St Vincent de Paul Society
Day by day, 16000 volunteers in England and Wales make over one million visits a year to people in need.
These volunteers are members of the S.V.P, a registered charity. The concept of 'need' is broadly based,
and our members provide help in a variety of ways to people of all colours, races, religion and status.
Our patron, St Vincent de Paul, tackled many forms of poverty in an earlier age, as did the founder of
the Society, Blessed Frederic Ozanam. Following their example, our members have a commitment to meeting
need on a person-to-person basis, both locally and also at a wider national and international level.
In the Paris of the 1830s there was a great deal of poverty. At the Sorbonne University, a group of
Catholic students were challenged to prove by their actions that the Church had a role to play in
tackling the social problems which abounded. Frederic Ozanam, an outstanding young man, took up the
challenge and, with a small group of his fellow students, set out to do what he could to ease at least
some of the suffering of the poorest of the poor around him. Within a few short years, the Society had
grown and spread across the world. Today there are groups in more than 130 countries, with more than
900,000 members. The Society has been active in England and Wales since 1844.
Poverty comes in all shapes and forms - loneliness can be poverty, being an orphan can be poverty,
being depressed or mentally ill can be poverty, being a carer can be poverty, having severe learning
difficulties can be poverty, homelessness can be poverty, unemployment can be poverty, alcoholism
can be poverty, drug addiction can be poverty, prostitution can be poverty, bereavement can be poverty,
the inability to cope with a problem can be poverty, being the head or a member of a one-parent family
can be poverty.
Cardinal Hume was always a staunch supporter of the S.V.P, and said a parish without an S.V.P. conference
is like a body without a limb
Responsible for the S.V.P
Donald Hitch
St. Bede's Parish
01228-531142