St. Vincent de Paul Society is a Church that Responds to Poverty

On the office wall is a lengthy quote from Vincent de Paul, the namesake of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  A couple of phrases stand out.  You are the servant of the poor...  They are your masters...  The St. Vincent de Paul Society began serving their masters in the late 1800’s and continues to do so.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is a group of servants.  They want to live the gospel, rather than preach it.  They want to be their brother’s keeper.  As the servants for the poor, The St. Vincent de Paul Society accepts all comers regardless of religion.  An open door means that there is no “normal day” at the society.

The clients of The St. Vincent de Paul Society are the masters.  The only thing that the society asks is that their masters are respectful and civil with staff and others. Some masters have an addiction.  The society understands that addiction is a struggle that can take the priority in a person’s life.  Having an addiction sometimes means that money for food or rent may have been misspent.  For this reason, they are intentional about continuing to share with addicted people who need food or shelter.  Other masters need food for other reasons.  The St. Vincent de Paul Society provides food bank vouchers, but they realize that this is sometimes insufficient.  They keep non-perishable items on hand, as well.  This provides people with enough food to get them through to their next food bank visit.  Still other masters need clothes.  The society has their weekly Clothing Day on Thursday afternoons, but will never turn a master away on other days.  Most of the clothes are on display for clients to find what they need.  Some clothes are set aside, waiting for a special need that comes with a specific request.

The servants at St. Vincent de Paul are entirely volunteers.  Even the society’s administrator, Tom Howell, is a volunteer.  No one is paid to serve at the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Most of the volunteers are women and most have been serving for years.  The majority are retired, but some work part time.  Most notably, all of the servants arrive with a smile on her or his face. The masters appreciate that.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is located on 146 Waterloo St.  For more information about their ministry, please contact Tom Howell at 634-3097.

This post was originally part of a newsletter that I co-authored about Saint John area churches and Christian non-profits with poverty reduction services. Over the next several weeks I will post the articles that I wrote for this project.  If you know of other churches and Christian NGOs in the Saint John area, let me know.  I'd love to get to know them.