No other era in history has known more migrants than our own. Can we be creative in ministering to waves of migrants that continue to roll across the borders of so many of our countries? To do this, we need not just creativity-- we need to be mobile. We need to support one another in community. We need to join one another in daily prayer that we might be nourished by the life of the Lord. We need to network with other branches of the Vincentian Family.*

*from “Opportunities for Creativity Today” by Fr. Robert Maloney, CM [full text]

Vincentian Advent 2010

Let Love Tear Down the Walls: Living the Gift of the Incarnate Christ, Without Frontiers

In the small village of Las Flores, Belize, SCNs work primarily with refugees from El Salvador who fled during the civil war in their home country. The Sisters collaborate with village leaders to create a better life and opportunities for all. More info

VOYA volunteers from various parts of the US arrive at Proyecto Juan Diego ready to serve with the people living along the border of Cameron Park TX and Matamoros, MX. Here they built raised garden beds for 3 families looking forward to growing their own vegetables. More info

Depaul Ireland is a fresh and dynamic cross-border charity which offers homeless and disadvantaged people the opportunity to fulfill their potential and move forward towards an independent and positive future.More info

Inspiring Projects: Vincentians at Work Across Borders

The European Union (EU)-funded “Mobility Project” of the SSVP was set up to encourage cross-border mobility and cooperation among volunteers, and to encourage new initiatives through international exchanges. More info

Together with other humanitarian and religious NGOs at the United Nations, the CMs, DCs, and SCs work for the realization of a more just society where people can live lives free from fear and want; and are free to build for themselves sustainable human communities. More info 1More info 2

Missionary work is going to be profoundly changed by technology. The Internet has become one of the places that people ask their spiritual questions and seek information. With the use of cellphones and iPods, the possibility for distribution of the gospel has become immense. In 2010 a single website, optimized for cellphone use, is potentially able to reach over half the world's population. More info

Inspiring Projects: Vincentians at Work Across Borders

The Lazarists (CMs) were appreciated for their relative neutrality, which is why they were granted special protection during the Armenian genocide at the Persian-Ottoman border. More info

A Vincentian community in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the province of Daru-Kiunga, near the border of West Papua, ministers to the refugees who have crossed the border from West Papua to PNG.  More info

Beginning in 1639 Vincent began organizing campaigns for the relief of those suffering from war, plague, and famine. One of Vincent’s assistants, Br. Mathieu Regnard, made 53 trips, crossing enemy lines in disguise, carrying money from Vincent for the relief of those in war zones.

Vincentians Crossing Borders: Past and Present

Where the Congregation of the Mission serves

Members of the Sisters of Charity Federation serve throughout the United States and Canada and also have sisters serving in: Bermuda, Italy, Siberia, Botswana, Ethiopia, Fiji Islands, El Salvador, Bolivia, Ecuador, Israel, Lebanon, India, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Taiwan, Belize, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Peru, the Virgin Islands, Chile, Cook Islands, Kenya, China, Congo, and Tanzania.More info

The Daughters of Charity: 18,832 Sisters living and working in 2,226 Communities in 91 Countries.More info

St. Vincent de Paul and War Relief

Where the Ladies of Charity Serve

Fall of the Berlin Wall, November 1989. An Eastern guard speaks to a Westerner through a broken seam in the wall. Both were smiling, representing the jubilant spirit of the day. 26 November 1989, photo by Sharon Emerson

This true-color image shows North and South America as they would appear from space 35,000 km (22,000 miles) above the Earth. The image is a combination of data from two satellites. image created by NASA

Inspiring Images: Life Without Frontiers

A Daughter of Charity serves milk to a child in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.More info

Within the heart of most people is the desire to start over. We see our sin and regret our past. We wish we could start over and do things differently. Advent gives us the opportunity to be reborn, to die to self and to sin, to change our lives, our attitudes, and our behavior.

“May our own witness in the world be a sign that helps people leave the night and enter the day, walk from their darkness into a new light, lift them from despair and fill them with hope, pass them from death unto new life and out of hell into heaven.” - Fr. Gregory Gay, Superior General

[Click here for full text of Fr. Gay’s Advent letter]

Our Advent Wish