family Executive Board, said of the planned November 14-17, 2024, Convocation. The Convocation’s theme is “Keeping the Fire Burning: Vincentian Synodality in Action.” It will end at the celebration of the World Day of the Poor at the Vatican and lead into the start of the 2025 year-long Catholic Church jubilee.
This marks the third worldwide gathering of the Vincentian Family following the 2017 Symposium commemorating the birth of the Vincentian Charism, and the 2020 gathering of the leaders of 99 branches of the Vincentian Family along with other Vincentian leaders.
FOUR DAYS OF VINCENTIAN-DRIVEN MESSAGING
The meeting concluded with Mass at The Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on the Solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul, Apostles. Fr. Mavrič was celebrant.
Pictured above
Top, left to right: Fr. Joseph Agostino, CM (Executive Director, Vincentian Family Office); Brother Broer Huitema, CMM; Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, CM (Superior General, Board President); Fr. John Kandathinkara, VC (Superior General); Sr. Julie Kubasak, DC; Mrs. Tayde de Callatay (President, AIC International); Sr. Eileen Haynes, SCL (Director, SCL Community); and Mr. Renato Lima de Oliveira (President, SSVP International).
Bottom, left to right: Sr. Barbara Flad, SC (Zams, SC Federation of Strasbourg); Ms. Marie Claire Balo (VMY); Brother Lawrence Obiko, CMM (Superior General); Sr. Grace Hartzog, SC (Executive Director, SC Federation of North America); Fr. Joseph Arackal, VC; Fr. Gregorio Banaga, Jr., CM; and Mrs. Guillermina Vergara Macip (AIC).