From President Dan Parr of host St. Joseph (isolated) conference:

I’d like to point out that this weekend, you are being hosted by a group of Vincentians who form an Isolated Conference. What does that mean? As you know, we Vincentians belong to a world-wide and a world-renowned organization called the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Any global organization requires a structure to define the purpose and functions of the various parts and to define the relationship of the various parts to the big organization. I recently looked at the organizational chart of our world-wide Society, and was reminded that it consists of various committees and bodies – National Council, Regional Councils, Central Councils, Particular Councils – all doing good work in supporting the Conferences to ensure that we stay true to our founder’s vision in these ever-changing times. The result is that the Conferences, from the smallest gatherings of Vincentians in remote villages, to the largest urban gatherings in cities all over the world, pursue the same mission and values.

The types of conferences have various names also. We, here in Stratford, are one of the many conferences across the country that form a part of the 180-year tradition of service in Canada. We happen to be called an Isolated Conference, which means we report directly to, and are supported directly by, the Ontario Regional Council. I applaud the ONRC’s recent initiative to reach out to Isolated conferences and increase communication with us, but to us as we do our work here in Stratford, this is mostly a label which defines our place within a large organization. It never occurred to me that this label, Isolated, may be a way of describing us or our work. This morning, you got a glimpse of how we work and what we do. I bet none of you concluded that “Isolated” is an apt way of describing us here in St. Joseph’s Stratford. I think I can speak quite confidently for the thirty or so Vincentians in our conference that none of us feels Isolated.

But upon reflection, in a small way, Isolated perhaps does apply to us not just as an organizing label but also as a description of us. Isolated people or groups, by virtue of being isolated, become either overly inward-facing, or they become resolved to overcome their isolation by being outward-facing. We are the latter. I can’t say with certainty that our experience here is any different from your experience, regardless of what type of conference you are a member of. But I’m very proud of and inspired by the numerous examples of our members’ resolve to make thing better for our clients by getting to know them personally and by constantly developing and nurturing partnerships and strong networks of support here in Stratford and Perth County.

The ONRC has chosen as its theme for this Spring Assembly and AGM: In the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, isolation becomes grace when we serve the poor. So, in keeping with this theme, I’d like to share with you a few anecdotes by which we here in the Isolated Conference of St. Joseph’s Stratford have found grace in serving the poor.

First and foremost, we have nurtured, and work very hard to maintain strong relations with our Pastor and the parishioners of all three churches in our Family of Parishes. We do this through regular communication informing them of the large and ever-growing demand for our service in this community, and thanking them for their ongoing and ever-increasing financial support for our service, and reminding them that, in contributing to serving the needs of the poor, they are doing God’s work. The result is that each month after weekend mass in all three of our churches, we Vincentians stand at our donation boxes at the doors of the church and thank our generous parishioners for their donations. And yes, we also receive grace from such acts of kindness and generosity.

Second, we have developed a very strong and loyal network of generous food retailers in our community who call us when they have a supply of food they’d like to donate. Some of this food we collect is being discontinued, or is approaching its best before date, or in the case of one local grocery store, is purchased by its customers with the very specific purpose of supplying our food bank. Our volunteers make a timely pick up of these food rescues from our local business supporters. All of this food is nutritious, valuable, and contributes to satisfying the hunger of households in our community. These businesses don’t have to go through the trouble and effort of doing this. There is certainly no economic incentive for their efforts. And there is also no reason why they choose us as the recipient of their generosity. So why do they call us instead of just dumping what to them is simply excess inventory? The answer is God’s grace at work.

My third story I’d like to share with you pertains to our excellent relationship with our local Catholic schools. We maintain excellent communication with all of our schools and with our local Catholic school board. And as a result, they hold regular food drives within their schools and throughout the city, with us as the designated recipients. This is not remarkable to you, I presume. But because we (mostly Lori) work so hard at maintaining an ongoing relationship, we are now able to persuasively suggest what time of year would be most suitable for them to hold their next food drive, and specifically, what goods we are most in need of. And in return, we are so pleased to be asked in to provide education in our classrooms about the good that their efforts are doing for families in our community. Some schools have even organized field trips to us at the parish hall, to learn in a detailed, hands-on way about what we do why we do it, and why their efforts to help us are so important. These generous and concerned donors and organizers in our schools are likely not all regular church goers. Yet they recognize and respond to the Christian call to see Christ in the suffering and be helpful. This too is by the grace of God.

And I must tell you about the most generous village, about 10 miles northwest of Stratford, a tiny little rural hamlet made up mostly of farmers of Dutch and Irish descent. The Knights of Columbus of St. Patrick’s in Kinkora are simply amazing in their generous commitment to us. When we run low on beef or pork in our food bank, which happens several times a year, I call the Grand Knight, he sends out a call for help, and we receive a side of pork or beef at no cost to us, from a local farmer. Their CWL regularly donates proceeds of their events to us, the elementary school in Kinkora just held a Pasta Dinner fund-raiser for us, and even the Youth Group recently held a dance and donated the proceeds to us -- $86 of heartfelt funds from the teenagers of Kinkora. Many individual families make regular donations to us. I don’t want to diminish the support we receive from Stratford CWL and Stratford Knights of Columbus, but I mention KInkora because I just can’t explain their generosity to us. It too is God’s grace at work.

Why do all of these stories of generosity matter? Well, they only matter because of what they enable us to do for our clients, of course. I’d like to end with a story of one of our clients. I’ve changed this client’s name to Rebecca to keep her real identity hidden. Rebecca and I go way back. I became a Vincentian eight years ago, just after I retired from a long and very rewarding career in Catholic education. As part of this career, I was principal of the local Catholic high School, St. Michael, in the nineties. One of my students was Rebecca. She and her siblings were disadvantaged, and often showed up at school ill-equipped for learning. Being poorly fed, poorly housed, and poorly cared for does not make a young person well-prepared for learning. But I admired her determination because Rebecca showed up almost everyday, and far too often, families and children of poverty don’t show up at school. Poverty often does not show up in our schools, or in our churches, or in arenas, or shopping malls for that matter because people of poverty often find that showing up is just another opportunity for their dignity to be attacked. Not Rebecca. She showed up. I and other staff members provided some care, I often called the SSVP with a request for food for the home, and Rebecca always thanked me.

Over the years, I’d run in to Rebecca occasionally. Most recently, I met her in the local grocery store where she was a part-time cashier.

Then I joined SSVP and met Rebecca as a regular client at our food bank and community meals. Rebecca, like so many other working and wage-earning citizens, does indeed still need our help because of the sad reality that many of the working poor in Canada can not afford the basic necessities of life without our help. I don’t know all of our clients quite as well as I know Rebecca, but I do know quite a few of them and I know their stories. One of the values of SSVP, as you know, is to have a personal relationship with the poor. I’ve come to know and respect the wisdom of this, because knowing our clients and having some relationship with them helps me to treat our clients with the dignity they deserve.

While these anecdotes bring me pride and inspiration, they may not be very different from your operations. And that may be my most important point. As Vincentians, weather we are members of the smallest, rural, isolated conference or in the largest urban conference, we encounter God’s grace when we serve the poor. In our work, we witness grace, we are instruments of grace, and we receive grace.

Thank you.