St. Vincent’s Vision Fuels Staying Power
Guardian Angel Settlement Association celebrates 150 years of service
Guardian Angel Settlement Association is a place where poor young mothers can find support, the elderly can find social and spiritual sustenance, and children living in poverty can find a nurturing place to grow. These services to the poor are common, but the agency that has been providing them continuously for 150 years is not.
Serving the residents of inner city St. Louis since 1859, it is accurate to say Guardian Angel Settlement Association is an institution. But “institution” implies something cold and impersonal, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Parish Missions Renew the Faith
Sitting in a pew on a Wednesday night may seem like an unlikely place to experience a miracle, yet people do. Father Dick Gielow, CM, says it happens all the time.
Fr. Gielow is director of the Vincentian Parish Mission Center, a group of Vincentians based in Independence, Missouri, dedicated to conducting parish missions around the country. “I can’t tell you how many people feel they’ve been healed or cured by their experience at a parish mission. I get letters every week from people about the effect the mission has had on their lives,” he says.
To renew and invigorate parish communities is the purpose of parish missions. They are as old as the Congregation itself, yet relatively new in their current form.
FROM THE PROVINCIAL
All Things in Jesus
In my last two columns, I have shared with you the story of our foundation here in the United States 190 years ago and how God has blessed our efforts in the Western region as we continue the mission St. Vincent gave us. Today we find ourselves at a new crossroad. After much prayer and discernment, we Vincentians of the Western region have decided to merge our three Provinces into one, new Province. This merger will take place in just a few months on January 25, 2010. The new Province will be called the Western Province.
A new Province means new leadership also. In this issue, I am happy to introduce to you the new leadership team who will take over in January.
Introducing the Provincial Council Of the New Western Province
With the merging of the Midwest, Southern and Western Provinces comes a change in leadership. The new Provincial Superior, Father Perry Henry, CM, will have the support and guidance of a new Provincial Council.
Celebrating 350 Years
September marks the beginning of a jubilee year for the Vincentian Family: the 350th anniversary of the death and resurrection of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac, founders of the Congregation of the Mission.
The Vincentian is published bimonthly by the Midwest and Southern Provinces of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentian Priests and Brothers, to promote the apostolic works of its members and those of the larger Vincentian Family.
Congegration of the Mission, The Vincentian
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